South Tyneside Council (STC) car parks have had some 30 Invictus TX cameras from the UK manufacturer 360 Vision fitted by the tech installer, North, to provide 24-hour monitoring for car parks across South Shields.
Daniel Chappell, Technical Account Manager at North says: โHistorically, South Shields had an existing public safety CCTV system, which was mainly street focused. However, this camera network had become unreliable with age, with some cameras being removed. As part of a project to overhaul the system, an opportunity arose for the STC car parks department to allocate to a new surveillance solution, to cover its twelve town centre car parks.
โAfter discussing the car parksโ CCTV requirements with long-term client STC, we set about securing a robust solution, with technical support supplied in discussions with the team at 360 Vision. We outlined the technical requirement and video transmission restrictions of the project to 360 Visionโs technical team and were delighted with the enthusiasm and technical understanding of the demanding requirements of this installation.
โWhile cameras were required to replace existing devices, mostly in existing camera tower locations, the choice of video transmission needed to be re-considered, as the legacy fibreoptic cabling had become unreliable and a replacement fibre network would have been prohibitively expensive.
โOn consideration of the cabling issue, 360 Vision suggested that we consider their TX streaming camera option, to transmit camera video wirelessly, over 4G mobile networks. This would have the benefit of substantially low-cost video transmission compared to the expense and civil works disruption required to own or lease a new fibre network, totally negating the need for fixed cabling. Taking-up the idea and to secure the best 4G network supplier for each TX camera, exact camera locations were provided and cross referenced with network operators to provide the best quality of signal at each specific camera location.โ
Using 4G unlimited data sim cards and backed-up by on-the-edge camera recording, the Invictus cameras are now streaming video, supplying wireless images to Veracity Viewscape VMS (video management software) in the main STC control room. Besides control room monitoring, authorised operatives in the field can view selected the Invictus camera images using a laptop browser or mobile phone.
Councillor Jim Foreman, Lead Member for Housing and Community Safety at South Tyneside Council, said: โThis investment forms part of wider improvements to our CCTV provision which is a vital tool in helping to keep our residents and visitors safe. The surveillance flexibility and technology that comes with this new system greatly enhances the safety, security and management of the car parks. Staff have a reliable video system for monitoring the cameras and supporting them to manage and respond to incidents in real time more quickly and effectively.
โThe upgrade demonstrates our commitment to providing safe and secure car parks, many of which hold prestigious Park Mark awards in recognition of good management and maintenance, as well as appropriate levels of lighting, signage, cleanliness and surveillance.โ
About Invictus TX cameras
Featuring continuous rotation pan, 360-degree view and 160-degree tilt, the Invictus TX cameras deliver close-up imaging via their 32x zoom lens and night-time vision, being equipped with optional on-board white light LEDs.
Daniel adds: โIf a network becomes crowded and the transmission bandwidth reduced, for example, during events such as the Great North Run, the TX camera will automatically optimise its video compression to maintain the best quality of video available. This advanced functionality offers peace-of-mind for STC car parks that the best quality video will always be received for monitoring, whatever the network conditions. And in the case of a network outage, no essential video will be lost, as back-up recording is stored in the Invictus TX camera head, ready for โon-demandโ download and viewing when the network has recovered.โ
The cameras are now providing coverage of the car parks at a fraction of the cost associated with traditional hard-wired video transmission infrastructure, the manufacturer adds.
Visit www.360visiontechnology.com.
See also the recent blog on local government on the North website.
