Axis IP-Surveillance system, Design Manual

Page 1: ...DESIGN GUIDE IP Surveillance design guide Setting up an IP Surveillance system using Axis network cameras video encoders and AXIS Camera Station software ...

Page 2: ...s and outlines considerations and recommendations for implementing such a system 1 Introduction to an IP Surveillance system 3 2 Component considerations 10 3 Mounting surveillance cameras 27 4 Server selection 31 5 AXIS Camera Station installation and configuration 34 6 Video motion detection 39 7 Daily operation 40 8 Scaling up your surveillance system 45 9 Conclusion 48 10 Appendix Letter chart...

Page 3: ...rk video uses the IP network technology as the backbone for transporting information In an IP Surveillance application digitized video and or audio streams can be sent to any location even around the world if desired via a wired and or wireless IP network enabling video monitoring and recording from anywhere with network access Figure 1 1 b An analog video system that incorporates a DVR digital vi...

Page 4: ...nt in progress and identify persons or objects involved In a net work video system the quality of images produced can be more easily retained than in an analog sur veillance system With an analog video system the captured images are degraded with every conversion that the images make between analog and digital formats and with the cabling distance The further the analog video signals travel the we...

Page 5: ...nificant or costly changes to the network infrastructure You can place and network the products from virtually any location and the system can be as open or as closed as you wish 5 Cost effective An IP Surveillance system has a lower total cost of ownership than a traditional analog CCTV surveillance Management and equipment costs are lower since back end applica tions and storage run on industry ...

Page 6: ...atures as built in video motion detection audio detection alarm active tampering alarm I O connections and alarm and event management functionalities These features enable the network cameras video encoders to be constantly on guard in analyzing inputs and waiting for an impulse to kick start an action or a series of actions Having intel ligence analytics conducted at the network camera video enco...

Page 7: ...fective to scale up It is also flexible and each component of the system can be customized to your needs The following is a brief overview of the components that can be tailored to your application a Network camera video encoder A wide variety of network cameras and video encoders are avail able Network cameras range from fixed cameras and fixed domes to pan tilt zoom PTZ and PTZ dome cameras and ...

Page 8: ...d disk on the actual server running the recording applica tion is not enough there are solutions that enable you to increase storage space and achieve in creased flexibility and recoverability As larger hard drives are produced at lower costs it is becoming less expensive to store large amounts of video d Software A wide range of software is available to help you in the preparation installation an...

Page 9: ... rules covering areas where video surveillance is prohibited for example toilets and changing rooms in a retail environment d Notification You may have to place signs to warn the public that they are entering a zone covered by surveillance equipment and there may be rules regarding the signage e Quality of images There may be rules regarding the quality of images which can affect what may be permi...

Page 10: ... is a net work camera available to meet them Although analog cameras are available in a similar variety network cameras can now offer more benefits including better image quality and greater installation flexibility For some special applications such as very high image resolution or wireless needs network cameras are the only option The following sections provide an overview of the types of networ...

Page 11: ... with a changeable lens and even if it is changeable the choice of lenses is lim ited by the space inside the dome housing However a varifocal lens is often provided which enables the camera s field of view to be adjusted Fixed dome cameras are designed with different types of enclosures such as vandal resistant and or IP66 rated enclosures for outdoor installations No exter nal housing is require...

Page 12: ...tilt and zoom should be limited If such a camera has a 3 megapixel sensor the recommended maximum viewing angle is 140 degrees with a 3X zoom capability This type of camera is typically mounted on a wall Figure 2 1 h AXIS 212 PTZ Network Camera PTZ dome network cameras PTZ dome network cameras can cover a wide area by enabling greater flexibility in pan tilt and zoom functions They enable a 360 de...

Page 13: ...rogressive scan or interlaced scan technology see next point below for more on the technologies Many megapixel sensors are the same size as sensors used in cameras that deliver VGA 640x480 resolution It means that the megapixel sensor has many more pixels but the pixel sizes are smaller and therefore less light sensitive than a non megapixel sensor Progressive scan This technology involves exposin...

Page 14: ...s and enables the automatic removal of the infrared IR cut filter that is incorporated into all color cameras to prevent color distortion from near infrared light When there is light the IR cut filter is on and the camera delivers color video In dark conditions the camera removes the filter to make use of near infrared light to deliver infrared sensitive black and white video Infrared or day night...

Page 15: ...pecified number of frames per second may vary depending on the resolution Frames per second There may be different frame rates specified for different resolutions Full motion video is 30 frames per second in NTSC video standard in North America Japan and 25 frames per second in PAL video standard Europe Full frame rate on all cameras at all times is more than what is required for most applications...

Page 16: ...put connectors enable external devices to be connected to a network camera Inputs to a camera e g a door contact infrared motion detector glass break sensor or shock sensor enable the camera to react to an external event by for example initiating the sending and recording of video Outputs enable the camera to control external devices such as activating alarms triggering door locks generating smoke...

Page 17: ...lar basis such as in a supermarket Ensure that the wireless network camera supports security protocols such as IEEE 802 1X and WPA WPA2 Wi Fi Protected Access which will help secure the wireless communication Security and management At a basic level a video surveillance network camera should provide different levels of password protected access to a network camera For instance some authorized user...

Page 18: ...etection active tampering alarm and audio detection which are also features that provide savings in bandwidth and storage space iv Connection considerations e g Power over Ethernet support wireless Focus on image quality open API free upgrades global product support Axis network video products are focused on providing high image quality The products also have an open API application programming in...

Page 19: ...e video encoder typically provides between one and four connections to analog cameras as well as an Ethernet port to connect to the network Like network cameras it contains a built in web server a compression chip an operating system and processing power for local intelligence Besides digitizing analog signals a video encoder can support a host of other functions for example in telligent video fun...

Page 20: ...ty Axis video encoders provide high quality deinterlaced digital video The deinterlace filter eliminates the artifacts a series of horizontal lines caused by analog interlaced scanning tech nology Frame rate and resolution Axis high performance video encoders provide full frame rate 30 fps frames per second in NTSC 25 fps in PAL in all resolutions for all video channels Common resolutions are CIF ...

Page 21: ...nting a smaller surveillance system involving 8 to 10 cameras you should be able to use a basic 100 megabit Mbit network switch without having to consider bandwidth limitations Most companies can implement a surveillance system of this size using their existing network If you are implementing 10 cameras or more you should try to estimate the load on the network using a few rules of thumb A camera ...

Page 22: ...less cameras for surveillance there are a few rules of thumb Enable the user password login in the cameras Enable the encryption in the wireless router cameras Since wireless routers do not have the same bandwidth capacity as a normal switch no more than four to five cameras should be connected to a wireless access point Hardware storage needs Similar to the way a PC can save documents and other f...

Page 23: ...hour x hours of operation per day 1000 Gigabyte GB per day GB per day x requested period of storage Storage need Note The figures below are based on lots of motion in a scene With fewer changes in a scene the figures can be 20 percent lower The amount of motion in a scene can have a big impact on the amount of storage required Total for the 3 cameras and 30 days of storage 135 GB MPEG 4 calculatio...

Page 24: ...mation for a total capacity of approximately 1 2 terabytes one thousand gigabytes For information about NAS and SAN please see Chapter 8 Video management software Although video can be managed simply by using the built in web interface of a network video product video management software enables more effective management of video from multiple cameras for live monitoring and recording Video manage...

Page 25: ...s users to set different recording frame rates for selected cameras for example one under normal operation and another when alarm is triggered Different frame rates can also be set for viewing and or recording purposes and for different recipients Camera management AXIS Camera Station enables administration and management of network cameras and video encoders to be done from a single interface It ...

Page 26: ...ons such as event based re cordings in the network video system and vice versa In addition users can benefit from having a com mon interface for managing different systems AXIS Camera Station comes with a base license for four Axis network cameras video encoders The number of licenses required is based on the number of network cameras video encoders that are to be used with the program Additional ...

Page 27: ... to position a surveillance camera A letter chart with varying letter sizes attached as an appendix in this document can be used as an indicator of the level of detail an installed camera can provide A spinning Rotakin see device at right may also be used to test how well a camera displays moving objects Housing If a camera is to be mounted outdoors or in a relatively hostile environment it needs ...

Page 28: ...t you can capture an image at 1 lux but it may not be of high quality Different manufacturers use different references when they specify the light sensitivity of a camera and this makes it difficult to compare cameras without first testing them and comparing the images captured When using external artificial lighting in outdoor environments reflections and or shadows should be avoided For covert s...

Page 29: ...f the sky results in too much contrast The camera will adjust in order to achieve a proper light level for the sky Consequently the object landscape of interest will appear too dark One way to solve this problem is to mount the camera high above the ground using a pole if needed In advanced network cameras users may be able to set which part of an image should be more correctly exposed Lenses An a...

Page 30: ... shutter speed or shorter exposure time is recommended when capturing rapid movement or when a high frame rate is required A longer exposure time will improve image quality but it may lower the total frame rate and result in increased motion blur In Axis network cameras an automatic exposure setting means the frame rate will increase or decrease with the amount of available light It is only as the...

Page 31: ... For best performance and stability use local hard disks or a high performance network storage solution for storing recordings Software based RAID systems should not be used since performance bottlenecks could result A good hardware RAID controller with fast disks could be a good option to secure your recordings The disk drive normally C where Windows and AXIS Camera Station are installed should h...

Page 32: ...IS Camera Station will remove the oldest recording to ensure that there is enough space for ongoing recordings For each camera you will need to specify the number of days that recordings should be stored A special option called Unlimited can be selected The camera will then record for as many days as there is space on the hard drive before AXIS Camera Station removes the oldest recordings Figure 4...

Page 33: ... use a well known and well proven RAID technology as your surveillance solution will rely on it AXIS Camera Station hard disk cleanup procedure While the AXIS Camera Station recording engine is running some procedures are continuously executed to ensure that your hard disks do not become full The procedures include 1 Comparing recorded images with the current date and configured days to record If ...

Page 34: ...mo 30 day trial version for four cameras When the period expires you will be required to register the software d AXIS Camera Station One Free Version Figure 5 1 a AXIS Camera Station installation alternatives Setting up a network camera video encoder in AXIS Camera Station After installing the AXIS Camera Station it must be configured for your network cameras and video encoders The first time the ...

Page 35: ...ic camera to open its Live View Figure 5 2 a AXIS Camera Station s live view screen For each individual camera you can specify the image settings streaming format quality frame rate and size to be used for live viewing This setting will be used in live views except in views with nine or more cameras where the settings are fixed to optimize the performance of the PC Recording methods For each camer...

Page 36: ...record before and after an alarm is triggered The image buffers help to provide a more comprehensive picture of an event Recording only when motion or alarm is detected will save hard disk space compared with continuous recording The AXIS Camera Station s background service automatically starts running upon system start up When the background service is running recording will continue even after a...

Page 37: ...figuration Bandwidth usage de pends on five criteria 1 Image resolution the higher the resolution the more bandwidth is required 2 Compression type H 264 requires much less bandwidth than MPEG 4 and Motion JPEG 3 Compression ratio the higher the compression the lower the bandwidth usage 4 Frame rate the higher the frame rate the higher the bandwidth usage 5 Image complexity the more motion or scen...

Page 38: ...e user access level Three levels are available 1 Administrator full access to all of AXIS Camera Station s functionalities 2 Operator Access to all functionalities including recorded events except the configuration pages under Options 3 Viewer Access only to live video For each user you can choose which cameras the user will be allowed to access There are also options to allow deny access to funct...

Page 39: ...tion you can adjust the size of the window where you want motion to be detected and drag the window to the desired position You can then adjust sliders for the object size how large the object should be in order for the trigger to activate history how far back in time the reference point for motion detection should be and sensitivity how big the pixel changes should be in order to trigger an alarm...

Page 40: ...lay the recordings To search simply select a camera and the date and time and you will get sample images of all events found Double clicking on the image plays the recorded sequence Another option is to view the recorded events on a timeline This will show when recordings are present during a selected period of time as well as the type of recording manual continuous or triggered Each recorded even...

Page 41: ...he tour AXIS Camera Station also enables pan tilt zoom PTZ control when working with a PTZ or dome network camera The software allows you to control the PTZ function of the camera by 1 clicking on a display keypad 2 using a mouse you can click in the image to move the camera or zoom in using the mouse scroll wheel or 3 using the AXIS 295 Video Surveillance Joystick In live view you can also do dig...

Page 42: ...ype and source of the events You can sort or search for example for a list of errors or when motion is detected Figure 7 3 a The event log provides a list of events such as errors or change in motion detection status The audit log allows you to generate a list of user actions based on the user time type of activity and camera All user activities are logged in AXIS Camera Station All fields in the ...

Page 43: ...cording configurations Remote connections Figure 7 5 a Using AXIS Camera Station s Windows client software 7 4 7 5 AXIS Camera Station software Axis network cameras Analog cameras Network switch AUD IO I O IN OUT 1 2 3 4 5 6 Axis video encoder VIEWING PLAYBACK and ADMINISTRATION RECORDING DATABASE VIEWING PLAYBACK and ADMINISTRATION Remote access via AXIS Camera Station Client software AXIS Camera...

Page 44: ...re AXIS Camera Station is installed and if required enter the user name and password The Client will download and inherit the camera settings from the AXIS Camera Sta tion server From the same client you can also switch between different AXIS Camera Station servers Figure 7 5 b You can also switch between different AXIS Camera Station servers using the client software VIEWING PLAYBACK and ADMINIST...

Page 45: ...e Some Axis network video products support QoS Figure 8 2 a The above is an example of a QoS aware network where Router 1 has been configured to devote a certain amount of maximum bandwidth usage to streaming video FTP traffic and HTTP and all other traffic The maximum usage applies only when there is congestion on the network If there is unused bandwidth available any type of traffic can take adv...

Page 46: ...ss any of the storage devices on the SAN through the servers and the storage is scalable to hundreds of terabytes Centralized storage reduces administration and provides a high perfor mance flexible storage system for use in multi server environments In a SAN system files can be stored block by block on multiple hard disks Technologies such as Fiber Channel are commonly used providing data transfe...

Page 47: ...is to have two servers work with the same storage device such as a RAID system When one server fails the other identically configured server takes over These servers can even share the same IP address which makes the so called fail over completely transparent for users Multiple video recipients A common method to ensure disaster recovery and off site storage in network video is to simultaneously s...

Page 48: ...on detection audio Housing mounting and other accessories Buy and try Buy one camera to test its quality Hardware components Additional switches PoE wireless options Additional light sources Power supplies and eventually UPS Server for video management software Hard drives local disks SAN RAID etc Software Select a software package for your required functionality Purchase licenses that fit the num...

Page 49: ...49 ...

Page 50: ...sh based company operating worldwide with offices in more than 20 countries and cooperating with partners in more than 70 countries Founded in 1984 Axis is listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange under the ticker AXIS For more information about Axis please visit our website at www axis com 2008 Axis Communications AB AXIS COMMUNICATIONS AXIS ETRAX ARTPEC and VAPIX are registered trademarks or trademark ...