Do more with less

Editor / Provider: By Tevin Wang, a&s International | Updated: 5/14/2013 | Article type: Tech Corner

Fisheye cameras have been around for years, but real-life adoption seems to be limited, due to a limited number of offerings and VMS integrations. Things are changing for the better, as more camera manufacturers and management software providers pay more attention to the optics and user benefits. a&s looks into the latest developments.

Panoramic and hemispheric lenses have been used by photographers for decades. Nowadays, one can literally shoot images with panoramic or fisheye effects with smartphones. Still, what is common in the consumer electronics industry may be exotic in security.

The panoramic camera offers both the 180-degree and 360-degree panoramic view using a single fisheye lens or several normal lenses. “For a panoramic camera using several lenses, the panoramic image is produced by stitching the images shot by each of the lenses,” said Osborne Fang, Marketing Manager at Brickcom. “On the other hand, the fisheye camera provides the panoramic image with a single lens. Due to the extremely wide viewing angle of the fisheye lens, the image is distorted and dewarping technology is needed to turn the image into a normal one, readable to the human eye. Hence, dewarping is one of the keys to the final image quality of the fisheye camera.”

Petra Bennermark, Product Manager at Axis Communications, added, “A panoramic camera refers to either a camera that is mounted on a wall and gives a 180-degree view from the wall or a ceiling-mounted camera that gives a 360-degree view of the area below the ceiling. A camera with a 180-degree fisheye lens constitutes one technical solution to such a camera. So I would say that a fisheye camera is a subset of panoramic cameras.”

One way to envision a 180-degree view is to imagine standing in the center of an alley with your back against a wall. “Cameras mounted where your head is would be able to see the whole alley including both ends and the wall that your head is against,” said Ellen Cargill, Director of Product Development for Scallop Imaging (a division of Tenebraex).

Pluses & Trade-Offs
It is important that user s understand what they get and what they do not get from fisheye cameras. Fixed cameras, however mounted, cover narrow fields of view and multiple cameras are required to give adequate coverage of wide areas. PTZ cameras, on the other hand, require manual control and are therefore most often pointing to the wrong place at the wrong time. “A fisheye camera mounted on a wall or on the ceiling in the center of a room or area can cover a vast area with no blind spots, no moving parts, and no manual control required,” said David Myers, CTO at AMG Systems. “While not totally replacing fixed and PTZ cameras, fisheye cameras provide total coverage and reduce both the number of cameras required and the infrastructure required. The ability to follow a subject on a single camera is also of great benefit in forensic analysis”

Some trade-offs still exist for fisheye cameras. As a fisheye camera uses a specialized lens that distorts the image of a scene to fit it into a single view, circular fisheye images do not use all the pixels on an image sensor. Also, image magnification diminishes as the subject moves toward the edges of the scene despite that megapixel image sensors and digital image processing have improved fisheye performance on the edges of the field of view.

Distortion & Pixel Check
Fisheye lenses project a circular footprint and have constant or linear distortion from the center to the edge. Objects closer to the camera appear bigger, while they reduce rapidly in size as the distance from the camera increases. In other words, users could have an unavoidable drop-off in image quality at the edges. These issues might be “magnified” after dewarping. It is similar to the difference between a globe and a map of the world when attempting to provide a two-dimensional representation of the three-dimensional world. Both poles are squished, like oversized representations of Antarctica and Greenland on some maps. The same goes for a fisheye lens: the farther an object is from the center of an image, the more distorted it becomes.

Image distortions and pixel drops of fisheye cameras are hard to read from technical specs. The best way is to actually test the cameras and check the details. “When comparing, make sure that you compare ‘apples to apples' — that is, the same part of the scene, the same field of view, same distance and direction angle from the camera,” Bennermark said.

There is a lot of confusion when it comes to representing the true resolution of fisheye cameras as they, compared to fixed cameras, have a smaller optical image sensor. Greg Alcorn, Director of Global Sales at Oncam Grandeye shared some simple mathematics that can help end users and integrators check exactly what resolution they are getting. “Most manufactures use a 5-megapixel sensor, or 2592 by 1944 pixels, and the image is then cropped to the size of the lens, or a circle within a rectangle. The circle, therefore, has a diameter of 1944 pixels and the following equation is used to calculate the true resolution. The actual resolution equals the area of the circle. [In this case, the actual resolution is 972x972, which is 2.9 megapixels.]"

Dewarping
Human eyes are not used to optical distortion and dewarping is created for this purpose. Dewarping can be done on fisheye cameras or on the client application. “The achievable optical resolution of the lens and the achievable resolution of the image sensor play an important role on the image quality of the dewarped image,” Fang said. “For example, a high-optical resolution fisheye lens with the 5-megapixel image sensor can provide more detail than the same lens with the 1-megapixel image sensor. Meanwhile, the computation power of the processor determines the time it takes for the dewarping function to process the raw optical image.”

In-camera dewarping offers direct dewarped views based on user's need. User can choose the number of dewarped views of the scene and the camera will do the rest. “Dewarping on the camera lets the customer create virtual views or narrow-field windows that create blind spots similar to conventional cameras. The windows may be moved using PTZ commands over the network, and will then have latency similar to what is currently associated with mechanical PTZ cameras,” Alcorn said. “[However], dewarping on the camera does not allow the ability to retrospectively view the 360 image, which is one of the biggest advantages of using 360-degree cameras.”

Dewarping on the client side, on the other hand, allows for retrospective viewing, which enables the user to go back in time to view the total scene in its original form and then pan, tilt, and/or zoom within the 360-degree image as desired. “An additional advantage to dewarp on the client side is the ability for multiple clients to view the same image with different perspectives concurrently. There is no time slicing required as with traditional PTZ cameras or 360 cameras with dewarping onboard the camera,” Alcorn added.

However, Alf Chang, Senior Consultant at a&s held a different opinion. ”In-camera dewarping may also allow multiple clients to view the same image with different perspectives. This relates more to NVRs than where the dewarping occurs. Indeed, the mode or numbers of dewarped views can only be set by one user at the front end. These dewarped views and footage are stored at the NVR. Via NVR, it is still feasible for multiple clients to view the same image with different perspectives. ”

Dewarping in the camera or on the client side have their pros and cons. When cameras are capable of dewarping themselves, installers or integrators have fewer concerns regarding the loading on the client side because the camera is doing the processing. Dewarping on the client side, on the other hand, offers comparatively more flexible and retrospective viewing. There are many dewarping methods. “Some well-known dewarping methods include stereographic projection, equidistant projection, and cylindrical projection. Each method has its own advantages, and the implementation details of the dewarping methods have to adapt to the optical characteristics of the fisheye lens used,” Fang said. “The key is the popularity and compatibility with the VMS.”

VMS Interoperability
Most fisheye manufacturers require a separate SDK for dewarping and e-PTZ controls. This makes integration to V MS systems challenging. In order to enhance the algorithm to the fullest of fisheye cameras, a VMS with full support is crucial. Limited VMS integration will block immersive fisheye cameras from being used effectively. VMS which support multiple manufacturers or even an established standard are key for broader adoption of fisheye cameras.

Oncam Grandeye is optimistic about the potential of fisheye cameras and increased integration with VMS platforms. “Technology moves forward and image quality gets better. VMS, like everything else, is advancing. We have developed an SDK for multiple platforms that can be integrated into any clientside application. It comes with our patented dewarping technology using OpenGL and 3D modeling techniques to project a texture map of the image onto p-surface (a 3D object, generated by a computer graphic system). This takes advantage of current state-of-theart GPUs (graphic processor units), which reduces the load on the CPU. Performing dewarping on the CPU could use as much as 20 percent of the CPU's performance, based on the size of the image and frame rate,” Alcorn said.

Myers agreed. “We provide the software to our VMS partners which allows fast dewarping of the high resolution fisheye live and recorded through their viewing software.”

Brickcom is also eager to increase its technology partners. “Our fisheye camera is compatible now with more than 40 VMS solutions thanks to the open ImmerVision 360-degree viewing standard,” Fang added.

If cameras are capable of dewarping, VMS interoperability is not a concern. “As Axis does dewarping in the camera, VMS is subscribed to the already dewarped images. These dewarped images can be dynamically controlled to make it a digital PTZ camera. There is no need for VMS applications to deal with dewarping,” according to Bennermark.

Future Development
Some manufacturers are launching day-night fisheye cameras for 24-hour coverage. Also, they can be deployed outdoors. The goal is to allow fisheye cameras not to be limited to indoor installations but to wider outdoor areas.

For the past few years, the greatest advances in IP-based video surveillance have been in compression and megapixel technology. These technologies bring panoramic and hemispheric cameras up to a new level, and they can be used in more applications than before, said Steve Ma, Executive VP of VIVOTEK. “With today's sensor and lens technologies, manufacturers are able to provide high quality 360-degree cameras. We will bundle fisheye cameras and speed dome cameras as a solution for great perspectives and details, which allows users to simultaneously monitor both an overview and a detailed regional view of any given scene.”

Bosch introduces complete 960H solution

Editor / Provider: Bosch Security Systems | Updated: 4/23/2013 | Article type: Security 50

Bosch Security Systems, is launching a new portfolio of 960H products that capture more pixels per target object for a maximum sensor resolution of 720 TVL—the highest available for the PAL and NTSC standard. With cameras, lenses, digital video recorders and monitors, Bosch is providing customers with a complete end-to-end 960H surveillance solution for every analog application. The portfolio includes affordable products for smaller applications as well as higher-performing systems to meet a range of budget and imaging requirements.

960H image sensors serve as the bridge between standard resolution and high definition solutions. Ideal for capturing fine scene details, they are capable of producing video images with 30 percent higher resolution than previous generation analog sensors. Customers can choose a complete 960H solution from Bosch or integrate the products into existing systems to capture greater detail.

"There is an enormous amount of analog video infrastructure throughout the world, and new systems continue to be installed every day," said Tom Verest, Product Manager, Bosch Security Systems. "With a full portfolio of 960H products, we're enabling current customers to easily enhance their systems, while giving new customers the best in analog image quality."

Cameras in the 960H portfolio include new Dinion and Flexidome models that deliver the best analog image quality and popular features, such as Bilinx technology for verifying camera status, changing settings and performing other functions over the video cable. Customers will also find the most complete 960H bullet camera range with solutions for all distances, as well as affordable and stylish cameras with discrete designs. In addition, a wide range of indoor and outdoor Autodome cameras provide the most cost-effective 960H moving camera solution on the market.

The new Bosch Divar Series of four-, eight- and 16-channel 960H digital recorders deliver the full benefits of the latest 960H high-resolution cameras. Divar can capture and display images in full 960H resolution at rates up to 30 frames per second on all channels. Divar also supports recording in CIF, 2CIF and 4CIF resolutions for backward compatibility with older cameras. The Divar family takes advantage of the latest H.264 video and G.711 audio compression technology to dramatically reduce bandwidth and storage requirements while delivering superb image and audio quality.

The recorders are reliable systems that are easy to set up with intuitive configuration wizards for true plug-and-play installation. Operation is also simple with the familiar Bosch user interface. Customers can view images from any location with the included client software, a web browser or apps compatible with a range of mobile devices.

Rounding out the portfolio, Bosch LED 960H monitors deliver the most accurate and consistent image reproduction. They are designed specifically for security cameras and provide high color saturation.

The complete range of 960H video products conform to the same high quality and reliability standards as the rest of Bosch's product portfolio. They are guaranteed with a three-year warranty and backed by the company's superior customer service and support offerings.

New Jersey courthouse and jail expand surveillance capability to petabytes

Editor / Provider: Pivot3 | Updated: 4/12/2013 | Article type: Government & Public Services

The Bergen County Sheriff's Office in New Jersey is expanding its video surveillance network at its county courthouse and jail in an effort to enhance the efficiency and recording capabilities across its infrastructure. The addition of over 400 Mobotix megapixel video cameras combined with IPAS VMS and Pivot3 converged shared storage and virtual server appliances. This is the third phase of the surveillance system's expansion and the total order represents more than 800 Mobotix cameras and over a petabyte of Pivot3 storage. IMSYS was the system integrator for the project.

“Throughout the Bergen County jail and criminal justice facilities; we need clear, accurate video images in a variety of lighting situations,” said Sheriff Saudino, Bergen County Sheriff's Office. “The ability of our initial Mobotix system of 80 cameras vastly improved our video surveillance capabilities and convinced us to expand the system to cover even more areas.”

The system, which marks the third phase of the installation, extends the surveillance network to the county prosecutor's office to enable rapid sharing of video evidence as needed. Overall, the technology initiatives has provided an additional layer of security to the county facilities and deliver significant cost savings of over 20 percent due to the streamlining of processes between departments. Furthermore, multiple agencies across the county are merging practices to be more effective and simplify operations, developing further cost efficiencies across county infrastructure.

New Mobotix cameras installed include the dual lens D/N dome, which features two 3.1- megapixel resolution image sensors, and the hemispheric camera, which provides 360-degree all-around view. Bergen County is also leveraging the hemispheric intercom and the dual-lens, D/N camera. The dual-lens and hemispheric features built-in to the Mobotix cameras allow the county to monitor more than 1,000 locations with 400 cameras, providing significant cost savings to budget conscious government agencies.

IPAS VMS delivers high-quality video images in various lighting conditions to allow county officials to actively monitor video in real time, access stored video for post-event investigations and enhance situational awareness to ensure the safety of law enforcement. The county also leverages video to address liability issues such as slip-and-fall claims, and take full advantage of redundancy features and application failover to protect against natural disasters and terror attacks.

TI introduces full HD image sensor receiver

Editor / Provider: Texas Instruments | Updated: 4/8/2013 | Article type: Component

Texas Instruments (TI) introduced a full HD image sensor receiver IC to serve as a dedicated low-voltage differential signal (LVDS) bridge between image sensors and processors.

Compared to existing field-programmable gate array based solutions, the full HD image sensor receiver lowers the bill-of-material by 20 percent, reduces system power consumption by more than 10 percent and shrinks package size by 50 percent. It provides full HD, 1080p60 image quality in a host of video capture applications, including surveillance IP cameras and video conferencing systems, as well as industrial, consumer and professional video recording equipment.

The HD image sensor reciever is an extension of TI's analog LVDS for LCD interface products and FlatLink 3G serial interface technology, which reduces the number of signal lines used for synchronous parallel data bus structures with no loss in data throughput. It is also optimized to work with a variety of processors, including TI's processors for video applications. The image sensor receiver is available in a 4.5-mm by 7-mm, 59-ball PBGA (ZQL) package.

Geutebruck releases G-Cam E series

Editor / Provider: Geutebruck | Updated: 3/27/2013 | Article type: Security 50

Geutebruck's new G-Cam/E range of HD cameras are designed for quicker, cheaper, safer installation and adjustment. There are box, bullet, fixed dome and PTZ dome models for all types of professional monitoring applications, for indoors or out, with or without one-click AF. All have 1/2.7” CMOS image sensors, support H.264 and MJPEG, offer HD1080P resolution and day/night operation with removable cut filters for optimum light sensitivity and color reproduction.

Not only are these cameras simple to install, but you can set them up without taking your laptop up the ladder. After drilling holes and mounting a G-Cam/E series camera, you just plug a tiny pocket-sized service screen into its analog output and set the viewing angle. Then you can close the housing and adjourn to the relative comfort of a workstation or control room. There you assign the IP address, take advantage of the remote-controlled motorized lens to adjust the image quality, and run the Geutebruck video system's CamCheck feature to create a reference image from each camera. This image not only lets you document the installation for approval purposes, but also in the longer term, facilitates quality control checks and system quality certification. Questions like: Has the field of view remained constant? Are the lens and housing window clean? Has vegetation grown to obscure the view? - are all easy to answer when you have a definitive reference.

What makes IP cams tick

Editor / Provider: Tevin Wang, a&s International | Updated: 3/21/2013 | Article type: Tech Corner

According to IMS Research's (part of IHS) 2012 forecasts, the global market for IP-based video surveillance equipment is expected to surpass US$5.4 billion this year (overall video equipment market at roughly $13.6 billion). As competition continues to intensify, a&s looks into how mainstream megapixel cameras differ and differentiate in terms of features, promotion, and after-sale warranties and services.

Today's mainstream IP cameras are 2-megapixel (MP) ones. “Even if a camera captures images in higher resolution than 2-MP, major displays support full HD only and the whole image cannot be shown in one display,” said Alex Iida, Senior Manager of Visual Security Solutions for APAC, Sony Electronics.

As more pixels do not necessarily translate to clearer and more usable footage, features that need to be highlighted and compared lie elsewhere. “In fact, the higher the resolution, the significantly less the sensitivity is. This is one of the most important considerations in security applications, especially in low-light environments,” Iida elaborated. “Capturing images with higher resolution means data sizes will be larger, which cause problems in network bandwidth and storage, and result in higher expenses in integration and implementation.”

Sensitivity & Bandwidth
Image sensors are the deciding factor between good and excellent megapixel cameras, as light sensitivity becomes tricky with more pixels crammed onto the same piece of silicon. Sony has dedicated significant R&D efforts to this area. “The aspect ratio of our image sensors in the 2-MP cameras we have developed and adopted is 16:9 native. Compared to conventional 4:3 or 5:4 image sensors, 16:9 ones enable a larger pixel size for each pixel.” Thanks to this bigger pixel size, even with full HD resolution at 2-MP, sensitivity improvement is clearly visible.

As a pioneer of network cameras, VIVOTEK has also invested significantly in optimizing image quality, with respect to brightness, contrast, gamma and sharpness. “We have many parameters for image tuning and testing,” said Steve Ma, Executive VP at VIVOTEK. “Another difference would be bandwidth control. For more efficient bandwidth allocations, we advise our clients and integrators on ideal camera settings, such as SVC, CBR, cropping and local storage.” SVC provides more effective bandwidth and processor resource management by simultaneously dividing video data into multiple layers at different resolutions, picture sizes and frame rates, to meet the requirements of different client devices and network conditions. CBR offers flexible bit rate control in terms of maintaining stable bandwidth and allows users to simultaneously set an upper-bound mode for live viewing and choose an average mode for recording.

Multistream
Multistreaming means a number of video streams with different types of compression, such as H.264 and M-JPEG. These streams facilitate bandwidth-efficient viewing and recording. Streaming capability is highly dependent on the camera's processor and brand. Some make the most out of this feature as a key differentiator, while others do not believe it is a game changer.

Most manufacturers offer at least two streams, with some supporting three or even four independent streams. “Currently in our high line portfolio, we have three image sensors representing 720p and 1,080p resolutions. The sensor defines the maximum resolution for four streams and the type of streams that can be generated in HD streams; SD or HD streams, as a copy of the first stream; i-frame only streaming for recording; and MJPEG streams,” said Ad Biemans, Product Marketing Manager for Video Systems in EMEA, Bosch Security Systems.

Avigilon has a proprietary HD-stream management feature. “The feature enables users to manage video signals through the transmission and storage phases, without losing any of the visual quality of the signals,” said Rick Ramsay, Senior PM. “With this feature, only the requested portions of captured images are sent to operator workstations, optimizing the amount of bandwidth required. In addition to reducing client bandwidth usage, the feature also greatly reduces the processing load on the remote client, offering a unique way of working with multiple streams of H.264-compressed video to overcome many trade-offs. When a single stream is zoomed in for more detail, that stream will be automatically sent in full resolution while other streams are kept in low resolution for an overview version of the image.”

Verticalized Approach
Vertical segments such as commercial buildings, education, retail, transportation, city surveillance, traffic monitoring, airports and banking have specific demands for image clarity. “We have a range of cameras that are designed to be used in the most demanding conditions. One example is a vandal-proof corner-mount camera which is specified for prisons, hospitals and elevators,” Biemans said. Another example would be its ALPR line for vehicle surveillance and intelligent transportation applications.

Others like Axis Communications and Brickcom design and manufacture cameras for desert-like environments. “In desert areas — which make up about one-third of the earth's land surface — there are mining sites, oil and gas fields, pipeline installations as well as cities that need surveillance cameras that can withstand extreme heat and harsh conditions such as sandstorms,” said Erik Frannlid, Director of Product Management at Axis Communications. “It is critical for cameras with moving parts to have a high enough operating temperature to ensure optimal and reliable performance. The reason is that a camera with direct exposure to sunlight can be heated to a temperature of at least 15 degrees Celsius over the surrounding temperature, so an air temperature of 45 degrees may mean that the camera has to operate at 60 degrees. Our climate control system can handle rapid temperature changes to eliminate condensation.”

Similarly, Brickcom has launched cameras exclusively for places such as Russia, the Middle East, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, for their volatile weather conditions. These cameras are IP67-rated with built-in fan and heater to cope with outdoor environments, said Max Fan, Sales Director for Brickcom.

With the rapid growth of cities, Hikvision is eyeing the opportunity of traffic monitoring. “With detailed recognition and fast image capture speed, our solutions bring smarter surveillance and relief to traffic monitoring,” said Adler Wu, PM at Hikvision Digital Technology. “The improved resolution allows authorities to not only assess situations more quickly, but to allow them to respond in a timely manner.”

Regardless of the countless opportunities that megapixel cameras bring, manufacturers are advised to look at creative service models and solution offerings, to stay in business amid difficult trading conditions. Although reliability has always been key, it is financially and operationally sound to think outside the box to cater to the needs of customers of different verticals, regions or even cultural practices.

Making a Sale
The HD benefits are clear. What is not clear is how users should approach this new technology and what they should expect from it. As seeing is believing, live demonstrations are gaining popularity.

Brickcom started out as a network gear provider and prefers using toy trains to display full HD images via wireless transmission in real time. “We also designed an interactive demo of 2-MP cameras to highlight the plug-and-play, easy-to-use and auto-focus features,” Fan said.

With the omnipresence of the Internet, Secubest puts detailed product information and live demonstrations of its 2-MP cameras online. “Customers can experience live HD footage, along with the durability and design of our cameras through online demos anytime,” said Eva Chu, GM of Sales and Marketing at Secubest.

Sensing the proliferation of social-media marketing, LILIN has readjusted its marketing and promotional strategies to better cater to local taste and unique requirements, with the help of its seven subsidiaries worldwide, said Steve Hu, PM at Merit LILIN.

Securing the Investment
Customers do not want to purchase disposable cameras that need to be replaced or require maintenance constantly. Camera maintenance can be a huge expense, which is why end users pay attention not only to specs, features and algorithms, but also to warranties and after-sale support. Most manufacturers provide two- or three-year warranties. If other types of warranty are requested, some solution providers offer extension programs.

To further differentiate itself, IQinVision offers an all-inclusive five-year warranty on the majority of its products. “The only products which come with our shorter, three-year warranty are those with auto back focus or motorized zoom and focus lenses,” said Alex Doorduyn, Director of Product Marketing. When certain models are no longer manufactured, “we charge for repairs but still offer free telephone support for cameras outside of warranty.” IQinVision believes that customers should not allow manufacturers with poor-quality products and manufacturing processes to dictate the life span of a technology, especially in such a vital industry like security.

New version of 960H DSP Effio series

Editor / Provider: Submitted by Sony Corporation | Updated: 3/11/2013 | Article type: Component

Sony released a new version (Version 2) of the DSP Effio series for 960H analog CCTV cameras. Combined with a 960H CCD image sensor, this series realizes a horizontal resolution of 650 TVLs or more, and has already been adopted by more than 100 camera manufacturers, including Sony.

Sony Effio Version 2 adds a defog function and support for the RS-485 Pelco-D protocol, and the Hindi, Tamil, Turkish, Arabic and Farsi languages are incorporated into the OSD to respond to increasing demand for video surveillance in India and the Middle East. Firmware to update the Effio-P and Effio-S to Version 2 was released in January 2013. Mass production and shipment of enhanced Effio-E Version 2 products that are pin-compatible with the enhanced Effio-E will commence from April.

Features:

Also New: 760H/510H DSP E-Lite
With the increasing spread of 960H, demand is also increasing for higher image quality in the low-end analog market, so Sony makes available the DSP E-Lite (CXD4143GG) for 760H (380K effective pixels) and 510H (270K effective pixels) CCD image sensors. Mass production and shipment will commence from April as well.

The E-Lite carries on the Effio technology of the higher lineup, and mounts various functions such as 2DNR, ATR (adaptive tone reproduction), IR optimizer, and a preset eight-language OSD menu (EN, FR, G, ES, POR, CN, RUS, JP). Combined with Sony's abundant CCD lineup including the EXview HAD CCD II and Super HAD CCD II, the E-Lite brings about significant cost performance.

For more information, make inquiries here.

*Effio, EXview HAD CCD II and Super HAD CCD II are trademarks of Sony Corporation.

Arecont showcasing WDR panoramic cam at CeBIT

Editor / Provider: Arecont Vision | Updated: 3/6/2013 | Article type: Security 50

Arecont Vision, announced the availability of the 12-megapixel 180° panoramic dome camera with true WDR. The revolutionary camera is on display at CeBIT. In addition to its superior performance under challenging lighting conditions, Arecont Vision's new 12-megapixel WDR 180° panoramic camera is 25 percent smaller than previous SurroundVideo models. Arecont Vision's WDR technology delivers a dynamic range of up to 100dB at full resolution and without lowering the frame rates. By combining long and short exposures in the same field-of-view, WDR maximizes the amount of detail in both bright and dark areas of a scene. The WDR performance of Arecont Vision cameras represents an up to 50dB improvement (300X) in dynamic range compared to non-WDR cameras.

"Panoramic cameras are superior solutions for general surveillance, covering wide areas with sufficient resolution to zoom-in for details," said Peter McKee, VP of EMEA Sales at Arecont Vision. “By adding WDR to the panoramic view, our engineers have delivered a camera without equal in the industry."

Arecont Vision megapixel technology delivers superior image quality and reduces overall system costs by covering larger areas with fewer cameras. Four 3-megapixel WDR image sensors inside the 180° camera each provide 2,048 x 1,536-pixel resolution for a total resolution of 8,192 x 1,536-pixels. The WDR 180° panoramic camera's dome housing is IP66 environmentally rated and IK10 vandal resistant. The camera is both ONVIF and PSIA conformant.

Two chip series to bring IP security cams into HD

Editor / Provider: NXP Semiconductors | Updated: 12/4/2012 | Article type: Component

In a breakthrough for HD network video surveillance, NXP Semiconductors announced its Advanced ASC884xA and ASC885xA series of single-chip video processors for HD IP security cameras. These devices integrate virtually all functions required for an IP camera design – from raw image sensor data input, image signal processing (ISP), and H.264 compression, to secure encrypted transmission over the network through a Gigabit Ethernet interface. 

Capturing as many as 60 frames per second at Full HD resolution (1080p/60), the new Advanced series supports H.264 High Profile encoding while consuming less than 1.5 W of power, achieving the best power efficiency and lowest bit rate compared to other solutions on the market today. Further, the ASC884xA and ASC885xA devices enable extremely clear video images through advanced ISP features such as very flexible spatial and temporal (2D/3D) noise reduction for excellent low-light performance – critical for security cameras operating under a wide range of lighting conditions – as well as programmable edge enhancement.

According to IMS Research (now part of IHS), 2014 will be the tipping point when sales of network video surveillance equipment worldwide overtake analog video surveillance equipment sales. The benefits of HD IP cameras are significant. In addition to being able to access real-time video from anywhere in the world securely over the Internet, they enable higher-quality surveillance; recognition of faces, license plates and other identifying features; improved security; and require fewer cameras to be deployed. At the same time, the market shift to HD video surveillance has opened up new technical challenges in image signal processing, as most high-resolution image sensors introduce more noise and have lower light sensitivity. Compression of data for transmission over the IP network has presented similar challenges, forcing camera makers to compromise either picture quality, bit rate or power efficiency.

“With our new Advanced series of video processors, HD IP camera makers and OEMs no longer have to settle for poor-quality pictures – or settle for power-hungry chips that run so hot they burn to the touch,” said Rick Dumont, Global Marketing Director for IP camera products at NXP Semiconductors. “The Advanced Series is taking networked video surveillance to the next level, enabling stunningly clear HD motion-picture images – even indoors and at night – as well as H.264 High Profile compression at the lowest bit rates to reduce network load and hard disk video storage space. The total savings in terms of bill of materials, power consumption, video storage, and cost of ownership are tremendous. Our customers are also excited about the wealth of possibilities this opens for new, more sophisticated Internet, Wi-Fi and video conferencing cameras in the smart home, in access management, and in professional video security and surveillance.”

While professional IP cameras today typically offer 2-megapixel resolution, NXP's Advanced series HD IP camera product can support as much as 12 MP of raw image sensor data input, with flexibility of SVC and ROI encoding, and the ability to encode 5 MP resolution video at 25 frames per second or any sensor resolution in between. The feature-rich image processing pipeline has very flexible 3D noise reduction options, as well as edge enhancement and motion adaptive de-interlacing.

The ASC8852A also delivers the best video compression quality available, with H.264 High Profile support at 60 frames per second, at a bit rate of less than 5 Mbit/sec under standard lighting conditions, and less than 1 Mbit/sec for extreme 3D noise reduction modes in low light conditions. In addition to the ASC8852A flagship product for 1080p/60 performance, NXP is releasing a complete range of pin-compatible Advanced ICs down to1080p/30 (ASC8850A) and even 720p/30 (ASC8848A), all of which exhibit the same unrivalled image processing quality, low power consumption and low bit rate. The ASC8848A offers an H.264-encoded bit rate of less than 500 kbit/s at a power consumption level close to 0.5 W.

Ambarella releases 'ultra-HD' IP cam SoC with analytics and low power consumption

Editor / Provider: Ambarella | Updated: 9/25/2012 | Article type: Component

Ambarella, a developer of low-power, HD video compression and image processing semiconductors, introduced S2, a security IP camera System-On-Chip (SoC) with support for the new 4K Ultra HD video standard. Ambarella's S2 family of SoCs is based on a Dual Core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU and a high-performance video engine that delivers multi-stream H.264 encoding up to 4K (3840x2160p30) resolution for outstanding image clarity and detail. Hardware analytics acceleration combined with the dual-core CPU provide the processing power necessary to enable cameras to analyze video content and make intelligent decisions based upon it. Leveraging low-power 32nm process technology and Ambarella's proprietary system architecture, the S2 delivers 1080p60 encoding in less than one Watt and 4K video encoding in less than two Watts.

“By delivering 4K video and multi-core CPU performance in a 32nm low-power design, Ambarella is enabling high resolution video in compact camera form factors,” said Fermi Wang, President & CEO of Ambarella. “With S2, our customers have a flexible platform to create highly intelligent IP cameras that have outstanding image clarity.”

The S2 family provides an array of IP camera design choices. The family is comprised of software and pin-compatible SoCs that range in performance from 1080p45 encode with a 500 MHz dual-core CPU to 4K Ultra HD encode with a 1 GHz dual-core CPU. Camera designers can also access advanced features including analytics hardware acceleration, panoramic lens de-warping, hardware face detection, digital PTZ and electronic image stabilization (EIS). The Linux based S2 SDK supports a wide range of image sensors and enables features such as WiFi connectivity, cloud services, local SD Card recording and transcoding. The SDK also offers comprehensive 3A and image tuning tools for customization.

S2 Feature Summary:
* Image Sensor Pipeline with high-speed SLVDS/MIPI/HiSPi interfaces, up to 32-megapixel sensor resolution.
* WDR with multi-exposure fusion to improve video in high-contrast lighting conditions.
* Advanced 3D noise reduction with de-ghosting to enhance low-light performance.
* 4K video (3840x2160p30 or 1920x1080p120) H.264 encoding to support the new Ultra HD standard. Multi-streaming to enable independent resolutions, frame rate and quality. Support is also offered for video transcoding and low-latency encoding.
* Dual Core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with NEON and a 512 KB L2 cache provides headroom for customers' applications, as well as enhanced power efficiency and real-time performance compared to single-core architectures.
* Analytics hardware acceleration for efficient processing of tasks like object tracking, trip zone perimeter control and intelligent motion detection.
* Real-time hardware-accelerated de-warping for 180/360 degree panoramic lenses.
* AES/3DES/SHA-1/MD5 encryption engines.
* Rich set of interfaces allows for compact designs and includes 32-bit DDR3L, Gigabit Ethernet, USBG 2.0 host and device, HDMI, SDXC SD Card, and dual sensor interfaces.