During the racing season the Samsung Crescent Racing team transports its superbikes and engineering equipment around the UK in a DAF XF truck weighing in at over 30 tons when fully laden.
In the world of superbike racing the Samsung Crescent Racing team has a high profile, and team manager Jack Valentine was concerned that the more successful the team became, the more attention it would attract from would be souvenir hunters, as well as people who may have more malicious intentions.
Protecting the truck by detecting and deterring unwanted visitors was therefore considered a top priority.
Valuable asset
Valentine said: “The truck itself is an extremely valuable asset and during the racing season we cannot afford for it to be unavailable at anytime.
“More importantly we need to ensure the security of its contents and at race meetings, before we have had the opportunity to unload, that could include the superbikes as well as essential high tech equipment.
“Although not irreplaceable, we would suffer a major disruption to our race preparations if any of the equipment went missing or was damaged.”
In conjunction with Samsung’s Mobile division, the main sponsor of Samsung Crescent Racing, Valentine sought the advice of Tim Biddulph, project support manager at Samsung Techwin Europe Ltd.
High resolution
Biddulph said: “It was quite an interesting challenge to specify the correct cameras for this particular application. Clearly the cameras had to be capable of capturing very high resolution images so that usable video evidence could be passed onto the police if necessary.
“The cameras also had to be small so that they would not spoil the aesthetics of the truck and sufficiently robust to withstand vibrations when the truck was on the move and the cameras on the outside of the truck also of course needed to be vandal-resistant.”
Biddulph recommended that four SCV-2010F vandal resistant flat dome cameras were used to capture images of any activity both inside and outside of the truck.
The compact SCV-2010F domes incorporate Samsung Techwin’s W-5 DSP chipset. Supplied with a 3.0mm lens to capture just under a 90 deg angle of view, the SCV-2010F is able to see a wide area and can be installed on either a ceiling or wall. The domes benefit from a rating of IP66 making them suitable for operation in most weather conditions.
Delightful performance
Images from all four cameras are recorded on a Samsung SRD-850DC which has eight input channels, allowing additional cameras be added to the system in the future if required.
Valentine said: “During a year which has seen our two riders, John Hopkins and Jon Kirkham, put in brilliant performances at the various British Superbike Championship races, we have been delighted with the performance of the Samsung CCTV system and how easy it has been to operate.
“As you would expect, we are constantly vigilant with regard to the safekeeping of the truck and its contents and in this respect the CCTV system is proving to be an invaluable member of our successful team!”
