The council specified a system that had the flexibility to be easily expandable across the borough’s many rural towns, when and if necessary.
AVA installed an advanced IP based solution, from Synectics Security Networks. Based on the company’s new Virtual Matrix Solution, at its core is an IP version of the SynergyPro software control system located at the civic centre offices.
Operators can select and control cameras in the conventional manner, with a familiar ‘spot’ image displayed on a TFT screen, and camera images automatically routed to an adjacent display monitor.
From the main control, council operators can view cameras in Blaenavon, a world heritage site considered to be one of the best-preserved 19th century mining towns in the world.
They can concentrate efforts on popular tourist locations such as high street shops and the ‘Big Pit’ industrial museum during the day, and switch attention to the town’s pubs and restaurant areas at night.
Synectics’ third party interfacing enables multiple manufacturers’ command protocols to be integrated within a single control system. Torfaen operators have fluid control of PTZ functionality with integration of Vista Power Domes throughout Blaenavon, with further remote towns scheduled to join the network in the coming months.
Encoding of camera signals onto the council’s own network is achieved with single channel e100 encoders at each camera.
AVA technical director, Richard Beynon, said because the e100 was fully customisable, both resolution and frame rate can be adjusted on a ‘channel by channel’ basis, to meet with customers’ specific requirements. Footage is stored on Synectics PSN storage units at Pontypool’s Civic Centre.