The city of Bristol is the United Kingdom’s ninth most populous enclave and, from medieval town through to cutting-edge cultural environment and tourist destination, Bristol is a forward thinking city that leads the way in innovation and design.
Its rich history of visionaries and pioneers – including that most famous of sons, the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel – still echoes through its heart to this day, underpinning innovative approaches to complex problems. This long-standing Bristol trademark has been illustrated recently, with the supply of a unique solution to the city’s security surveillance and traffic management issues – at the heart of which lies a Synectics control and integration solution.
Keen to ensure the safety of visitors and residents alike, Bristol City Council has long seen the advantage of public space surveillance monitoring, both from the security and traffic monitoring perspectives. An initial system of 15 cameras covered the city centre.
Proving successful, and with the help of Government funding through a series of managed expansions, the original system has now been expanded to over 250 cameras located throughout the city as well as many smaller surrounding towns and housing association public areas. The expansion has occurred on a third party monitoring basis which provides the Bristol Control Room with additional revenue.
Comprehensive traffic management solution
Growing alongside the public space surveillance network has been a comprehensive system of traffic management cameras, used to track vehicular flow throughout the city’s central areas since 1997. Originally just 12 cameras were installed at key points throughout the city. Now, 120 cameras are deployed to keep a watchful eye on traffic movements.
With the two large surveillance systems growing independently of each other, duplicated areas of surveillance were becoming common. Given that the rapidly expanded camera numbers of the public space system were reaching the limit of the ageing control and camera switching equipment, an innovative integrated solution was deemed necessary to create an effective, single surveillance solution.
Gordon McLanaghan – the emergency Control Centre manager for Bristol City Council – explained: “With limitless funding, a new matrix and control system wouldn’t be a problem, but unfortunately our limited budget for public space surveillance couldn’t stretch to that level of new equipment. We realised that pooling our resources with Urban Traffic Control (UTC) and sharing a new solution would be the best way to achieve our joint technical goals.”
McLanaghan continued: “The primary objective was to enable the council’s Emergency Control Centre (public space monitoring) and UTC Control Rooms to access one another’s camera networks. Since both the traffic Control Room and public space Control Rooms have different surveillance priorities at different times of the day, it would provide an expanded network for both entities at their most critical monitoring periods and allow effective fail-safe back-up for each Control Room. Forged through the council’s CCTV Strategy Group, we were able to identify the need for a shared matrix and a common control system for both the Emergency Control Centre and the UTC Centre.”
Turning to independent consultancy
To achieve this, McLanaghan and his team turned to security consultant Derek Maltby, the well-known director of Global MSC Security. McLanaghan explained: “Enlisting the help of an independent security consultant is an important decision when considering the successful outcome of a project. Employing specialist expertise has a cost, but being sure of procuring the right equipment for a long-term solution is invaluable and more than repays any initial outlay for the consultancy services.”
For his part, Derek Maltby said: “Specifying the correct equipment for this challenging technical project was critical both to its overall performance and technical support. To ensure we got the best of both, we arranged for prospective manufacturer suppliers to attend a joint presentation of all shortlisted companies and outline the capabilities of their systems.”
There was also a detailed Question and Answer session. “This allowed Gordon and the team to effectively evaluate each product against the other, and to gain a comprehensive insight into each company’s technical ability and support,” outlined Maltby.
On consideration of the product’s technical performance and support that would be require from the chosen technical partner for the project, the team had – according to Maltby – “no hesitation” in selecting Synectics and its SynergyPro Graphical User Interface (GUI) for both the Emergency Control Centre and the UTC, all linked by a common Synectics Tesseract switching matrix.
McLanaghan elaborated: “It was clear from these trials that to achieve the complex level of integration and control we needed, having the utmost confidence in the supplying manufacturer was of paramount importance. Synectics’ technical expertise and its proven ability to supply a technical solution whatever the scenario, even bespoke to our needs, was very refreshing.”
The challenges of project implementation
Implementing the project was another challenge, not least because ten years of legacy upgrades had left both the Emergency Control Centre and UTC Control Room as challenging prospects.
McLanaghan continued: “Due to the complicated integration aspect of the new installation, the council felt the creation of a brand new server room was critical to the success of the project. Totally refurbished, this bespoke facility was located in the lower floor of an existing residential council building to provide a bespoke secure and controlled environment for the new communications and equipment room.”
This equipment, which is located four miles from both Control Rooms, is linked just like the camera network via the council-owned fibre network. “Installing the new system’s equipment to a strict timescale, and integrating and fully updating two Control Rooms at the same time was a huge technical challenge,” suggested McLanaghan. To fulfil this, the team turned to Select Electrics who fully managed the difficult project. “Their competence meant that the installation was achieved with minimal camera downtime during system changeover.”
With the installation of multiple Synectics SynergyPro positions in both the Emergency Control Centre and the Urban Traffic Control centre, Bristol City Council now enjoys not only a common control and switching platform, but also common reporting and evidential handling procedures.
McLanaghan explained: “Using SynergyPro we can access detailed statistical data at the touch of a button. My target has always been to work towards maximum efficiency and a paperless office. We have now made a huge step towards this, eliminating the time-consuming paperwork associated with incidents and prosecutions.”
He outlined: “Using Synectics’ technology, we can now access detailed statistical reports very easily. Not only are these incident reports used to help the council to plan effective deployment of crime reducing resources, but they are also a great way to show our third-party monitoring customers exactly what they’re getting for their money. Similarly, we can use them to show new customers exactly what our team, alongside the effective Synectics technology we employ, is capable of in the real world.”
Simple and intuitive operation
Simple and intuitive operation of all system functions was a very important factor when selecting the interface and control system. Using SynergyPro, the team of operators can now benefit from much simplified system functionality, creating a much more efficient and effective working environment. For example, the instant a new operator signs on, comprehensive handover notes are automatically displayed. This smoothes the transition between operator shifts, giving the incoming operator an instant overview of any outstanding situations and providing familiarity right from the start of their shift.
“Due to the extent of our monitored area, following incidents from camera to camera used to be a challenge for new operators unfamiliar with the area,” sighed McLanaghan. “However, using SynergyPro’s comprehensive mapping and touch-screen technology, switching cameras to follow incidents is made very easy. One touch operation and fast routes to system functionality are critical, and perfectly illustrated with Synectics’ display wall control technology.”
Selecting one function on the touch screen automatically displays the surrounding network of cameras on the video wall. This gives an unparalleled overview, not only of the incident under surveillance but also of the surrounding area.
“Our goal from the start was ultimate integration and efficiency, both in making the best of the skills of our operators and our camera network and display wall,” opined McLanaghan. “Synectics’ technology has helped greatly in achieving this, even incorporating bespoke functionality such as the one touch route to our ‘talking cameras’. These cameras include speakers mounted on each pole, and allow Control Room operators to talk directly to a monitored subject. This is especially effective in minor public disorder situations, or in discouraging antisocial behaviour such as the dropping of litter.”
Not only is integrated one touch communication now available, but all speech is recorded, too, giving the CCTV operators complete faith that all their actions are being archived.
Traffic monitoring is prioritised
In the Bristol Urban Traffic Control Centre, the CCTV monitoring focus is prioritised into different areas focusing on vehicular movements throughout the city, ensuring highways safety and the continual flow of traffic throughout the city’s busy road network.
Again linked to the new remote communications and equipment room via the council’s own fibre network, the UTC Centre has access to the complete camera network with images displayed for operators on a large rear-projection video wall.
In addition to dedicated spot monitors at the five operator positions, each is also equipped with Synectics’ SynergyPro technology, providing camera switching and control using the same touch screen technology that has yielded so many benefits at the council’s Emergency Control Centre.
Adam Crowther, the UTC Centre’s traffic signals and ITS manager, explained how the new ‘shared’ system has benefited traffic management in and around the city. “Since the inception of the new system, our coverage capability has increased dramatically. The innovative use of ‘shared’ camera networks is possible thanks to the fact that we have different priority periods for our differing types of surveillance. For us, the priority periods are rush hour times, whereas city centre and public space monitoring is at its most active during shopping hours and evening socialising hours.”
Control of the cameras and recording of incidents has become easier and more time economical thanks to the Synectics SynergyPro software solution, with simple functionality that allows even unfamiliar operators to gain intuitive control. This, along with the flexible display of camera ‘groups’ on the video wall at the touch of a button, means that the team now enjoys an unparalleled overview of any major route in the town centre.”
Small adjustments on a continual basis
This overview affords the UTC Centre operators the information on traffic movement they need. Crowther continued: “Our advanced traffic control software is constantly making small adjustment to traffic signals, being supplied with information from ground loops in the road, it provides the maximum flow rate at any one time. However, if for instance a lane is out of action due to roadworks or an accident, this would not be registered. Using the Synectics-based surveillance system, our operators can constantly update the automatic traffic system with any unforeseen developments. This is where instant access, intuitive control and the scope of the system really benefits us.”
An innovative approach to the expansion of the CCTV system in Bristol has proven successful both in its technical deployment, and the impact the expanded ability of both Control Rooms is having on the city.
For example, Emergency Control Centre operators were asked to assist the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) in carrying out surveillance on criminals who had travelled to Bristol to conduct a large drugs transaction. With direct involvement of CCTV operators, the operation ended with the arrest of six people and the recovery of GB pound 120,000 in cash and 100 kg of cannabis resin. The commander of SOCA praised the professionalism of the team in the Emergency Control Centre, and commented that the assistance provided (and the CCTV evidence obtained) was invaluable.
Fittingly, the last words are reserved for Gordon McLanaghan. “With such a large project, the key to our success has been a managed integration of all CCTV resources across the city. Using an innovative approach and deploying the right technology has resulted in a successful expansion to all aspects of electronic surveillance that provides a major benefit to both visitors and residents of Bristol.”