Mobile CCTV has now become a hot election issue. With high profile attacks taking place on trains and buses, this is becoming a major concern in some areas of the country.
London mayoral candidate Boris Johnson has pledged to spend GB pound 150,000 on a trial CCTV system on some of the most dangerous routes in London. Images would be transmitted instantly to an ops room or to hand held devices. He says that making travelers feel safer is a top priority – an opinion echoed by the many people who have no choice other than to travel on public services.
Over recent years, CCTV has found itself increasingly being used on public transport. Trains, buses and even cabs now have technology that can act as both a deterrent and a detector of crime, vandalism and anti-social behaviour.
However, one of the major drivers (pardon the pun) for on-board surveillance is unconnected with security. In a society that is increasingly risk-conscious, and encouraged by “no win, no fee” legal firms, passengers are bringing more cases against public transport operators.
The cost of a CCTV system can be recouped many times over in the savings made by operators when they can disprove bogus personal injury claims made against them .
Proving its case
The mention by transport company lawyers of the existence of a CCTV recording of the claimed incident has been known to quickly end the proceedings in more questionable cases.
Conversely, CCTV as a record of the driver’s actions can also be used in favour of the passenger in legitimate cases and can assist in driver training.
Excellent CCTV images from on-board and station systems now fill newspaper columns and TV broadcasts. While the frequent reproduction of these images can, ironically, help increase the public fear factor, it is hoped that this is outweighed by the deterrent effect. Knowing that their image is likely to be captured plants a message firmly in the mind of the criminal.
Department of Transport findings show bus travelers feel that locally monitored CCTV surveillance is the most reassuring form of security, while train passengers are most reassured by platform and on-board staff.
High quality images from stations and onboard systems have helped the public to identify suspects and brought successful criminal convictions in many cases and CCTV manufacturers and installers are finding this a growth area.
Below are some of the latest applications and equipment in this sector.
Ideal for buses
TransVu Express, from AD Network Video is a mobile DVR in the family of products that won the Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2006.
The TransVu Express is compact, lightweight and ‘ruggedised’, which makes it suitable for mobile and covert surveillance.
Fitted with aerospace grade anti-vibration mounts, it is being aimed largely at public services vehicles, taxis and smaller bus operators.
Designers at AD say that the product’s low power consumption makes it ideal for fast set-up in isolated areas where there is no mains supply. In addition, the TransVu Express’ batteries can be charged with solar power. The unit’s small size should allow it to be mounted under a seat of a bus or even in the boot of a car. AD have supplied a single connector which they hope facilitates easy fitment and removal.
TransVu Express has many features commonly found on larger units, including the ability to automatically download footage and system status on request via wireless communications technologies. It can also be accessed remotely via cellular networks.
Richard Bettley, the Technical Manager at AD Network Video is confident that the TransVu Express will open market opportunities for the product range. He said, “already we have received extremely positive feedback from operators who have had an opportunity to trial TransVu Express prior to its official launch at IFSEC 2007, particularly regarding image quality and ease of set up.”
Information: www.dedicatedmicros.com
Live video from vehicle
Video recorded and downloadable in real-time can not only aid in successful investigations, but help stop attempted attacks on public transport.
Even more effective is the ability to transmit live and recorded video data across wireless data networks, says Visual Defence Inc of Ontario. The company’s centralised mobile video surveillance solution is now “Motorola Motomesh ready” and can provide first response teams with real-time live and recorded video across the Motorola Motomesh wireless broadband network.
This enables faster, better-informed emergency response, as well as heightened public safety and security within mobile environments like buses and trains. Using the system, each vehicle is installed with IP cameras and a Visual Defence DVSSm unit from Visual Defence.
The unit communicates with the Motorola Motomesh radio and transmits video via the router and network switch to the Visual Defence VMS server located within a central monitoring centre. Live and recorded video is viewed using VMS SoftClient within the centre, as well as on laptops in the field that are connected wirelessly. This gives users real-time mobile access to video information. The mobile video surveillance can easily accommodate the addition of vehicles to the fleet, says Visual Defence and additional cameras to monitor public spaces, as required.
Information: www.visualdefence.com
Better behaviour on trains
Public behaviour on trains has already improved since Dedicated Micros supplied rail operator Southern with its NetVu Connected Digital Sprite 2 DVR as part of a networked CCTV upgrade.
Using NetVu ObserVer video management software, operators monitor cameras from across the stations at a control room in Hove, East Sussex. The project has been designed to deliver enhanced security for passengers and stations on the South West coast line, which stretches from Bognor Regis to Brighton.
This new solution supports both live monitoring and remote management of the recorded images. It should allow station managers and the British Transport Police to use the DVRs locally at the station and, if necessary, take evidence away on CD or DVD.
Southern’s existing IT infrastructure was used, so there was no need to lay expensive additional fibre. High detail images are stored locally to each station on the DS2s and then, through DM’s transcoding capability, images are viewed on demand, over ADSL and WAN for live monitoring and also later review at Southern’s Hove control room. Video Motion Detection helps to narrow down searches for specific events and operators are able to apply a user-friendly graphical user interface at four viewing stations to view images also displayed on large 42 inch plasma screens and manage live video and play back.
Embedded maps help operators to manage incidents through site plans for each station and they can use the public address system to communicate with people at the station and warn offenders that they are being monitored.
Operators at the control room can use the PA system to single out any offenders, and the project – which groups 20 Southern stations together – is already said ti have changed public behaviour.
DVR for a challenge
Hikvision has introduced a networked DVR specially designed for vehicle monitoring.
The DS-8000HMI Vehicle DVR is said to have the superior performance of Texas Instruments digital signal processing for high resolution viewing without overburdening the available network bandwidth or storage. It is specially designed for a use in a variety of transport applications, including buses, subways, light rails and cash carrying vehicles, where deployment often presents a challenge.
The company says the DS-8000HMI series was designed to meet the market need for a versatile and cost-effective vehicle DVR that is easy to implement.
“Flexible deployment options and excellent image quality make Hikvision DS-8000HMI ideal in point-to-point applications or, when combined with Mobile DVR CMS (Central Management Software), as a powerful component in an end-to-end enterprise vehicle security solution.”
Suitable applications include include school buses, taxis, police vehicles and ambulances.
Information: www.hikvision.com
Subway ‘breakthrough’
A “breakthrough” video server from Optelcom is now being introduced as part of three major subway system projects underway around the world, says the company.
The S-44 video server is a new 4-channel video codec from the manufacturer of IP solutions.
The largest installation is for the new rail line, “Line 10,” of the Beijing Metro System in China and will support the transport and recording of more than 1000 video signals.
This is the third major contract award for Optelecom-NKF from the Beijing Metro System and the first to feature the new S-44 MC (Multi-Codec) version.
The other two project wins are subway security systems for major cities in France and Spain. These key projects also include the S-44 series from the Siqura product range.
The design combines four Texas Instrument DSPs on a single board. Each DSP can simultaneously transmit two MPEG-2/4 video streams and one Motion JPEG stream, with all of them simultaneously running at full D1 resolution.
Information: www.siqura.com