With dozens of options on the market for video analytics solutions, having a checklist by which to evaluate your company’s investment can streamline the process.
Like buying a house or a car, a major investment in security technology begins with a proper understanding of your needs, what’s available in the marketplace and how it will adapt to changes based on your use of the product and of the ongoing technological advances.
Here are the key points to consider and questions to answer before you buy:
1. What, if anything, do you have to work with?
Before making any decision, it’s necessary to evaluate what is currently in place. If you have an existing video surveillance solution, determine how compatible it will be with the analytics system.
Existing analogue cameras can be fitted with smart encoders that attach seamlessly to enable analytics or intelligent video that can become part of an IP-based camera system, either with IP intelligent cameras or IP intelligent encoders. If there is no current infrastructure, IP cameras with embedded video analytics would be the optimal solution.
2. What do you need your solution to do?
A military installation and a car dealership will have different needs in how they want to deploy a video analytics system. Before embarking on a purchase, consider how the system will be used at your site.
What types of information are you looking to capture and analyse? Is your focus on trying to detect humans or vehicles? Seaports, airports and military facilities are concerned with detecting unattended objects, intruders and breaches of perimeter security such as fences and gates, while car lot operators, will also be looking for signs of loitering, vandalism and theft.
The scope of the video analytics system will be dependent on how it is put to use, so these factors need to be evaluated early on in the buying process.
3. Where will the system be deployed?
An office building or retailer looking to deploy analytics in its entrance has a different set of needs to a critical infrastructure installation with cameras posted along miles of perimeter.
Systems working with outdoor cameras rely on the proper placement of cameras so they can capture the necessary images for analysis. The type of architecture on which the system relies is also determined, in part, by the number of cameras and devices you want to use. Environmental challenges, lighting and weather effects, all have prominent impact on analytics performance and have to be considered.
4. What are the different types of architectures available?
As referenced earlier, the architecture of the system can limit or extend the robustness of video analytics solutions. A DVR-based system is typically limited in the number of cameras it can support and the flexibility it can provide, as well as being at the lower end of processing power.
Another option is the PC-based system which offers more, but still limited, camera connections. Network-based video analytic solutions can support more cameras, but the limits here are in bandwidth. Requiring information to be constantly transmitted to a central location or server for processing and storage along with the ability to view the data or video, takes up additional bandwidth to retrieve the information.
There is also a higher cost typically associated with these systems vs. DVR and PC-based models, and added complexity. The distributed approach to video analytics relies on edge devices to take the strain off the network for both systems requirements and bandwidth. With information processed at the edge, either at the IP camera or encoder, the system can then transmit only video that is important.
As a note, the centralised architecture is usually more relevant to existing installations; an appliance approach is also relevant here, making the retrofit task seamless and painless.
5. How easy is it to build a solution?
Adding analytics to an existing CCTV system can be as simple as plug-and-play. Instead of investing in stand-alone PCs to run video analytics software, modern analytics appliances can be plugged into analogue infrastructure to transform existing cameras into intelligent detectors, or the analytics can reside in the camera itself.
Another area for consideration is determining if the system you invest in is scalable and compatible for your future needs, whether that is adding cameras or integrating with other security system components.
6. What are the installation requirements?
Whether yours is a small company with no IT department or a multi-national with a robust internal IT and security department, the idea of ease of installation and user-friendly technology is universal. When looking for an analytics solution, consider who is doing the installation and maintenance.
As analytics becomes a more widely available and affordable solution, the need has risen to make it more user friendly.
The good news is that analytics are no longer viewed as just a system for high-end applicants who have access to professional installers, but it is a solution that for most end users should be as easy to install as putting in a new IP camera. Therefore, look for systems that require only minimal skill set, and take minutes to install, not hours.
7. How reliable is the solution?
Anyone employing analytics is doing so because they need a heightened level of security and knowledge about specific events. Fortunately, video analytics has improved in several areas since its inception, including its range of detection, quality and scope of video, tamper resistance and ability to operate in different weather, lighting and temperature conditions.
8. How easy is it to obtain the solution in the marketplace?
Even with improved ease of installation and maintenance, it’s critical to know that there is a network of distributors or channel partners available to assist you with your analytics solution. Video analytics is now available off the shelf, but some PC-based systems still require purchases to be made directly through the vendor.
9. How affordable is it?
Today’s CIOs want to know about the return on investment on purchases large and small. Employing analytics can bring about quick payback with the reduction in personnel costs from guard services as well as the redeployment of security personnel from watching video 24/7 to refocusing on critical needs.
While there is an initial investment associated with intelligent video, the cost can be different depending on the type of system and architecture you choose. A network-based system will likely bring on additional costs related to switches and routers, while edge-device-based systems aren’t as server or bandwidth dependent. Affordability can also be measured in the savings on cost-heavy incidents, such as vandalism, theft and damage.
10. What can and can’t video analytics do?
Video analytics is a definite improvement over traditional security surveillance. The ability to detect and react to an incident before it occurs is a vast upgrade over traditional monitoring in which security personnel typically reacted after an event took place, with a response that could range from minutes to hours.
Video analytics is at its best when utilised in well-defined scenarios, such as a person jumping over a fence, or a car parked in a specific area for prescribed amount of time. Video analytics is ideal for the high-end security market, including military and homeland security situations, as well as the mid-range security situations with definable challenges such as car dealerships, schools, manufacturing plants and even some residential applications.
Where video analytics is less employable are those situations that are harder to define, such as suspicious behaviour within a large group or picking out a terrorist from among a crowd.