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Multifocal football coverage

The Allianz Arena, Munich: no longer merely one of the largest and most attractive football stadiums in Europe, it is now also one of the safest. The video surveillance system in the stadium in the Bavarian state capital has been thoroughly overhauled and converted to Dallmeier technology. At the heart of the system, Panomera multifocal sensor technology is tasked with ensuring order in the North and South ends of the stadium.

The home stadium for FC Bayern München, which is where TSV 1860 München also play their home games, can accommodate over 71 000 spectators. In order to ensure the safety of fans and players at all times, the existing video surveillance system has been completely modernised. “The system for controlling individual PTZ cameras was technologically temperamental and the resolution achieved was no longer equal to current needs. It would not have been commercially viable to modernise or expand the existing system, so we set out to find a new system,” says Richard Ponteles, team leader technical FM, department operations at the Allianz Arena München Stadion.

Then, the security managers saw the Dallmeier Panomera multifocal sensor system at the ‘Sponsors Sports Venue Summit’ – and they were convinced by the performance capabilities of this new camera technology. An extensive planning phase followed, in which the technicians from Dallmeier visited the site a number of times to design a new video system that was perfectly adapted to the Allianz Arena.

Highest possible resolution

The heart of this new video installation is the patented Panomera system, a multifocal sensor system. Unlike conventional cameras, which rely on single lenses, the multifocal sensor system operates with multiple lenses, each with a different focal length. This new sensor concept makes it possible to provide surveillance over a vast area with the highest possible resolution from a single installation point. “Even more distant individuals or objects are captured with the same quality resolution as those in the image foreground,” explains Roland Meier, head of Panomera at Dallmeier.

And there is one other important difference from conventional cameras: whereas PTZ cameras only ever record the zone that is currently being viewed live, which means that the success of searches depends crucially on the respective operators, with Panomera the entire image – that is to say the entire area under surveillance – is recorded continuously and at maximum resolution. This means that no details are lost, and a wide range of analysis and evaluation options are made possible.

The responsible staff members at the Allianz Arena were particularly concerned to provide security in the spectators’ areas in the North and South ends. So the Panomera systems were mounted at a dizzying height: three cascaded Panomeras behind the scoreboard cover the upper tier of the North stand, several more Panomeras on the lighting gantries are trained on the lower tiers of the North and South ends.

“The resolution of detail offered by Panomera is simply incredible,” enthuses Ponteles.

Integrating the existing installation

In all, about 100 cameras are used to oversee the entire stadium area including the stands, the inner building, entrances and exits, and even the car parks. In the course of the modernisation, depending on their condition the existing cameras were either replaced with Dallmeier dome cameras or box cameras with integrated infrared illumination, or were incorporated in the new system.

“Previously, we worked with two management systems in order to be able to operate the cameras from the various manufacturers. But these have now been replaced with a single system from Dallmeier, the SeMSy Management System. The legacy cameras from multiple manufacturers, the Dallmeier HD cameras and the Panomera cameras can all be controlled and analysed very simply with one management system,” says Ponteles.

Four workstations, all equipped with the SeMSy Management System and the Panomera Viewer have been set up in the command centre for the police. Another three workstations are located in the Welcome Area West, the Stewards’ Office and the Engineering Room. This enables the security staff and stewards to be deployed optimally in the stadium during matches, and even areas such as the stairwells or lifts can be overseen reliably. In addition, all status reports from the PGuard advance analysis software are routed to the work-station in the Engineering Room, so the staff there is informed auto-matically if a fan or a camera malfunctions for example.

Reliable recording

Several DMX 1600 Smatrix were installed for recording from the legacy cameras, the Panomera systems are stored on IPS 2400 Smavia. The IPS 2400 is a high-performance appliance with integrated storage system and high recording speed. The IPS 2400 is particularly notable for its extremely space-saving design as well as low power consumption and heat emission.

MD Jürgen Muth also considers the new video system a complete success: “The extremely high detail resolution, the capability of integrating our existing system, and particularly the intuitive operation of the system were the decisive factors for us in choosing Dallmeier. We are more than satisfied, both with the system and with the consulting support we have received from Dallmeier.”

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