The big video surveillance camera category to watch in the future is the 180/360 degree panoramic network cameras, with global unit shipments forecasted to increase by more than 60% year-on-year, according to IHS. In particular, 180/360 degree cameras are predicted to gain market share in verticals such as retail, airports, and casinos, where monitoring wide indoor areas is a key requirement of the video surveillance system. In these scenarios, the cameras can reduce capital expenditure as fewer cameras are required to cover the same area.
180/360 degree panoramic cameras are available in two general configurations:
• Multi-sensor cameras where multiple image sensors and standard lenses are arranged in either a unidirectional or multidirectional array. Separate images can be stitched together either on the edge or at the central server.
• Lens-based megapixel network cameras are typically paired with either a fisheye lens or a panomorph lens.
While opportunities exist for both configurations, the lens-based panoramic camera market is predicted to be the faster growing of the two markets.
Historically, lens-based panoramic cameras have suffered from the need for proprietary dewarping software. However, with the development of dewarping technology, panoramic cameras now have a much wider compatibility into video management software platforms. New integrations, combined with increasing availability of panoramic cameras, will help the product category meet increasing customer demand.
While panoramic cameras provide a complete video surveillance picture, other camera types are often required to provide more detailed images. Therefore, IHS predicts that panoramic cameras will increasingly be combined with pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) dome cameras. In these cases, the panoramic camera can be used to provide a constant overview to identify points of interest and supply coordinates for an optical zoom PTZ camera to focus on, providing the more detailed images. According to IHS, the combined panoramic camera and PTZ camera solutions will increase operational efficiency and reduce PTZ operator errors.
360-degree total situational awareness
Pelco by Schneider Electric and Oncam Grandeye have partnered to provide the Evolution 360-Degree camera range. This joint venture combines Oncam Grandeye’s award winning 360-degree cameras and technology with Pelco’s extensive service and support, product delivery, and warranty fulfilment.
With client-side dewarping and retrospective analysis, you have the best forensic tool available on the market today. Dewarping on the network video recorder (NVR), such as Pelco’s Digital Sentry or other compatible platforms, provides an immersive experience that allows you to go back in time to retrospectively view the total scene in its original form and then pan, tilt, and/or zoom within the 360-degree image – just like you can on a live image.
What is a retrospective immersive experience?
The best way to explain the retrospective immersive experience is to imagine stepping back in time and having the ability to pan, tilt, and zoom around the scene – just like you would on a live image. If an incident or event occurred yesterday, you would have the ability to play back the clip from the time just before the event took place, and just like you would when viewing a live scene, you could pan, tilt, and zoom around the scene as the video clip played. You would play the clip forward and backward as you unravelled and analysed the detail.
This unique ability to investigate and establish facts of interest in relation to a past event or an incident that is happening now enables security, loss prevention, and health and safety personnel to forensically analyse what happened leading up to, during, and after the event, across the entire scene as if you were there. The entire history of the scene is accessible for you to interrogate, in a way that is both familiar and user friendly to CCTV system users.
Advantages of client-side dewarping
Panoramic cameras are offered with either dewarping on the camera or on the client application. Experience has proven that there is a significant advantage when the dewarping is performed on the client-side application versus doing the dewarping in the camera.
As technology moves forward, improvements are being made in image quality and user experience. Likewise, technology is becoming more simple, flexible, and interactive to use. And like everything else, video management systems (VMS) are advancing. Dewarping on the client side allows for retrospective viewing, which enables the user to go back in time to view the total scene in its original form and then pan, tilt, and/or zoom within the 360-degree image as desired.
The patented Oncam Grandeye approach to dewarping uses the graphics processing unit (GPU), which significantly reduces the impact on the processing required by the central processing unit (CPU), and gives a seamless user experience with zero latency.
An additional advantage to dewarping on the client side is the ability for multiple clients to view the same image, with different perspectives, concurrently; there is no time slicing required as with traditional PTZ cameras or 360-degree cameras with dewarping on the camera. Dewarping on the camera lets the customer create virtual views or narrow-field windows that create blind spots similar to conventional cameras. The windows may be moved using PTZ commands over the network, and will then have latency similar to what is currently associated with mechanical PTZ cameras.
Dewarping on the camera does not allow the ability to retrospectively view the 360-degree image, which is one of the biggest advantages of using 360-degree cameras. In addition, and similar to a conventional PTZ camera, all users need to view the same image at the same time or request a time slice to control the camera, severely limiting its usefulness for remote viewing by different clients at the same time.
Oncam Grandeye has developed SDKs for multiple platforms that can be integrated into any client-side application. In the Oncam Grandeye case these come with patented dewarping technology using OpenGL and 3D modelling techniques to project a texture map of the image onto p-surface (a 3D object, generated by a computer graphic system). This takes advantage of current state-of-the-art GPUs, which reduce the load on the CPU. Performing dewarping on the CPU could use as much as 20% of the CPUs power, based on the size of the image and frame rate. Traditionally, with hardware dewarping and PTZing, the images do not require additional dewarping and this further reduces the CPU load.
The result is that by using GPU/OpenGL there is no latency when the client uses PTZ commands for a different perspective, and the bilinear filtering, which is used in the dewarping process, ensures minimal resolution loss on the dewarped images.
Lenses
There is a lot of confusion when it comes to representing the true resolution of a 360-degree camera. However, there are some simple mathematics that can help end users and integrators check exactly what resolution they are getting. Most manufacturers use a 5 Mpx sensor, or 2592 x 1944 pixels, and the image is then cropped to the size of the lens, or a circle within a rectangle. The circle, therefore, has a diameter of 1944 pixels and the following equation is used to calculate the true resolution.
Oncam Grandeye, with more than 10 years experience in developing 360-degree technology, matches the sensor to the lens, maximising the resolution and providing the very best 360-degree solution. It uses the same 5 Mpx sensor and crops it first to 2144 x 1944, and then matches the lens to the diameter of 2144. This gives Oncam Grandeye cameras a true resolution of 3.5 Mpx, providing a clearer image and improved situational awareness over other manufacturers.
In conclusion
There really are no limits on how 360-degree technology, coupled with the best patented 3D dewarping technology and integrated into the VMS, can add value. The many facets of the Evolution 360-Degree Cameras and its forensic capabilities are literally limitless, ranging in every application imaginable from city surveillance to retail to gaming, and more.
“This is an exciting partnership. We are delighted Pelco has recognised the quality of our 360-degree technology and the value it brings to its customers as it seeks to meet the growing demand for this technology in the marketplace,” Greg Alcorn, senior vice president, business development, Oncam Grandeye.
“Partnering with Oncam Grandeye to deliver the Evolution 360-degree camera range brings innovation and value to Pelco’s IP camera portfolio, offering client-side dewarping both live and retrospectively,” said Hervé Fages, senior vice president, Schneider Electric, Pelco Video Line of Business. “This partnership enables us to support our customers by minimising their blind spots in surveillance and by developing practical solutions that will secure their critical assets and deliver real value. All of this is backed by Pelco’s amazing service and support.”
Visit www.pelco.com/panoramic for more information on the Evolution 360.
Reprinted with permission of Pelco by Schneider Electric.
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