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Reinforcing security with system health checks

The typical modern-day residential estate is a showcase for a multitude of security technologies that include access control readers, vehicle licence scanners, number plate recognition cameras, thermal and optical cameras, recording devices and electric fences. The aim of all these elements is to ensure that residents, their assets, visitors, as well as contractors and staff are safe and secure. However, the spanner in the works is most often the inability of the system owners to establish optimum timing for the maintenance of their equipment.

Bernard Senekal, director at Naxian Systems says that investing substantial amounts of money into a high-end security system is counter-productive if the system fails. “Imagine if you will a scenario wherein a residential estate, which we will call Risque Estate, has a contract with a security provider to check all surveillance cameras on a regular scheduled as well as on an ad hoc maintenance basis.”

The cameras, a mixture of bullet, optical and thermal units, are installed at various strategic locations around the estate. Two of the thermal cameras are located on the perimeter fence and are responsible for monitoring the integrity of the fence line. The energiser fence is battery powered and covers a total distance of 7 km.

“Unbeknown to the security manager, the battery powering the energiser is faulty and therefore does not carry the full specified charge. One evening the battery fails, but no alerts are sent to the control room so nobody is aware that the electric fence is no longer active. In a strange twist of fate, a cumulative build-up of salt air and dirt obscures the lens on one of the thermal cameras. The estate is now vulnerable to illegal ingress by criminals and nobody on the security team is any the wiser,” says Senekal.

With repeated breakdowns on equipment, the estate security manager continues to call on the installers/integrators and appoints technicians to resolve the issues. An ageing system, a circus of technical ‘expertise’ and many thousands of Rands later, and the HOA is left shaking its collective head at the abysmal failure of its rather over-capitalised and ineffective security system.

Conversely, at Estate Idéal, the security team has adopted a Naxian Systems Smart Services package. The system makes use of AI with Deep Learning, as well as referencing back to expert databases to provide a comprehensive diagnosis of each device and system data for the purposes of predictive and preventative maintenance.

“The battery on the fence will never fail and the camera lens will always be clean as the Smart Service package is pre-programmed to assess the charge on the battery and to send alerts when the battery reaches predefined limits. Similarly, when the camera is no longer optimally focusing, Annie – Naxian’s AI agent – will alert the system to the issue and will determine the best resources to dispatch to the site, before the issue becomes critical. Residential estates can now rest assured that all security elements are monitored and assessed on a regular basis to ensure that uptime is maintained,” says Senekal.

Naxian undertakes a comprehensive risk analysis of existing and proposed security systems and devises a customised solution that factors in the geographical location of the site in relation to available resources, the technology used and the accessible resource base.

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