Seeing without being seen

Issue 8 2021 Government and Parastatal (Industry), Surveillance


Cannes is known worldwide for its film festival around the ‘Boulevard de la Croisette’. The two-kilometre-long promenade, lined with stores, restaurants, casinos and the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, borders directly on a wide sandy beach.

Cannes should be accessible, safe and enjoyable for citizens and guests away from the film festival. Video surveillance should be as discreet as possible to protect the aesthetics around the legendary promenade. Technilum, the designer and supplier of urban lighting and furnishings, won the 2019 tender to upgrade the Croisette with its Smart-In-Site solution around intelligent urban lighting.

Technilum and Mobotix had already been working together successfully for three years on smart city solutions. In addition, the solution integrator ABSYS was involved in the project. As a long-standing partner of Technilum, it supports the embedding of technical solutions in lighting poles.

Mobotix IoT cameras are integrated into Technilum’s networked and intelligent lighting furniture. As seen in the images, the lens below the lighting is entirely hidden. That’s why the S16 DualFlex was made for Technilum’s solutions. The S16 is weatherproof and highly flexible in its installation. The two sensor modules are connected to the concealed camera housing via cables up to three meters long. Just one camera can thus cover a large area.


Thirty-four Technilum masts on the Croisette house the discreet Mobotix video technology with 180-degree vision. They are directly connected to the city’s urban security centre. Along the Croisette, there are two poles per beach access, plus other street furniture with several combined functions: From lighting and signage to audio function, menu and banner stand, or even mailboxes.

Smart partnership for smart cities

In addition to reliability, weather resistance and flexibility, CNPP certified cybersecurity was an essential criterion for selecting Mobotix systems.

Mobotix was also able to score with its large selection of optics. In general, the project managers praised the excellent image quality, even in low light conditions. Fewer cameras, thanks to hemispherical technology and the lower bandwidth via the decentralised system, save money, as does the almost complete avoidance of false alarms with MxActivitySensor.




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