The burgeoning Polish CCTV market has just gone live with its largest and most sophisticated surveillance system yet installed. Designed by, and entirely based around, equipment supplied by Ultrak, Poland's biggest video surveillance scheme is now covering the entire capital city of Warsaw.
Last year, the country's Prime Minister, Lesek Miller, cited the instigation of this prestigious project as one of his main goals for 2002. His intention, to provide the capital's two million inhabitants with a 'safer city' was realised in January, when Phase 1 of the system, designed to tackle the city's high rate of criminal activity, (the highest in the country), went live.
Local and global control
Warsaw's Ultrak CCTV surveillance system comprises seven police stations, connected to the main Police Headquarters located in the heart of the city. At each local 'subsystem', MAX-1000 Video Management Systems are used to control up to 32 cameras, and with built-in expansion capability, the number of subsystems can be increased at any time. At each police substation, the flexibility of the MAX-1000's macro software caters for four system operators to have differing levels of system access, administered by individual PIN codes.
Using RD-530/3D keyboards to manage camera and monitor selections, dome control and one-touch pre-programmed functions, flexible surveillance monitoring is readily performed. As an example of the level of control sophistication, if one of the main monitors is displaying an incident from a particular camera, the operator can press a function key to initiate a quad display, to show multiple camera views. The MAX-PRO 1000 software then calculates which cameras are appropriate to form the quad screen, comprising the three nearest geographically located cameras.
As well as full, and quad screen displays, provided by KQ7300CP colour quad units, KM2100 series colour monitors are used at each workstation for the display of multiscreen images, provided by KX1610CP duplex colour multiplexers. In addition, two multiplexers are used for viewing recorded pictures, and specifically for alarm recording. In the event of an incident taking place, any operator can secure vital information, selecting any camera to be recorded in 'alarm' mode. Total control of system functions such as monitor switching, dome control, switching multi-screens, starting a video printer and other auxiliary devices, are performed from just the one keyboard, again thanks to the inherent flexibility of the MAX-1000 VMS.
The Police Headquarters' new CCTV Main Command Centre (MCC) is linked to each of the seven police substations via a fibre-optic network. Carrying high-quality video and telemetry signals, this high bandwidth link allows supervisors and command centre officers to take control of any camera across the entire system. Supporting the coordination of police activities on the ground, an important feature of the command centre is the ability to display any mix of camera images, on to a massive 16 unit video screen.
System's eyes
To provide consistently high-quality pictures, the Warsaw government chose Ultrak's IP66 rated KD6-NP dome cameras. Designed to work across a range of environmental weather conditions, the nitrogen pressurised domes maintain a stable operating environment for the camera, zoom lens and drive mechanism, protecting the device against the ingress of rain, snow, salty air, humidity and many other corrosive elements. Along with the camera's high-speed pan and tilt performance, 460TV line resolution and 1,7 lux SuperHAD CCD colour camera, an 18x optical and 4x digital zoom lens provide the city with a dynamic 24 hour video imaging solution.
Other advanced features which effectively assist the surveillance operation include camera preshots, vector-scans and tours. Providing an extra level of security, all KD6-NP domes in the system are fitted with alarm inputs connected to an anti-sabotage system. Any tampering with the camera receivers causes an alarm trigger to be activated, automatically sending the dome camera to a pre-programmed position and relaying the alarm signal to the control centre.
With the first stage of the Warsaw project accomplished, 95 Ultrak KD6-NP domes have been installed. When completed, the final number of domes spread throughout the city is estimated to be around 500.
Maxpro Graphic Platform
As in most capital cities, there are a number of large and varied events that need to be effectively managed. Facilitating the intuitive operation of the whole system at the main command centre, a Maxpro Graphic Platform (MGP) is featured within each operator's workstation. By using a PC mouse to click on features available via the MGP interface, all system features can be quickly accessed.
All MGP maps define the physical location of system cameras using icons. Displaying the required camera picture is simply a matter of choosing an area map, and then clicking on the icon for the particular camera required. Readily edited maps, icons, overlays and other graphical components mean that the MGP can be adapted to suit future system requirements, with minimal effort. Maximising system performance, automatic indications and programmed reactions in response to many kinds of events are deployed, and any incoming alarm causes the automatic display of an appropriate location map and flashing icon.
Recording
Drawing on the benefits associated with traditional analog, and the latest digital technologies, the Warsaw system utilises both formats, to record, review and archive essential evidential video material.
The basic recording media used is Ultra S-VHS time-lapse VCRs, coupled to KX1610CP multiplexers, to record pictures from all cameras in the system. Although perfectly acceptable for normal surveillance requirements, the Warsaw police felt that the ability to access specific images quickly and by various criteria would be extremely beneficial. To meet this requirement, at all monitoring locations, Ultrak has also provided EuroCorder II digital recorders. Thanks to the digital units' advanced searching program, the very fast retrieval and display of required images can be easily performed.
Summing up his involvement with the system, Piotr Rogalewski, Ultrak Poland's technical manager, commented, "The sheer scale and complexity of the government's system for Warsaw was a serious challenge for us. Apart from designing a highly effective, mass CCTV surveillance system, all equipment had to be supplied with Polish language menus and the system had to be ready for any size of future extensions. With simultaneous access for many users, global control of any feature throughout the whole system, control of all auxiliary devices, alarm management and simultaneous digital and analog recording, Ultrak has delivered a major surveillance solution to meet an extremely demanding project, designed to tackle the capital's crime issues, and make it a much safer place."
For further details contact Ultrak SA on tel: 011 608 2251.
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