Melbourne City Council upgrades Safecity Camera Program with DVTel Latitude Network Video Management System

(05/10/2007)

The Melbourne City Council has deployed the DVTel Latitude Network Video Management System (NVMS) to upgrade its already successful Safecity Camera Program. SNP installed and commissioned the Safecity DVTel system.

When first installed in 1997, the Safecity Camera Program’s CCTV system was cutting edge. A key element was a fiber cable plant installed in a star configuration that took advantage of the Council’s infrastructure to future-proof existing camera locations, arguably for decades to come.

The upgrade to a new digital solution has proven the wisdom of the Council’s investment. Now, with that original fiber optic signal path mated to the new DVTel NVMS head end, Melbourne City Council’s solution is positioned to take advantage of its legacy PTZ cameras with no need to choke performance to meet bandwidth restrictions imposed at the network switch.

In performance terms, the DVTel-driven solution delivers 4 CIF at 25 frames per second (PAL) on all inputs. That means simultaneous 4 CIF viewing, recording and playback, all at 25 fps and on all inputs simultaneously, over a network. Video streams arrive by fiber, go through the legacy multiplexer and come out onto coaxial cables that swing into racks of DVTel encoders where the analog video signal is converted to an IP data stream. The data stream is then carried into the network server to be accessed by workstations running DVTel’s Latitude NVMS.

The Safecity Camera Program’s system functionality is built around the DVTel NVMS. While there are a range of modular components that comprise the solution, it’s the DVTel Latitude NVMS that brings all the physical components onto a graphical user interface giving operators full monitoring, recording, and analysis functionality.

According to Melbourne’s Head of Security & Building Safety, Russell Lightfoot, “A key benefit of the upgraded Safecity system is the ability to replay an event immediately after it occurs while still monitoring live video – that’s a real strength of this solution – you can double check an incident while still keeping an eye on what’s happening.”

“It’s also made our lives a lot easier in terms of recovering information and verifying things—the system is more effective and more reliable than what we had in the past.” Going digital also meant the use of high resolution LCD monitors and Lightfoot says they’re significantly better and their operation much more flexible than CRTs technology.

According to SNP’s Stuart Pitcher, the Safecity system took only about six weeks to build and install. He says the DVTel management solution was pushed to its limits in this installation. “This system, in what it’s been asked to do in relation to frames per second on live, record, and playback, with all this happening simultaneously across multiple inputs – it’s being pushed to the limits of current technology and beyond. Because the DVTel system is so powerful you find yourself asking for progressively more and more, and expecting the system to deliver more and more – you keep pushing the limits,” Pitcher said.

Melbourne is pleased with the upgrade and they are getting the results they were looking for. Lightfoot said the Safecity Camera Program’s operators are very skilled with most having worked with the system for a long time. “This experience gives them the ability to read scenes very accurately, to read body language and movements – they notice problems before they develop and this allows us to act quickly if required. There’s a communications link to the police, we can send images to the police in the event of an incident, and we also have a police radio so we can assist as incidents occur.”

“We’re delighted with the digital system,” Lightfoot says. “We knew what we wanted with this upgrade and we got what we wanted.”

Related topics:  CCTV cameras and domes   CCTV system and accessories   Digital CCTV   IP monitoring   Surveillance 

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