Wireless IP Video System Protects Italian Hospital

  • Feb 24, 2009

IndigoVision’s integrated IP-CCTV system has been chosen to protect the main hospital complex in the Italian city of Palermo. Situated in the center of the city, Villa Sofia-CTO consists of three main hospital buildings located on a single site. The new, 650 camera CCTV system will provide the hospital with the latest surveillance technology, helping to protect staff, patients, visitors and valuable assets.

The IP video system will be installed on dedicated networks in each of the three main buildings. Each building will be interconnected using a wireless LAN. This will allow the hospital security team to monitor all 650 cameras, from all three sites, using a single central control room. IndigoVision’s compression technology ensures that full framerate, high-quality digital video, from all the cameras, can be streamed 24/7 across the network with minimal impact on bandwidth -- an important factor when using wireless networks.

The system is being supplied by IndigoVision’s local partner Bettini Srl and installed by CEPIE in partnership with the design consultant Studio Diblasi di Palermo.

The security staff will use ‘Control Center’, IndigoVision’s IP video and alarm management software to monitor live and recorded video from the cameras. Video will be recorded at full-framerate for 7 days using 42 standalone IndigoVision NVRs, which will be installed around the three buildings to minimize network bandwidth.

Using the ‘Control Center’ workstation operators will be able to view recorded video from any NVR no matter where they are located. The distributed nature of IP video removes the single point of failure associated with an analog video matrix and DVR system. If a NVR fails, video can be automatically re-directed to another NVR and as they are distributed, the system is inherently fault-tolerant. IndigoVision’s system is thus very flexible and scalable, allowing additional cameras, NVRs or ‘Control Center’ workstations to be added cost-effectively to any point on the network. This, together with the high-quality low-bandwidth video, was the reason IndigoVision’s solution was chosen for Palermo Hospital.

Real-time motion detection analytics will be used to trigger alarms in ‘Control Center’ when people or vehicles enter unauthorized areas. The alarms can then be used to automatically trigger events, such as displaying a pre-defined salvo of cameras or panning and zooming a camera to a preset location. Automating the real time detection of incidents frees up valuable operator resource and increases effectiveness. The same tools are available in ‘Control Center’ for the post-event analysis of large volumes of recorded footage. This dramatically reduces the time to locate critical events, enabling timely response to emergency situations.

The 650 cameras are a mix of fixed and dome analog cameras, installed internally and externally. Each camera is connected to an IndigoVision 8000 module which converts the analog feed to DVD-quality MPEG-4 digital video for transmission over the network.

The processing of real time analytics and a IndigoVision feature called Activity Controlled Framerate (ACF) is achieved in the 8000 module itself. ACF controls the amount of video that is transmitted on to the network. When the scene is inactive, the framerate is reduced, as soon as any motion is detected in the scene the framerate is automatically set to maximum.

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