Power Accord

How one tailored system is fitting the bill for day/night surveillance in remote locations

  • By Martina Panighel
  • Dec 01, 2010

With temperatures regularly topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the Southwestern state of Arizona, residents need a reliable source of electricity to run air conditioners. Power utility APS is the Grand Canyon State’s largest electric utility and Arizona’s leading producer of electric power, providing reliable power with quality service at a reasonable cost for more than 100 years. APS, which is owned by Pinnacle West Capital Corp., serves more than 1.1 million customers in 11 of the 15 counties in the state.

The Challenge
APS has found that it needs to monitor its critical infrastructure and substations, which are located all over the state. Much of the infrastructure is located in areas that are often difficult to reach, such as its Palo Verde nuclear power-generating station, located about 55 miles west of Phoenix, which has been the largest power producer of any kind in the United States since 1992.

APS already had a video surveillance system in place equipped with a series of thermal imaging PTZ. The problem, however, was that this legacy system had a high failure rate and was quite costly to maintain. Seeking an effective surveillance system for both sunny and nighttime conditions, APS moved to Videotec’s solution, a ULISSE positioning system specifically created for applications of day/night video surveillance in external environments.

The Solution
Videotec’s ULISSE surveillance system has an integrated housing, P&T head and telemetry receiver. In order to monitor its power infrastructure around the clock, APS needed some sort of night surveillance capabilities. So the power company’s package included two Videotec infrared LED illuminators without external rotating cables.

ULISSE’s rotation on the horizontal axis is continuous, with a variable speed of up to 40 degrees per second. The amplitude on the vertical axis varies from +90 degrees to -40 degrees with a max speed of 30 degrees per second. ULISSE controls the functions of autopan and patrol with a tracking accuracy of 0.02 degrees on preset positions recall. The positioning system is controlled through an RS485/RS422.

Active infrared night vision like ULISSE PTZ incorporates illuminators that produce high levels of infrared light, and the resulting images are typically higher resolution than other night-vision technologies.

The system fit APS’s needs well.

“Working close with APS,” said Gianni Viero, vice president at Videotec, “we offered a valuable solution with one of our state-ofthe- art solution for effective day/night surveillance.”

The ULISSE PTZ with twin 20-degree IRBD Illuminators have been fitted with a 1/2-inch CCD camera and a mechanical zoom lens, which gives about 900 feet, or 275 meters, FOV in black and 1350 feet, or 400 meters, FOV in daylight. Its integration with different cameras and motorized zoom lens combination is straightforward thanks to its side-opening housing and connection boards with preinstalled BNC. The ULISSE can be integrated in several different installations, thanks to the several integrated protocols, or in IP-based systems, thanks to its seamless integration with most VMS. The telemetry signal can be transmitted in an active way for chain configuration of several ULISSE units together, and multiple communication protocols are embedded.

APS deployed 40 of these units in 2010 to monitor APS substations, with a typical install consisting of two to nine units, and APS security officials are quite happy with the fact that the ULISSE system could be tailored to fit the power company’s needs. “With Videotec’s unit, it has allowed us to make a unit to suit our surveillance requirements,” said Gary Couch, APS’s physical security engineer.

Now, APS can focus on providing Arizonans with electricity to keep cool, without having to worry about failing cameras in remote locations, because the perfect-fit reliability of Videotec’s ULISSE surveillance system is keeping watch, day and night.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

About the Author

Martina Panighel is the marketing manager for Videotec SpA.

Featured

  • Report: 47 Percent of Security Service Providers Are Not Yet Using AI or Automation Tools

    Trackforce, a provider of security workforce management platforms, today announced the launch of its 2025 Physical Security Operations Benchmark Report, an industry-first study that benchmarks both private security service providers and corporate security teams side by side. Based on a survey of over 300 security professionals across the globe, the report provides a comprehensive look at the state of physical security operations. Read Now

    • Guard Services

  • Identity Governance at the Crossroads of Complexity and Scale

    Modern enterprises are grappling with an increasing number of identities, both human and machine, across an ever-growing number of systems. They must also deal with increased operational demands, including faster onboarding, more scalable models, and tighter security enforcement. Navigating these ever-growing challenges with speed and accuracy requires a new approach to identity governance that is built for the future enterprise. Read Now

  • Eagle Eye Networks Launches AI Camera Gun Detection

    Eagle Eye Networks, a provider of cloud video surveillance, recently introduced Eagle Eye Gun Detection, a new layer of protection for schools and businesses that works with existing security cameras and infrastructure. Eagle Eye Networks is the first to build gun detection into its platform. Read Now

  • Report: AI is Supercharging Old-School Cybercriminal Tactics

    AI isn’t just transforming how we work. It’s reshaping how cybercriminals attack, with threat actors exploiting AI to mass produce malicious code loaders, steal browser credentials and accelerate cloud attacks, according to a new report from Elastic. Read Now

  • Pragmatism, Productivity, and the Push for Accountability in 2025-2026

    Every year, the security industry debates whether artificial intelligence is a disruption, an enabler, or a distraction. By 2025, that conversation matured, where AI became a working dimension in physical identity and access management (PIAM) programs. Observations from 2025 highlight this turning point in AI’s role in access control and define how security leaders are being distinguished based on how they apply it. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction.

  • Unified VMS

    AxxonSoft introduces version 2.0 of the Axxon One VMS. The new release features integrations with various physical security systems, making Axxon One a unified VMS. Other enhancements include new AI video analytics and intelligent search functions, hardened cybersecurity, usability and performance improvements, and expanded cloud capabilities

  • Camden CV-7600 High Security Card Readers

    Camden CV-7600 High Security Card Readers

    Camden Door Controls has relaunched its CV-7600 card readers in response to growing market demand for a more secure alternative to standard proximity credentials that can be easily cloned. CV-7600 readers support MIFARE DESFire EV1 & EV2 encryption technology credentials, making them virtually clone-proof and highly secure.