Protecting Naval Ordnance

Video surveillance gets an upgrade

• By Del V. Salvi
• Dec 01, 2011

The Naval Ordnance Test Unit (NOTU) at the Cape Canaveral, Fla., Air Force Station supports and tests sea-based weapons in a safe environment. The unit also operates the Navy Port at Port Canaveral, supporting submarines and surface ships of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and of foreign navies, as well as the assets of the Military Sealift Command.

The unit’s location, which is surrounded by ocean on three sides, poses a challenge for electronic devices to operate dependably due to its corrosive, salt-water environment.

Video surveillance at NOTU previously consisted of an outdated system using four black-and-white PTZ cameras, a PTZ controller and four black-and-white video displays tied to VCRs. The system needed to be updated, and new NOTU turned to Millennium Communications of Melbourne, Fla., to design and install a new system. Founded by Angel Echevarria,

Millennium has a 10-year history of providing surveillance and two-way radio systems to commercial, hospitality, educational and federal facilities throughout Brevard County. Echevarria and Mark Soliman, president of the company, designed the NOTU system and oversaw its installation.

Millennium designed NOTU’s new system based on Samsung technology for its security and efficiency benefits. Faced with the outdated black-and-white cameras, their overall goal was to improve image clarity. Additionally, the Samsung solution provided automatic PTZ tours and vastly improved video storage capacity.

Millennium opted not to use IP-based network cameras but decided instead on the proven capabilities of Samsung’s analog technology, which fully met NOTU’s needs. The new system includes four Samsung weather-resistant PTZ cameras, which capture high-resolution images and are protected by integrated housings.

The PTZ line of cameras come equipped with features such as a 128x wide dynamic range and digital image stabilization with a 37x optical zoom lens and auto-tracking capabilities. These cameras also incorporate Samsung’s super noise reduction to minimize random and fixed noise under low illumination in order to achieve excellent low-light performance while reducing DVR storage space by as much as 70 percent.

“We knew that the installation at the Naval Ordnance Test Unit required cameras that combined high performance with outstanding value,” Soliman said. “The Samsung PTZ camera with its integrated housing fit the application well and provided a high-end product at a good mid-range price.”

The cameras at NOTU provide video across fiber-optic cabling to a Samsung DVR/storage system. The DVR provides high-resolution real-time recording capability and provides smart thumbnail and bookmark search capabilities, fast DVD backup—with a DVD writer included as a standard feature—and easy control with intuitive graphical user interface and mouse. It can also accommodate up to two internal SATA HDD disk drives.

NOTU systems also use a Samsung keyboard PTZ controller to provide system compatibility with multiple protocols. Its intuitive keypad, large LCD window and ergonomic design provide for easy operation. The system is monitored locally on base and uses fiber/ RS-485 transmission to control the cameras.

The video surveillance system is one of several security and surveillance systems deployed at the site. Soliman says the benefits of the Samsung system cannot be easily quantified beyond the benefits of security to protect a military dock.

“Mission-critical applications like that of the Naval Ordnance Test Unit clearly demonstrate the performance and value advantages of Samsung technology for high-end applications,” said Frank DeFina, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Samsung. “As we continue to develop new imaging and recording technologies, we are applying them across our entire product line of IP and analog solutions.”

This article originally appeared in the December 2011 issue of Security Today.