Why Your VMS Matters

Interest in hemispheric cameras is a result of saving money

As a security professional, how many times have you had to explain why a PTZ camera should always be paired with at least one fixed camera to provide constant “back-up” coverage of everywhere the PTZ is not looking?

Today, that conversation is happening far less often, thanks to the current generation of hemispheric cameras—super highresolution 360-degree cameras with fisheye lenses. For many PTZ applications, as well as situations requiring the use of several fixed cameras, a single hemispheric camera is now often the preferred solution. However, in order to take full advantage of the benefits offered by hemispheric cameras, you must carefully consider the VMS being used with them. Understanding the relationship between VMS and camera is vital to ensuring that your investment in this technology delivers on expectations.

Hemispheric Cameras: Why and Where?

The main reason customers are so interested in hemispheric cameras is that they can save money. Investing in a VMS system can add up quickly, and an easy way to keep costs contained is reducing camera count. Using a single camera to cover large areas reduces costs in many ways: the price of cameras themselves, cabling to support them, and the associated time required for installation. There are also cost savings related to VMS licensing (only one camera license is needed, instead of several) and on-going maintenance and support.

Hemispheric cameras are popular in a wide range of settings, both indoor and outdoor. Schools use them in intersecting hallways where multiple cameras were historically installed. They also make sense in large spaces that have a defined perimeter, like cafeterias and gymnasiums. Commercial customers find them useful in areas such as lobbies or parking lots. To cover these spaces, the cameras can deliver a wide, 360-degree or 180-degree view, and allow for zooming into specific areas as needed.

Usually, they are ceiling or wall mounted, with the main difference being that a wall mounted camera can only provide a 180-degree view. When wall mounted, a “wedge mounting plate” is typically used, that tilts the camera downward, so that its field of view covers the length of the wall. A less common mounting option is facing upward, either on the floor or on a table or counter top. In all situations, the compression and data rates are the same.

When choosing how many megapixels you need, keep in mind that the megapixel count refers to the entire field of view—all 360-degree or 180-degree. Bandwidth and storage will need to accommodate that number. However, when you zoom in on sections of the total image, your megapixel count for that video frame is approximately equal to its percentage of the entire field of view. And, the more you zoom in, the lower the visual megapixel count becomes. So, if you’re thinking about using one hemispheric camera in place of four 2MP cameras, you will need at least an 8MP hemispheric to deliver images of each quadrant with a similar level of detail.

Does Your VMS Dewarp?

When hemispheric cameras first entered the market, several years back, the VMS systems on the market hadn’t been designed to deal with them any differently than “regular” cameras. Therefore, the hemispheric cameras were responsible for dewarping the distorted image captured by their fisheye lens before sending it on to the VMS. This meant that the VMS recorded the video exactly as it was displayed. Full information available from the original spherical image was not captured.

Today, many VMS manufactures are building dewarping filters into their own software. This allows the VMS to receive a high-resolution image of the camera’s entire field of view, and then display it in any number of ways. Better yet, it can provide these multiple views simultaneously. For example, a VMS might be set up to display video from a single hemispheric cameras in several different ways.

  • Panoramic frames can display the entire perimeter of a property using just two 180-degree views.
  • Zoomed in frames displaying certain areas of interest, set up as presets, as if each were an individual camera. Such areas might include doorways, cash registers, service counters, kiosks, etc.
  • A virtual PTZ experience, very much like using a real PTZ, that allows for panning and zooming around the original 360° spherical image. Although the zooming is digital, today’s 6 and 12MP cameras have come a long way to diminish the pixelization that can occur.

That a single camera can do all of these things, simultaneously, is pretty remarkable, but the fact that it can do so both in live view and playback mode, completely independent of each other, is what really sets the power of these cameras apart. For example, let’s say that a hemispheric camera is being used to cover a parking lot. A car on the lot was vandalized. When the damage occurred, system operators did not have a close up of that particular car set up in their live viewing streams. No problem. With a hemispheric camera covering the entire lot, and a VMS dewarping the video, the system operator can set up a video frame that focuses just on that car and the surrounding area, after the fact, and then view it in playback over the time in question. All the visual detail was captured by the VMS as part of the original, high-resolution video stream sent from the camera.

In other words, having a hemispheric camera with VMS dewarping is like having the ability to instantaneously install a new camera whenever you need it, without any labor or the hassle of configuring or focusing it, and then view video from before it was “installed.” Now that is cool.

No Solution is Perfect

While hemispheric cameras break new ground in many ways, there are still situations where traditional cameras work better. The most obvious are situations that require super high magnification. The clarity of optical zoom offered by traditional PTZ cameras across long distances far surpasses anything that can be delivered by the digital zoom of today’s highest resolution hemispheric camera.

Angle and perspective should also be considered. A hemispheric would not work well as part of an LPR system, which needs to read plates from a camera mounted down at car level.

Lighting can also be an issue. Hemispheric cameras with fisheye lenses do not perform well in low light or uneven light, so for those conditions, it’s better to seek out a different camera option, or to invest in additional lighting to brighten the area.

Finally, hemispheric cameras with very high megapixel resolutions are growing in popularity, and with these high resolutions (6MP or 12MP) come the need for greater bandwidth and storage. Also, decoding and viewing such high resolution video streams requires a lot of a PC’s CPU power, so there is a limit as to how many of these cameras can be simultaneously viewed within a VMS. Hardware and network requirements, and associated costs, to support high-resolution hemispheric cameras need to be evaluated against the cost savings and benefits of using fewer cameras overall.

Hemispheric cameras are growing in popularity for good reason. When paired with the right VMS, they can save customers money and provide excellent coverage, while delivering capabilities and flexibility not possible any other way. Just make sure that you choose a camera that offers high enough resolution to support your zooming requirements, and a VMS that can process the image at the required resolution and frame rate, dewarp it, and allow for setting and calling up presets of your desired views. If all those boxes are checked, you can feel confident that your hemispheric cameras will provide added value and enhanced performance to your surveillance system.

This article originally appeared in the September 2017 issue of Security Today.

Featured

  • Mall of America Deploys AI-Powered Analytics to Enhance Parking Intelligence

    Mall of America®, the largest shopping and entertainment complex in North America, announced an expansion of its ongoing partnership with Axis Communications to deploy cutting-edge car-counting video analytics across more than a dozen locations. With this expansion, Mall of America (MOA) has boosted operational efficiency, improved safety and security, and enabled more informed decision-making around employee scheduling and streamlining transportation for large events. Read Now

  • Security Industry Association Launches New “askSIA” AI Tool

    The Security Industry Association (SIA) has unveiled a brand-new SIA member benefit – askSIA, a conversational AI agent designed to help users get the most out of their SIA membership, easily access SIA resources and find the latest information on SIA’s training and courses, reports and publications, events, certification offerings and more. SIA members can easily find askSIA by visiting the SIA homepage or looking for the askSIA icon in the top left of webpages. Read Now

    • Industry Events
  • Industry Embraces Mobile Access, Biometrics and AI

    A combination of evolving workplace dynamics, technology innovation and new user expectations is changing how people enter and interact with physical spaces. Access control is at the heart of these changes. Combined with biometrics and AI, mobile access control has become increasingly crucial for deploying entry solutions that are seamless, secure and adaptive to user needs. Read Now

  • Sustainable Video Solution Delivered for Landmark City of London Office Development

    An advanced, end-to-end video solution from IDIS, with a focus on reducing waste and costs, has helped a major office development in the City of London align its security with sustainability objectives. Read Now

  • DHS to End ‘Shoes-Off’ Travel Policy

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced a new policy today which will allow passengers traveling through domestic airports to keep their shoes on while passing through security screening at TSA checkpoints. Read Now

New Products

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.

  • Compact IP Video Intercom

    Viking’s X-205 Series of intercoms provide HD IP video and two-way voice communication - all wrapped up in an attractive compact chassis.

  • PE80 Series

    PE80 Series by SARGENT / ED4000/PED5000 Series by Corbin Russwin

    ASSA ABLOY, a global leader in access solutions, has announced the launch of two next generation exit devices from long-standing leaders in the premium exit device market: the PE80 Series by SARGENT and the PED4000/PED5000 Series by Corbin Russwin. These new exit devices boast industry-first features that are specifically designed to provide enhanced safety, security and convenience, setting new standards for exit solutions. The SARGENT PE80 and Corbin Russwin PED4000/PED5000 Series exit devices are engineered to meet the ever-evolving needs of modern buildings. Featuring the high strength, security and durability that ASSA ABLOY is known for, the new exit devices deliver several innovative, industry-first features in addition to elegant design finishes for every opening.