Thermal Imagers Deployed

Canadian metals processor steps up with thermal assistance and HD cameras

• By Suzi Abell
• Aug 01, 2019

Dominion Nickel Alloys Ltd. operates on a global scale. Dominion specializes in the purchasing, sorting, processing, and marketing of a broad range of high temperature and specialty nickel-based alloys. Dominion’s operations, on the outskirts of Toronto, are based at an approximately 20-acre facility where different merchants bring all manner of high-value scrap metal for processing. The biggest risk for Dominion is someone making it into the yard undetected and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars of metal.

The surveillance technology initially installed at the site was triggered by outdoor motion sensors that activated any one of several PTZ cameras for verification. Unfortunately, this setup generated far too many false alarms to be effective.

Deploying thermal technology was an upgrade intended to eliminate the challenges from outdoor motion sensor technology. Ed Bodbyl and his team at Sonitrol of Canada designed a video surveillance system for Dominion comprised 14 3xLOGIC thermal imagers, each paired with a 3xLOGIC HD 3MP bullet camera for verification. Cameras record to a 3xLOGIC NVR located on site.

Full Coverage

The entire yard is covered with this 14 thermal imager/14 HD camera deployment, offering crisp HD images during the day and 36-degree thermal images at night, backed by HD video. This solution is especially helpful because the original motion-based PTZ deployment resulted in high false alarm levels and limited detection range. The combination of thermal technology and HD cameras paired with live Sonitrol monitoring brought the number of false alarms down.

By significantly reducing false alarms, operator fatigue and potentially costly mistakes are effectively cut down. All video images are monitored by the Sonitrol central station and the operator will take action on alarm to either summon a private guard service or request that law enforcement be dispatched to the scene.

Camera views are dictated by what areas need to be monitored for intrusion detection, and the end user has access to these images for operational use and incident review.

Benefits of the Solution

The VERA thermal imager allows you to see where you never could before. When using high-contrast thermal imaging, the results are a dramatic reduction in false alarms. Unlike standard thermal imagers, VERA provides the advantage of verification and detection in an allin- one device. The 3-megapixel IP camera provides dual-streaming high-definition video at a full 2048 x 1536 pixels for video surveillance applications requiring superior clarity and detail.

The servers are fully-integrated intelligent video appliances. Preconfigured with VIGIL VMS software, these high-performance servers represent a cost-effective, flexible solution that allows users to address their current needs with the ability to scale to meet tomorrow’s demands.

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2019 issue of Security Today.