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| General
information |
Throughout
the world, security issues are becoming increasingly
important due to the current political  and
economical situation. Formerly reserved to the Defence
sector, surveillance technologies for site monitoring
are now required in many sectors. To this aim, very
often a multitude of sensors using different technologies
are installed, i.e. radar, light intensification
cameras, CCTV, infrared barriers, lasers, IR cameras.
These are spread around or within the monitored
area in order to secure it. Infrared thermal imaging
is the most favoured technologies because it has
already proven its effectiveness in all defence
applications. It is passive, i.e. it cannot be detected
by the intruder and it gives best image quality
whether at daytime or night, seldom affected by
weather conditions. However, whilst monitoring an
area of a few dozen metre radius is quite simple
to implement, it can be particularly difficult and
very costly for larger areas of several kilometre
radius due to the number of sensors required. Also,
beside the downside of its huge infrastructure costs
involved, the set-up generates a large amount of
information concurrently received on several monitors,
thus reducing the surveillance effectiveness. The
French Company HGH made the choice to develop its
new Vigiscan camera to meet the need for a new concept
based on the rotary high speed scanning principle,
the 360° image has up to 12 Mpixels, i.e. somewhat
60 times higher than “fisheye” devices.
The sensor continuous rotation (1 rps) ensures real-time
monitoring, the infrared image being refreshed every
second. Equally important is to have high thermal
sensitivity, i.e. the ability to detect tiny temperature
differences. As an example, a man whose body temperature
is 37°C in a tropical environment of 35°C
will not be detected with a camera which thermal
sensitivity is 1°C, whatever the image resolution
is.
In this respect, there are two infrared technologies
competing between each other:
- cooled infrared detectors, with high thermal sensitivity
- uncooled infrared detectors (cheaper) with low
thermal sensitivity.
VigiScan is equipped with a cooled detector which
thermal sensitivity is 0.03°C.
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| Hardware
description |
| -
the rotary head of the sensor can be vertically
tilted (±20°) for change of the
line of sight.
- the sensor is connected via TCP / IP Gigabit
Ethernet link to a laptop or PC in the control
room. The connection may be landline, wireless
or fibre optics.
- the camera power supply is 24V (3A) and
therefore can be operated as a standalone
device (batteries).
- MIL-810F Standard compliant.
- data can be compressed and transmitted
through MJPEG video format by internet streaming,
while maintaining the same detection performances.
Transmitted videos may also be saved by
standard digital recorders in a format fully
customizable by the user (4/3 - 16/9 or
any others). |
| Data
processing and visualization |
The
acquisition and processing PC is equipped
with visualization software (Windows 7 based)
dedicated to give the operator the expected
information in the clearest and simplest
way. Software display includes
a low resolution banner 360° view and
a panoramic annular view, which enables
the operator to quickly select (mouse single
click) an area of interest within the image.
That area of interest is instantaneously
displayed in maximal quality. In essence,
the software behaves as a pan-&-tilt
camera, even though for Vigiscan, the camera
orientation is virtual and digital. Therefore,
the view changes are instantaneous and areas
in multiple directions can be displayed
simultaneously (which cannot be done with
a pan-&-tilt camera).
The operator can open an unlimited number
of zoom windows, select the best colour
palette according to his need and perform
a manual or automatic contrast adjustment.
The GUI is flexible and configurable by
the operator. According to his preferences,
he can place the different windows anywhere
into the single or multiple screen display,
without limitation of number.
The operator controls the camera operation
from the PC. The automatic intrusion detection
module can be activated or deactivated.
A user-friendly popup menu enables to define
the detection criteria according to the
user’s needs. The detection can be
activated into the whole image or only user-defined
polygonal areas. A proprietary algorithm
enables to eliminate the false alarms due
to moving trees, waves, etc.
A tracking function enables allocation of
a dedicated tracking number to each intruder.
Panoramic display and intrusion detection
are both operating simultaneously, whatever
the number of intrusions over 360° are. |
| Advantages |
-
No special skill required. Vigiscan was
designed for easy use and installation by
unskilled operators.
- Overall cost reduction. In protection
of critical industrial infrastructures,
two or three Vigiscan cameras will replace
dozens or hundreds of conventional cameras
thus reducing the overall cost by 3 to 4
fold.
- Rapidity of implementation. When mounted
on a telescopic itself mounted on a vehicle,
the whole system can be put into operation
in less than 10 minutes. This is ideally
suited to the surveillance of wide area
such as mobile military camps, border patrol,
security of VIP events, temporary surveillance
of planes on the ground at unsuitably secured
local airports, etc.
- High sensitivity to abnormal scene temperature
changes. For zones prone to risks of fire
or explosions, such as power plants and
oil&gas industrial sites (oil rigs,
refineries, LNG terminals, pipe lines, etc.).
Vigiscan can be used for fire detection
as well as perimeter security.
- Ideal for wide and flat area monitoring,
such as airports or borders. For maritime
applications it can be located on the coast
for seaport surveillance or ship-borne,
fitted with a gyrostabilized platform, for
anti-collision, fight against piracy, sea
rescue and navigation assistance.
- Software Development Kit (SDK) available.
This is for integrators wanting to develop
their own GUI or use their own detection
algorithms.
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| Conclusion |
| HGH
France managed to fill the empty gap of
long range fast panoramic surveillance by
designing and now marketing their VigiScan
camera, a unique and versatile product which
suits many applications for Defence as well
as Industrial and Commercial.
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| Specifications |
| |
Type
of product |
|
Long
range infrared panoramic
camera |
Country
producer |
|
France |
Designer
Company |
|
HGH
|
Accessories |
|
Day
and night vision,Automatic
and real time detection
of multiple intrusions over
360°,Harsh weather environment |
Models |
20°,
10° or 5° vertical
FOV with +/- 25° elevation
adjustment of line of sight
a
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|
Surveilance |
|
360° |
Range
detection |
1
to 3 km |
Thermal
Sensitivity |
30
mK |
Time
detection |
One
panoramic 360° image
every second
a
a
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Standard |
-
Maritime Standard: IEC 945
- Military Standard: MIL-810
STD
- EMC: MIL-461 STD |
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