Tiskarna Kostomaj in Celje, Slovenia, is a family-owned and operated commercial printer. Five years ago, the company moved into a new two-story office building which includes additional facilities and a parking lot.
Tiskarna Kostomaj in Celje, Slovenia, is a family-owned and operated commercial printer. Five years ago, the company moved into a new two-story office building which includes additional facilities and a parking lot.
The first attempt by Tiskarna Kostomaj to provide video surveillance for their new building using inexpensive network cameras was not successful. The first break-in at the printing business showed the cameras, which were standard definition VGA resolution with built-in infrared (IR) illuminators, were ineffective. The company also tried a 640x480-pixel camera from a major manufacturer, but it became evident that this low resolution camera did not meet the company's need for surveillance. The inexpensive cameras were also not dependable and ceased functioning within two years of their installation. Tiskarna Kostomaj ultimately concluded that a surveillance system would only be useful to them if it was able to recognize a person or vehicle within the camera field of view (FOV).
The new megapixel video surveillance system was designed entirely in-house, with installation completed in cooperation with a local security company and a local electrician, according to Marjan Kostomaj, Chief Information Officer of Tiskarna Kostomaj. The company did not consider analog cameras for a number of reasons. Whereas an analog camera can detect an intruder, IP-based megapixel cameras provide video image quality that makes it possible to also recognize the intruder. IP cameras use progressive scan which avoids flickering and provides critical detail in a moving image. Finally, megapixel cameras provide a good price/performance ratio.
The commercial printer now uses a combination of Arecont Vision IP-based megapixel cameras outside to cover the drive-in, parking area and entrance, and indoors for the office area. All cameras are powered through the Ethernet connection (PoE).
For highest resolution needs, Tiskarna Kostomaj uses the Arecont Vision, a 5 megapixel MJPEG camera providing 2,492 x 1,944-pixel resolution at 9 frames per second (fps). It delivers light sensitivity of 0.3 lux at F1.4. image processing involves more than 6 million operations per second. The camera offers simultaneous full field-of-view and region-of-interest (ROI) video, and image cropping allows streaming of full-density partial images. A motorized IR cut filter is used with the day/night (DN) version.
To provide better night vision, a dual-sensor, day/night 3/1.3-megapixel IP camera that delivers up to 15 frames per second (fps) at 2,048x1,536 pixels of high-definition color resolution using a CMOS color sensor. It is a robust, all-weather camera suited to variable 24-hour lighting conditions. In low-light conditions, the IP camera changes from color to black-and-white mode (using a separate 1.3-megapixel CMOS sensor), and the camera's frame rate increases to a maximum of 30 fps at 1280x1024 pixels. Light sensitivity is 0.02 lux at F1.4. The camera provides superior night vision at Tiskarna Kostomaj compared to a competitive camera also tested. It also offers on-camera motion detection.
Video management software for the system is provided by Luxriot and video is monitored locally. All cameras are connected to a PoE switch using a separate virtual local area network (VLAN) and to a dedicated Gigabit server network interface controller (NIC). The server uses Windows with Luxriot and monitoring employs local and/or remote clients.