Austrian highway authority Asfinag felt it was reaching the limits of what it could do with its existing video surveillance system. There was no uniformity in the way the storage system was organised, and crucial parts of the system’s architecture no longer complied with modern security standards. Siqura stepped in to deliver an economic solution that prepares Asfinag for future developments.
Asfinag is a publicly owned Austrian company responsible for a network of highways spanning more than 2,000 kilometers. In recent years, the company felt it was reaching the limits of what it could do with its existing video surveillance system. There was no uniformity in the way the storage system was organized, and crucial parts of the system's architecture no longer complied with modern security standards. Asfinag knew exactly what it wanted: a smart, user-friendly system that would embrace open standards while offering support for legacy protocols.
The solution
In collaboration with systems integrator Siemens, Siqura designed an end-to-end surveillance system based on ONVIF-compliant hardware. Part of Asfinag's 5,500 surveillance cameras were replaced, and new and existing analogue cameras were connected to a mix of Siqura's S-series video encoders. The S-series offers standardized H.264 video streaming and flexibility of wiring (Cat 5, optical fiber or coax). To make the most of AKUT, Asfinag's acoustic tunnel monitoring system, Siqura adapted its S-60 E video encoder. The tunnel sound picked up by AKUT can now be digitized and transferred to the control room for further analysis.
For Asfinag's most strategic locations, Siqura developed a new IP camera: the BC840-AID, a full-HD box camera capable of streaming two independent H.264/MJPEG video streams simultaneously. The BC840-AID continuously analyses the images it captures for unusual occurrences, such as stopped vehicles, pedestrians, lost cargo or smoke. As soon as an incident is detected, it automatically sends out an alert to one of Asfinag's control rooms.
By modifying existing components and complementing them with new technology, Siqura succeeded in delivering an economic solution that prepares Asfinag for future developments.