Mobotix, a manufacturer of HD IP video systems has released details of an installation of its Mobotix surveillance that is helping residents of the London Borough of Sutton reduce congestion at its popular Kimpton Park Way Reuse and Recycling center.
Kimpton recycling center deals with a wide range of materials, the site can get very busy, especially at weekends. Harry George, Street Scene Systems and Quality Manager, began looking for a solution to help residents better plan their recycling trips. “We needed a solution that would be quick to install, extremely reliable, low operating costs and easily integrated into our website,” George said. “We looked at a number of suppliers but selected a NW Systems' Streamdays hosted solution using Mobotix cameras as it ticked all the boxes for us.”
NW Systems designed and installed the simple two camera system using a wireless network link to reduce cabling requirements. The encoding technology used by the Mobotix system is particularly suited to a wireless network as it uses considerably less bandwidth compared to protocols such as H.264. Real-time images are sent back from the Mobotix cameras to a hosted server which delivers a simple video feed which can be viewed on the London Borough of Sutton.
“The whole process took around four weeks and the quality of the images is fantastic,” George said, “It is a relatively small fixed cost and the images can be viewed from the website as well as smart phones including the iPhone.”
The Streamdays hosted solution also converts the 3-megapixel images from the Mobotix cameras into lower resolution images to ensure that users on low bandwidth connections such as smart phones are able to view video in real time.
The installation, like all Mobotix cameras, has been rated as IP66 with a sealed unit that is dust tight and protects against all types of weather without requiring special housing or heaters. The webcams are aimed at encouraging and streamlining the recycling process and builds on Sutton's reputation as a greener, cleaner borough. As part of its environmental sustainability strategy, the borough has laid out a long-term plan to help residents and businesses make changes to their lifestyles and working practices with a range of actions including waste minimization, energy efficiency and sustainable construction and design.