Security for the Shenzhen Universiade Games was a largescale project. There are more than 20 stadiums involved in the world event, with 1.8 million spectators and 20,000 athletes, coaches, referees and officials from 180 countries and regions. Considered to be the biggest event ever, it presented many challenges for surveillance, identification and crowd management.
“To meet potential challenges, we needed to implement a high-level security system with stable equipment for the International Games,” said Sam Yu, Planning Manager at Santachi Video Technology. “In this large-scale surveillance, high quality video and constant wide-area monitoring are needed.”
All of the security equipment used in the stadiums came from different Chinese and international providers, bringing integration challenges. To ensure stability, interoperability was taken into consideration, said Qingrui Hu, Technical Manager of Hikvision Shenzhen office.
“Our products adopt an advanced SRM CPU and FPGA platform and are compatible with more than 40 management platforms,” said Zhigao Zhou, Technical Engineer of Sunell Technology. “They also are ONVIF-compliant with open SDKs, enabling more flexibility and connectivity.” Michael Archer, PM of Sunell Technology emphasized that reliability came first in security and quality images were essential for image detail in analysis and monitoring. To secure the event, a comprehensive solution with video surveillance and access control was deployed.
High-Quality Images
The Universiade event welcomed large crowds. To ensure the safety and security of spectators and players, quality video surveillance is of great importance. Moreover, high definition (HD) images provided more detail for further analysis.
The cameras needed to provide HD images for identification of individuals. As the Games were held in large stadiums, seeing clearly was vital for surveillance, Archer said.
“HD analog dome cameras were deployed in 20 stadiums and 12 training gymnasiums,” Zhou said. “They deliver high resolution images of up to 1,280 by 960 pixels, providing more detailed information for analysis and viewing throughout the games.”
“We designed an HD solution with our high-resolution speed domes for wide-area surveillance,” Hu said. “The cameras capture and record megapixel video when the perimeter intrusion detectors trigger an alarm in the stadiums. This ensures image clarity and provides high quality images for forensic evidence.”
With wide-area coverage requirements, this brought difficulty for viewing and identifying the scene. “We chose PTZ domes to work in low-light environments using wide dynamic range (WDR),” Archer said. “These cameras were specifically designed for wide-area monitoring in airports, stadiums, seaports and banks, and their positioning accuracy is precise to ±02 degrees, even at low speeds.”
“ The PTZ speed dome sare positioned at the entrances, corridors and spectator stands for wide-area applications,” Yu said. “Owing to their WDR capabilities, they make adjustments according to lighting conditions and produce quality images for surveillance purposes.”
Yu continued, “The adoption of low-lux and IR features makes sure the cameras deliver clear images of dark areas so operators can see them, even if there is no light at all.”
Along with quality images, HD monitors were used for better video performance. A variety of 20-, 42-, 46- and 52-inch LCD panels and video walls were supplied. “They can automatically eliminate ghosting and self-adjust the picture size, providing sharp video output without trailing,” said Yongshuang Fang, Regional Manager of Marketing Department at Skyworth Qunxin. These panel monitors respond quickly with no noise and low power consumption.
Intelligent Monitoring
High image quality provides more possibilities for intelligent analysis. In such large spaces, crowd management and identifying suspicious behaviors can further enhance stadium security.
Video analytics plays a crucial role for proactive security. “With video analytic algorithms, the system provided real-time alarms for various incidents by automatically detecting, tracking and classifying specific objects and people,” Hu said.
Behavior analytics monitored and detected subtle suspicious actions. In densely populated areas, intelligent analytics measured the crowds, estimated change rules and analyzed risk level, resulting in a combination of real-time warnings and crowd management, Hu said.
For critical places, intelligent analytics detected abnormal and suspicious behaviors, such as loitering, theft and other threats, enhancing security without human supervision, said Xianpeng Zhang, Manager of Planning Department at Bellsent.
Zhang pointed out the intelligent solution supported both analog and IP-based video, providing real-time alert notifications and on-alarm events for recording and visual verification. Its robust and proven analytic capabilities provided highly accurate and reliable detection indoors and outdoors, even in severe weather.
Authorized Access
Access control increased the stadium's safety and security by preventing unauthorized persons from entering restricted Universiade sites. In each important entrance, a person needed authorization for access.
“Our networked access control system includes 22 four-door controllers, 86 card readers and 86 electronic locks to proactively and effectively prevent unauthorized entries,” said Ping Zheng, Technical Manager at Neatech. “It supports unlimited access control points, along with cross-segment and cross-node hybrid access.”
For crowd control purposes, the system integrated people counting to enforce capacity limitations. People were automatically restricted from entering sites once they reached capacity, while they gained access before the venue's capacity was filled, Zheng said.
The access management system was integrated with video surveillance to capture and record images when individuals swiped their cards. Stadium security was improved after the integration of access control, image capture, video recording, e-map and alarm, Zheng said.
Additionally, the participating providers took the world event seriously by establishing on-site technical support. Archer said, “We set up a team for emergencies to secure the main stadiums and respond promptly to emergency events. Together with our technicians, the Universiade was under complete surveillance and we won't allow for carelessness or mistakes in securing the event.”
Yu said, “Our team stood by 24/7 from the opening of the event and examined the equipment to make sure they worked. We also stocked backup devices to respond to any situation in a timely fashion.”
Fang said, “Our monitors were used in more than 20 stadiums throughout Shenzhen. We have calculated exactly how many devices are in every stadium and backed up spare parts. Should any of the equipment fail to work, our technicians there will see to it immediately.”