By Oliver Vellacott

In addition to the

rapid increase in the

sheer numbers of

cameras now in use

and lining UK

streets and public

places the last

decade has seen a

very rapid advance in

the development of

control room   

procedures and

technology 

deployed.

MARKET POTENTIAL

Indeed, with the UK CCTV market expected to be in the order of ￡132M in 2009 (source: MBD forecasts) there is every indication that this rate of development will continue or even increase.

TODAY’S NORM

On the streets highly sensitive day/night cameras and long-range zoom lenses in domes are now the norm, often connected by way of secure digital wireless links operating in one of the licence-exempt bands, and ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) is becoming more widely adopted as its value in the fight against crime is appreciated.

SECURITY LICENSE

In the control room and with the Security Industry Authority now requiring that CCTV operators be licensed, more control is being exercised over the use of all public-space systems.  Much has moved forward, and established codes of practice for ensuring operation in adherence to the Data Protection Act and the correct handling of material which may be used in evidence are now the norm.

IP BENEFITS

On the technological front the capabilities and transmission cost savings available through the adoption of IP (Internet Protocol) transmission technology are bringing about increased system consolidation as the public sector brings together and integrates separate, smaller systems into larger ones by way of managed networks terminating in larger (by way of cameras) control rooms.

INTELLIGENT SURVEILLANCE

These larger control rooms will become more efficient by making use of intelligent scene analysis to automatically draw the operators’ attention to a set of circumstances which have already been predetermined as being of interest.  These analytics will operate at the camera head, thus freeing up transmission bandwidth and lowering even further the cost of transmission.  This same analytics capability will also be used to automate the search of recordings at the control centre, thereby freeing up operators for more immediate or pressing duties.

BS8418

Now a year or so on from the emergence of BS8418 the use of detector activated CCTV systems will continue to grow as ARC? (Alarm Receiving Centres) and other service providers make use of the opportunity to grow their businesses.

MONITORING PUBLIC TRANSPORT

For the future we shall also be seeing more public transport vehicles being fitted with live GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) links to enable control room operators to receive alarms generated from within vehicles and provide them with instant views of the cameras installed within, together with the ability to stream recordings over the air for immediate review.

IP CAMERAS

Last, but not least we can expect to see significant growth in the development and use of IP cameras by virtue of their network compatibility and ease of installation.

Oliver Vellacott is CEO of IndigoVision (www.indigovision.com).