When looking for the most effective way to manage video in a security system, there are two often-discussed video transmission methods: Multicast and Unicast. Both have their benefits, but which is best for security applications?
Multicast is a method of one-to-many transmission which is often deployed in IP applications of streaming media. Multiple viewers can simultaneously tap into a single transmission from one source.
Television programming is a perfect analogy. When you want to watch HBO you tap into the HBO feed on the cable network, not to a dedicated signal of HBO. If your cable box is authorized, you get access to the existing stream of HBO on the cable network.
To benefit from Multicast, multiple simultaneous views of the same stream are required. For customers who have multiple operators viewing the same live cameras, Multicast may be a benefit.
However, in most security applications, Network Video Management Systems (NVMS) are used to view recorded video much more than live video, like reviewing video from a specific date and time, around an alarm event, or reviewing video as part of an investigation. Since all recorders, including the most advanced multicast-based recorders, are based on Unicast video streaming for playback, there really is no gain on operation performance by utilizing Multicast network.
To realize significant benefits from Multicast transmissions, a multicast-enabled network must be constructed to enable single stream replication on the IP network, making it available for every user looking to view it.
Multicast stream can only be used on the Local Area Network. Operators communicating over a wireless connection or over the corporate WAN will communicate using Unicast stream by default, and will not gain from the Multicast capability. In addition, IT departments are wary about enabling Multicast on their network due to security reasons, not to mention the cost associated with it.
Is Unicast a better option?
With Unicast transmission, every user in the network who would like to view video will receive a dedicated video stream from the Video Management System (VMS). Compared to Multicast transmission, Unicast does utilize more bandwidth; however, these streams are only required between the source and the “viewer”, and do not affect the entire network (as a Multicast transmission would.)
With VMS implementation of advanced video compression technology and the ability to maintain symmetric bandwidth management of video, users can manage multiple high-quality video streams on a Unicast network without the deployment of Multicast transmission.
To summarize, Multicast transmissions do offer the benefit of lower bandwidth consumption, but comes with higher network construction cost. Unicast provide cost-savings on the construction of Multicast-enabled networks while maintaining real-time, low latency, high-quality video with adequate bandwidth management for all users on the network.
At American Dynamics, we believe in empowering customers to invest in enhancing their security systems rather than investing in the construction of new IT equipment. VideoEdge is a Unicast-based network video recorder. Unlike Multicast-based digital video recorders that are dependent on the network to manage the video streaming (the Multicast network managing video transmission), VideoEdge utilizes advanced network management techniques that provide higher operational performance.
Note: Most recorders that are dependent on the multicast network to manage the streaming have different performance levels (e.g. 200 or 300Mbps write to disk, while operating on a multicast network compared to 100 or 150Mbps write to disk, while utilizing Unicast network.) The main reason is that these recorders are now tasked with the video management and are not capable of symmetric bandwidth management.
VideoEdge’s advanced networking architecture manages the video in real time. When a user requests video, live or instant playback, VideoEdge responds with no latency. This advanced architecture does not strain the system resources and, as a result, the rack-mount VideoEdge Network Video Recorder maintains full performance of 400Mbps write to disk, 400Mbps video streaming to client, with the Desktop maintainng 50/50Mbps, while providing metadata generation on all cameras. This is accomplished with no video quality degradation or frame-rate loss, all the time on all cameras.
Have any questions about Multicast or Unicast video transmissions; post them in the comments section below.
Posted by
Chuck Vion on Thu, May 03, 2012 @ 12:11 PM
Violence in American schools over the past two decades has resulted in the real need for an increase in security technology in the school setting. Federal government initiatives like Safe Schools, Healthy Students have been created to bring together school officials, law enforcement, and surrounding community leaders.
Along with federal grants, these initiatives have helped generate a national awareness for the increase of school security technologies to help keep our schools safe. Be sure to read Cheryl Shea’s blog post, “Technology for Safer Schools”, on the Tyco Security Products Blog to see what types of technologies are being deployed in the school setting and how manufacturers like Tyco Security Products are working to meet the specific requirements and limited budgets of this industry.
What are your areas of concern regarding school safety, let us know by leaving a comment.
Whether or not it’s deserved, IP cameras have developed a reputation for poor performance in low light. And because low-light conditions exist with nearly all camera installations, this perception has inhibited some organizations from adopting the technology, in spite of its many strategic and far-reaching benefits.
The challenges have had less to do with delivering the video over an IP network than with the CMOS sensors that most IP cameras use. Historically these sensors have been able to deliver higher megapixel resolution, but they weren’t able to match the CCD sensors often used in analog cameras for low-light performance. Because of this, some IP cameras generate grainy images at low light, resulting not only in decreased picture clarity but also in higher bandwidth usage and increased storage, since compression techniques interpreted the graininess as motion in the scene.
The past 12 months, however, have seen some advancements in technology propel the IP camera forward as a more useful tool in low-light situations. Camera manufacturers have been able to leverage advances in sensors, encoding and processing power born from the automotive and other industries to resolve many of these issues. And High Profile H.264 compression helps to more effectively manage bandwidth usage, while more sensitive elements in the sensors provide higher-quality images.
Companies hoping to benefit from these advances should look for the following features in low-light IP cameras:
1) True day-night function, or an IR cut-filter. This means that when light drops below a certain level, only black and white is getting into the sensor, increasing its sensitivity. This improves image clarity while decreasing noise or graininess in the image, which can be interpreted as motion in the encoder. When the encoder compresses an image with a higher level of motion or noise, the bandwidth consumption can skyrocket.
2) An IR-corrected lens. Infrared light is invisible to the human eye, but it’s not invisible to camera sensors. It also travels at different wavelengths from visible light. These differences result in the focal point that varies between the lights sources and means the sensor must actually move to achieve focus when lights sources produce varying amounts of IR light. If there is a lot of IR light in a scene that a camera has to adjust to, it can change the focal point of the camera. For instance, halogen light is very IR heavy when compared to fluorescent light, which has almost no IR light. If you have a halogen light in an office and you turn that light off, the camera can go out of focus because it was focused for that light source. IR-corrected lenses resolve this problem.
Historically, “auto-back focus” was used to compensate for this type of change. However, given that auto-back focus can hunt for a focal point for quite some time, often ending up at the wrong one, it is less effective in serving customers that expect 100% uptime in their security system.
3) A High Profile H.264 compression. There are multiple profiles of H.264 and users should be wary of which profile a manufacturer uses. High profile is generally more processor intensive and is a bit harder for a manufacturer to deliver well. But the result is worth the development effort.
Buyers should beware of the “base profile” H.264 implementations. While the high profile is used for media such as Blu-ray, base profile is used for applications like teleconferencing. The image quality standards between those two uses speak for themselves.
4) For applications at the very bottom of the low-light range, look for a camera that supplies its own IR illumination. Watch this quick video about the added benefits of IR illumination.
We encourage everyone who is concerned about low-light performance to enlist the help of their systems integrator in lining up their camera options where they’re intended to be used and test them out against each other.
Whenever possible, camera shoot-outs should be the norm for customers who care about image quality in any conditions, and this is especially true for low light applications. At the end of the day, this is the best way to ensure that the best technology will be chosen for the application.
Leave a comment below and tell us what low-light feature you rely on the most and why.
For those of us who operate in a 24/7 physical security technology world, the migration from analog to IP based systems may seem like a done deal. After all, the security industry publications are busy touting the next big developments such as surveillance in the cloud and HD vs. 3D and have presented case studies on analog to IP conversion for the past decade. Doesn’t that signal that everyone has gone down this road already and the process is complete?
Truth be told, the reality is far different. There are still plenty of companies and institutions with analog systems that are just embarking on the migration journey. According to IMS Research, a U.K.-based market research firm, it will likely be 2013 to 2014 before sales of IP and network-based equipment surpasses the sales of analog products. Granted, analog sales are flattening out and IP video product sales for cameras, NVRs, encoders and video management systems are growing at about 30 percent a year, based on IMS’ data, but there remain buyers in both categories and analog hasn’t disappeared from the radar as quickly as may have been predicted.
In this ongoing migration to IP network video, many are beginning to weigh the benefits of replacing or supplementing their existing analog-based products. They are asking themselves a host of questions: Will switching to IP improve the resolution and quality of my video? Will IP products perform better in both day and night conditions? Will I be able to do more with the video I am capturing?
Likewise, they are exploring not only the possible benefits of a conversion, but also the challenges presented by taking a new path: How do we get in sync with the IT department on how this will work? What training will be required for the security staff on this new system? Do I need to start from scratch, or can I integrate some IP based products with what I already have in place?
I answered these and other questions during a recent Webinar: Uniting Analog CCTV and IP Video Security Systems. If you’re in the process of evaluating this migration and would like to learn more about what steps to take, please watch the recorded webinar.
Have you thought about, started, or completed the migration? If so, leave us a comment below with your biggest concerns?
A few weeks ago the National Retail Federation (NRF) held its 101st Annual Convention & Expo in New York City, bringing together some of the biggest names in retail, such as Target, Macy’s and Walmart, to network, participate in educational programs and view the latest retail technologies.
Known as “Retail’s Big Show,” an important element of this annual expo is retail security, as the industry continuously grapples with loss prevention issues on a daily basis. Not only do loss prevention professionals need to ensure that merchandise remains secure after hours, they also have to contend with employee theft, shoplifting by individuals, and organized retail crime rings.
What tools will loss prevention professionals deploy to tackle these many problems? IP video is expected to play a large role in helping to solve the retail shrink problem, as more retailers look to harness the full benefits that technology has to offer.
The Global Retail Theft Barometer reports that total global shrink in 2011 costs retailers $119 billion a year which includes Organized Retail Crime (ORC). According to the National Retail Federation’s Organized Retail Crime (ORC) Survey 2011, nearly six in 10 senior loss prevention executives say senior management understands the severity of the organized crime problem. Because of these staggering statistics, many retailers reported they are investing in additional technology to mitigate losses from ORC.
IP video can help retailers reduce shrink by identifying shoplifting activities quickly. Built-in intelligence helps to reduce the number of uneventful recordings and send alarms when suspicious behaviors occur. A store manager can easily search thousands of hours of video to find a specific video clip quickly for forensic evidence after an incident has occurred.
The intelligent capabilities of IP video enable store managers responsible for many stores to remotely monitor each store for suspicious behavior from any location with a network connection. Both live and recorded video can be viewed at any time thus reducing the need for dedicated loss prevention specialists to monitor shoppers at each store. Also, remotely monitoring store activity using high-definition IP cameras gives a clearer picture of activity across all stores. Gone are the days of dealing with grainy footage to capture a crime in progress or to identify the perpetrator of the crime after the fact. The clarity of an overall scene can help determine whether a shoplifter acted alone or as part of organized crime ring that moves from store to store.
In fact, the Illustra IP cameras enable rapid evaluation and recognition of ORC members through their interoperability with Sensormatic EAS pedestals. Taking an alarm from the pedestal, an Illustra camera can instantly send an image or a clip anywhere via email. Clear face shots of potential perpetrators can be evaluated and redistributed to other locations as ORC teams move from store to store.
The Illustra 600 HD IP cameras extend the reach of IP cameras by intelligently targeting high-definition resolution directly at faces in the scene. A properly situated Illustra 600 camera can detect faces dynamically and increase the bit-rate or clarity around those faces in real-time. That means a full HD camera can operate at a network-friendly level, but deliver crystal clear face shots in the blink of an eye.
Learn more about how IP video can help retailers solve their unique security requirements by watching an interview featuring Karen Olsen from Tyco Security Products taken during the NRF show.
How is IP video helping you curb retail shrink and improve store operations? Let us know by leaving a comment.
Deciphering the alphabet soup of the federal government market has never been easy, but today’s federal security vernacular includes a whole host of new terms that are now the very definition of access control in the government sector. These acronyms — FIPS-201, FICAM, HSPD-12 — are now government wide directives that mandate a federal standard for secure and reliable forms of identifications and details how they are installed in federal facilities and related civilian facilities.
Driven by federal identity and credentialing standards, which aim to integrate both physical and network access on the Personal Identity Verification credential, these initiatives are seeking to bring parity and standardization to the security systems of government facilities as well as higher degrees of security to federal installations of all sizes and functions.
To those not involved in the government sector, these standards may seem of little importance, with few implications for the bread and butter of today’s security industry. But if you drill down a little deeper into the origins and logistics of the PIV project, you might find more relevance than you think.
At its heart, the PIV credential and the larger, overall FIPS-201 initiative – the acronym for the Federal Information Processing Standard — is one big convergence project, albeit one of the most ambitious to date. The main goal is to ensure the automatic verification and validation of the cardholder’s identity to protect an enterprise’s physical and informational assets.
Like most high-tech technology, the PIV initiative has begun in the government sector, although not in the traditional sense. Unlike the Star Trek-type, DARPA funded technology, tested in the battlefield and then dumbed down and commercialized for a rollout to the private sector, in this instance, the government has served more like the world’s largest consumer, including in this mandate nearly 6 million federal employees in various stages of receiving their PIV card. As such, products and services already exist that satisfy these requirements.
Just a year ago, government IT officials issued a call to action for PIV, mandating that agencies must provide an implementation plan – and then actually follow through on that plan. This affected civilian firms that act as federal contractors as well.
These firms, large and small, are well on their way to compliance with PIV and are mandated to have physical access control systems that are capable of verifying and authenticating a cardholder’s identity and access rights. The only difference between these contractors and similar firms is who their customer is – government entities vs. private sector companies.
If you are an integrator, systems designer or security director of private sector firm, are you keeping an ear out for the latest on PIV? Listen as I give an overview of US Government security initiatives/mandates and explain possible opportunities and solutions for these initiatives during a recent webinar.
What road blocks have you encountered during PIV compliance? Leave us a comment.
Cost is often a major consideration when it comes to deciding whether or not to upgrade video surveillance technology. While many corporations, schools, and government facilities may be eager to embrace the latest technology available, budgets often dictate their adoption rate.
Nowhere is this struggle more evident than in the healthcare market where many hospital camera systems are greater than five-years old and comprised of analog-based security surveillance systems. Since hospitals are vast and diverse environments, with multiple floors and entrances and the need to continuously protect employees, patients and visitors, the number of camera systems at these facilities can be significant. The average hospital of 300-500 beds can have as many as 200 cameras installed, but for many larger hospitals that number can be much greater.
When faced with such a large-scale task of upgrading the camera system, what is a hospital security department to do? Because hospital security staff are often managing video from hundreds of cameras, it’s important for them to have a single interface to view live and recorded feeds from both analog and IP cameras.
Many hospitals are beginning to recognize that there is a migration path that enables them to integrate legacy, analog cameras with new IP surveillance cameras and leverage the benefits of both types of technologies. By implementing a unified solution it provides a single solution to manage video from both DVRs and NVRs.
Offering a unified solution approach provides a clear technology migration path. It’s important to give security directors the necessary tools to incorporate newer technology over a period of time, but still have the ability to use their existing analog cameras and recorders. They want to maximize their investment and strategically switch to IP without engaging in an endless cycle of rip and replace.
Taking a unified solution approach also provides healthcare facilities with the flexibility to add megapixel camera technology when and where they need it most. In addition, hospitals with multiple campuses also have the added benefit of pushing critical information to operators in different locations, enabling them to view surveillance footage or alarms immediately.
For the healthcare industry, these technological advancements are critical to ensuring they have the resources available to continue to deploy the best security solutions possible
The victor unified video management solution from American Dynamics can help your healthcare facility better manage its migration to IP. Also, visit the Healthcare Security Solutions area on the Tyco Security Products website for more on security integrations.
Has your healthcare facility migrated its surveillance system to IP? If so, how was the experience? If not, what questions do you have about IP migration?
Even though the flood waters in Thailand have mostly receded, the flooding caused by record monsoon rains this year has had a significant impact on the storage industry. Almost one-third of the world’s hard drive manufacturers facilities were under water this fall and some areas remain flooded. As a result, storage device manufacturers have been challenged with keeping up with demand, driving up the cost for storage by as much as 50 percent.
Low supply and higher prices present several challenges for the security industry, which requires enterprise-class hard drives that are designed for continuous, 24/7 operation. Not all hard drives are created equal. While consumer grade hard drives can often be less expensive, security industry recording requirements need to be more reliable and to continuously read and write multiple video streams simultaneously. As a result, security Hard Disk Drives should never be low-cost consumer drives such as those used in a desktop or laptop computer, as these components were not intended to process information 24 hours a day.
Systems integrators need to be vigilant when it comes to buying hard drives for their customer’s digital video storage needs. Here are a few simple tips to follow:
- It’s important to know where your products are coming from and to work with a reputable supplier in the industry that will maintain product integrity. The cheapest storage device is not always the best.
- Since most integrators don’t have the financial backing to maintain large inventories of hard drives, be sure to maintain a dialogue with your vendor about your storage needs for future projects. Provide your solution provider with a list of upcoming projects so you can get your order in early, avoid wait times and perhaps save some money.
It will take several months before the hard drive storage industry returns to normal and inventory levels to recover. In the meantime, it’s important for Tyco Security Products customers to know that we are working closely with our hard drive storage device suppliers to maintain inventory levels of our various storage solutions and to ensure that we continue to deliver quality products to the marketplace.
Lets us know how you have been affected by the hard drive shortage by leaving a comment below.
Approaching the end of yet another year makes us all reflect on the accomplishments and challenges of the past 12 months and look ahead with optimism at the year to come. Our outlook for 2012 at Tyco Security Products, particularly for our intrusion portfolio, is especially exciting as we begin the process of integrating new technologies, new employees and new vision into our already dynamic organization.
Last week we announced the completion of our acquisition of Visonic, a global developer of wireless intrusion and personal emergency response systems. Based in Tel Aviv, this nearly 40-year-old company has proven itself as a fellow innovator in the wireless space. Along with that innovative spirit, Visonic brings to Tyco Security Products strong sales channels in Europe and a state of the art manufacturing center in Israel.
The addition of Visonic to our intrusion business will add not only complementary geographic coverage in sales and distribution but additional technology platforms for several Tyco Security Products brands to leverage. The company’s newly introduced PowerG long-range wireless technology will further our goal of making inroads into the emerging commercial intrusion market.
And there’s so much more this acquisition adds to our portfolio. Visonic’s personal emergency response systems bring those capabilities to our lineup for the first time, along with additional expertise in RFID tracking through Visonic’s flagship Elpas technology. We envision that in combination with our existing access control brands, this active RFID technology will enable us to offer new strategic benefits to customers in markets such as healthcare and corrections, providing us the ability to add not only people tracking but asset tracking for loss prevention and business management purposes as well.
Along with the great technology platforms, Visonic will add about 500 new employees and state of the art manufacturing and R&D facilities in Tel Aviv and Kiryat Gat, Israel to our fold. These facilities will be used in tandem with our own R&D and manufacturing locations in Bridgeland and Toronto, Canada.
Above all, we were most pleased to find this caliber of a company that shares not only complementary technologies and presence but some of the corporate values we hold dear — customer focus, quality, creativity and integrity. That alone will make our work of coming together as one organization much more seamless and more immediately beneficial to our customers, employees, and shareholders.
We hope you will join us in welcoming the Visonic family to Tyco Security Products and we look forward to the new possibilities that our expanded team can create for you.
With each stage of development in high-definition IP cameras, as the megapixels increase, there is a greater emphasis on tailoring solutions to avoid major impact on network bandwidth and storage. As camera features are improved and enhanced, so is the need for greater bandwidth and storage. While H.264 compression enabled widespread use of megapixel resolution, bandwidth and storage are still a major concern for many customers.
More industries and organizations have an increased need for greater details and features when purchasing high-definition cameras. From a cost standpoint, storage has an impact on customer purchasing. While storage may seem inexpensive relative to other technology, when a customer adds up the amount of storage needed for a full megapixel deployment, it is not necessarily cost-effective. This results in the purchase of fewer cameras. Fewer cameras may result in security incidents being missed, which can directly impact a business.
Face detection is a new technology that significantly combats bandwidth and storage costs. A camera’s ability to detect a face in a scene and send an alarm without increasing bandwidth and storage is key. Superior high-definition cameras can detect a face and increase the bit rate around it, while still being able to see the surrounding areas in the scene. Think of this as an intelligent region of interest.
Customers concerned about bandwidth are generally on “shared networks.” Shared networks are those where traffic from the security devices coexist with traffic from other business functions, as opposed to dedicated networks where only security traffic travels. This situation can occur anywhere; however, this issue is largely seen in the healthcare and education markets.
In applications where capturing quality facial imagery is important, choosing the right camera can make a difference. With some surveillance cameras, you have no choice but to set the resolution and quality high enough to capture the faces with ample clarity. But when those settings are used all the time, whether there is a face in the scene or not, this wastes bandwidth and storage on video that is not important. In other cameras, you might have to crop the image in order to save bandwidth and storage, but this often loses important scene information. The best option is an intelligent surveillance camera which can be set at a lower overall bit rate but one that will boost the quality around faces detected in the scene. This captures high quality face images, but reduces overall bandwidth and storage consumption by not wasting it on less interesting parts of the scene. But those parts of the scene are still available so that important information is not lost.
What other ways are you offsetting the need for more storage within your IP security system? Let us know by leaving a comment below.