A Californian case study geospatial video analytics in use at several critical water facilities for the City of Palo Alto.
The City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU), which is responsible for the water sites. The municipality operates utility services including water, electric, gas, sewer, refuse, storm drain and a dark fiber loop. The CPAU began over 100 years ago and serves a population of over 65,000 people.
Like most utilities, Palo Alto has facilities distributed throughout a large physical area. The ability to manage the perimeter CCTV of these types of remote sites from a central monitoring location is one reason the PureActiv video management system was selected. The system uses IP cameras and is integrated with several types of volumetric sensors. In addition to intrusion detection using PureActiv’s video analytics, “slew-to-cue” functionality is also used, whereby the system automatically steers a PTZ camera to an exact latitude, longitude and elevation point to further assess a situation. The system, which interfaces with the legacy PLC architecture of the sites, also includes a dynamic map-based user interface, allowing for real time camera control and event tracking from the map.
Priax Corporation provided the water security system design and consulting services for the City of Palo Alto projects, with West Corp doing the installation. Jimmy Pachikara, Electric Project Engineer for the City of Palo Alto Utilities, said: “The installation of the PureActiv perimeter surveillance system provides a much desired level of situational awareness and efficiency with its geospatial GUI, alarm management and advanced PTZ control. Similarly, its open architecture allows for integration with a vast array of other perimeter systems and sensors, which will provide a solid growth platform for the city’s future water security needs.”
