Here’s a case study from one of Brazil’s top tourist attractions.
Brazil’s Foz do Iguaçu is in the very southwest corner of the state of Paraná. One the nation’s treasures, it has scenic attractions such as Iguaçu Falls, the Iguaçu National Park, and the city’s Bird Park, among others. The region borders Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, and has a Paraguayan sister city of Ciudad del Este and Argentine Puerto Iguazú. This brings the inevitable opportunity for criminals to smuggle between the countries. To protect Foz do Iguaçu’s roughly 300,000 residents, as well as its vital tourism industry, the city partnered with Hikvision’s official Brazilian distributer – Vmi Sistemas de Seguranca (VMI) – to develop a CCTV to stem the illegal products entering, and leaving, the country.
Completed in June 2012, this project represents VMI’s first Brazilian public project using more than 100 Hikvision cameras. Alvaro De Souza, CCTV Manager at VMI, said: “The overall goal of this project is to protect both Brazil and Foz do Iguaçu’s tourism-friendly city. For example, our waterfall is internationally famous, and we cannot allow crime to create a negative perception. This is very important, so we chose Hikvision’s DS-2DF1-517-B WDR network high speed dome to accomplish these goals.”
Some 120 units of the DS-2DF1-517-B were placed in strategic locations around the city and borders. Specifically, these cameras were placed on two types of poles – one measuring 7m and other 15m, respectively. Mr Souza said: “Using heights of 15m can pose problems for some cameras, but it is perfect for the DS-2DF1-517-B. Importantly, its vertical range from minus five degrees to 185 degrees allows us to see someone standing directly below, as well as a helicopter flying directly above. Also, the 570 lines in HD, 36x zoom, and 12x digital zoom, give us a great picture of a person or car that is of interest.”
Urban outdoor sites can bring challenges. Obviously, electronic installations outdoors have to handle the weather. As well, there are differing lighting conditions from day to night, or car headlights, which can also interfere with camera performance. To combat this, the DS-2DF1-517-B’s IP66 rating ensures the outdoor longevity of the camera; while an infra-red (IR) cut filter provides day-night coverage, any time of day. Also, 128x wide dynamic range compensates for artificial light, such as car headlights and illuminated store fronts. Mr Souza added: “Since this is a project that requires us to view a variety of subjects, from people to cars, we needed a great deal of technical flexibility. With this camera, we can follow a fast-moving car with 540 degrees of horizontal speed and 400 degrees in vertical speed, and can change our camera presets in half a second. It’s not a problem to track anything we might encounter.” Other features of the dome include a quarter-inch Sony Exview HAD progressive scan CCD, 3D intelligent positioning, 3D digital noise reduction, and a programmable alarm triggering mechanism.
In Brazil, government policy states that all public security projects must use software that accepts a range of hardware manufacturers. In effect, if a hardware manufacturer’s products only work with their own specific software, they will not be allowed in Brazil’s public sector. This is no problem for Hikvision camera lines in general, and the DS-2DF1-517-B in particular; as Hikvision’s cameras use open-sourced SDK. Also, Hikvision is part of PSIA and ONVIF and integrated with open-source VMS (video management) software. Alvaro De Souza added: “Hikvision is a leader in both technical and quality aspects. But, it is also a leader in the little things that make a company successful, such as open-sourced SDK. Aspects like this are vital for markets like Brazil, and for this reason, I am really excited about Hikvision’s expansion into future Brazilian public surveillance projects such as Foz do Iguaçu.”
