Video analytics and laser-based perimeter protection is in use at the Central Jail of Nicosia. The project uses behavioural algorithms as a first line of validation to alert staff to unusual or unexpected activity.
The products are from manufacturer Sicura Systems and their technology partner CBC Europe Ltd.
Also, it integrates with laser scanners to trigger the IP pan/tilt/zoom cameras to follow threats around the site. The system was installed by Wave Electronics and commissioned with Sicura.
The central jail is the only such facility in the Republic of Cyprus and is to the west of the walled section of the city of Nicosia. Extensive refurbishment and new building is taking place to relieve overcrowding.
The Cyprus Prisons Department required the securing of a new wing. Local installer and consultant Wave Electronics worked with Sicura and CBC Europe to install 132 IP cameras with in-built video analytics from GANZ to monitor inmates and prison guards at the perimeter of the site. The cameras are a combination of PTZ and fixed units covering interior walls, exterior chain link and razor wire fencing and an intervening sterile zone.
About 70 of the cameras use GANZ edge-based video analytics to report on possible breaches of the perimeter or sterile zone and other atypical incidents. Within the Sicura information management system, DigiLive, users can specify their own alarm zones and exploit object tracking scene analysis with pop-up menus and snapshots of camera views. Unexpected motion in these zones will appear as an alarm to all stations.
Crucially, the system allows fine-tuning of sensitivity, to filter out ambient activity and specify size of object and pattern of movement. In this way, nuisance alarms are minimised, the firms say. Movement falling within the specified parameters sends a signal to an events list and alerts prison staff.
Sicura Systems’ engineers deployed customised 1 petabyte NVR assemblies which are used from nine client stations. The system employs Cisco switching, Dell servers and RAID5 storage. Integration of DigiWall, the video wall function of the DigiLive software, to the prison control room includes a ‘carousel’ whereby instead of trying to view all 132 cameras at one time, prison officers observe footage from one area of the prison for a pre-agreed number of seconds before turning their attention to another part of the site. Wardens can record locally, take still snapshots and quickly export footage to removable media for use by police and judiciary.
Wave Electronics used Optex’s Redscan laser units to detect any movement by tracking people moving within target segments inside the perimeter. This has been supported by Optex field engineers. Sicura provided full integration to the Redscan detectors to receive alarms from the lasers and take control of the nearest available PTZ camera and point it to the exact location. This gave complete situational awareness by providing visual tracking of the alarm segment.
Emi Roberti, Director of Sicura Systems, said: “Custodial clients cannot rely on unicasting and often ask that the same video footage be available to several security guards at the same time. In Nicosia, working alongside Wave Electronics, we exploited good network configuration, adopting multicast streaming to ensure that eight operators or more can view footage from the same camera simultaneously and interrogate any NVR to access any footage in an asynchronous or synchronous manner.
He added: The key task in this project was to combine the complementary technologies of video analytics and laser scan detection in order to give the client a dual level of protection in tracking alarms and movements within the prison perimeters.”
About Nicosia Central Jail
Built in 1894, the period architecture is a part of the city’s heritage. Sicura’s use of Redscan laser technology has meant that the visual impact of the project on the exterior of the building has been minimised.
