In South Africa, the Western Province Blood Transfusion Service (WPBTS) in Pinelands is a non-profit blood bank covering the Western Cape.
In late 2011, the WPBTS contacted South African security installer Verivision. The blood bank sought a security system that would monitor sensitive medical areas and the packaging and dispatching of blood stock; and cover the movement of people around the facility
Besides security, WPBTS sought to use CCTV for logistics, for instance for the tracking of blood packets. Here a feature of Chinese CCTV manufacturer Hikvision’s software was of use – the iVMS-4200 software’s “Smart Search” feature for the site’s existing analogue and newly-fitted IP cameras.
Essentially, this feature provides motion detection, in a specified area. In the WPBTS’s case, cameras are trained onto an area containing valuable blood stock; if activity occurs, Hikvision’s DS-8132HFSI-SH standalone digital recorder start recording.
If a bookkeeping discrepancy is later detected, Smart Search allows the material manager (who’s largely responsible for the day-to-day and managerial duties associated with this IP CCTV) to search for the associated video based on date and time.
Keith Lewis, owner of Verivision, said: “In many respects, this Smart Search feature is the key to the entire solution. Of course, it is only one of many aspects; however much of the hardware and technical work that went into designing the overall system was based upon the idea of efficiency. Smart Search very much epitomises this efficiency, and has improved overall security while concurrently reducing shrinkage by a large margin. We are even able to better ensure laboratory standards are more efficiently met with WPBTS blood resources.”
As for the digital recorder, Mr. Lewis added that in the WPBTS, the CCTV system is maintained by the Central IT Department. In turn, the Material Manager has an office in near to Central IT, and is connected by fibre-optical cable. Thus the Material Manager has the facility’s lone client PC used to access any live or recorded video that is deemed of importance.
The WPBTS requires video storage of anywhere between 50 to 90 days. Lewis said: “I only want the best possible resolution for both live and recorded views. This is why I chose the DS-8132HFSI-SH – it gives me 4CIF resolution real-time recording and an HDMI/VGA output at 1920×1080P resolution … the best resolution possible for any of the analog cameras in this medical facility.”
IP possibilities
Hikvision’s DS-9632NI-ST Embedded network video recorder (NVR) was installed, which offers up to 5MP recording resolution, and identical HDMI / VGA output as with the fitted DVR. The NVR handles up to 32 IP cameras. Placed in critical areas, such as the blood dispatch and transport area, and biometrically-secured access control stations, are Hikvision’s DS-2CD2012-I 1.3MP infra-red mini bullet cameras, chosen for their small profile. Lewis said: “Since this model is primarily in main passageways, we wanted a camera that did not … stick out. Instead, the goal was for a durable, unobtrusive camera that does a great job … and with its IR ability, it had no problem doing this job in the middle of night, when the facility is locked-down and lights are off.”
And the Hikvision DS-2CD7153-E 2MP mini dome was fitted in the Transport Control Room, the logistical centre of the medical building.
Visit www.Hikvision.com.
