Unshielded twisted pair (UTP) CCTV products have been specified by Spectre UK Ltd, at Redhill School in Arnold, Nottingham.
Redhill School’s management chose Spectre UK for the design and installation for a site-wide CCTV system, access control and automated gates.
Spectre UK has many years of experience in school security design and installation.
Complementing and partly replacing a camera system already employed at the school, engineers installed vandal-resistant domes at strategic points around the interior of the building. They were to cover previous blind spots and replace poor performing cameras.
Coverage
Covering the school’s corridors, entrance and exit points, assembly hall, dining area and points of high pedestrian flow-rates (during lesson change-overs), each camera has an NVT NV-214A-M UTP Video Transceiver. This affords transmission over single-pair Cat5 cables to a local distribution point, where they are then transmitted to an onsite equipment rack within the school’s office area, via a multi-pair Cat5 UTP backbone. Images are received by an NVT NV-1672 16-Channel DigitalEQ Active Receiver Distribution Amplifier Hub, which employs NVT’s latest generation DigitalEQ product. The NV-1672 hub allows the transmission of real-time monochrome or colour video for distances up to 1,6km (1 mile) using UTP cable. At Redhill School, the furthest camera is situated 550 meters from the control room, so use of the NVT NV-1672 not only delivers high-performance imagery, but also the potential for further expansion to the camera infrastructure via simple product stacking.
From here, images are controlled and recorded via DVR (digital recorder), and encoded onto the school’s Local Area Network (LAN), so authorised users can view live and recorded footage both on and off site, as Marcus Robinson, Facilities Manager at Redhill School says: “The ability to view the school building off-site provides an instant remote overview via the high-quality CCTV footage, bringing a multitude of advantages. It allows school staff and lone workers to be monitored when working out of hours or during school holidays, assuring their security at all times. Additionally, if we have an alarm activation, I can advise the on-site caretaker about the nature of the issue, before he enters the building. This can confirm false alarms quickly and easily, maximising school resources and importantly, helping our caretaker not to investigate and disturb any possible intruders without waiting for the police.”
UTP
Using NVT Hybrid Video transmission provides the best of both analogue CCTV and digital video the firms claim. NVT Hybrid Video has allowed the use of cost-effective analogue cameras at the school, rather than more expensive and comparatively poor performing IP alternatives. In the equipment room, analogue camera signals are distributed to an on-site digital video recorder (DVR), supplying recorded images for investigative or evidential purposes. Live and recorded camera footage is also encoded (via a separate encoder) for off-site network distribution, enabling a remote monitoring option for authorised users.
“We have used NVT technology over a wide variety of sites for many years and consider it our preferred choice of transmission method,” says Peter Pumford, Business Development Manager for Spectre UK. “At Redhill, we were keen to reduce cable weight and provide a smooth and condensed installation procedure. Due to its smaller diameter, installing Cat5 UTP infrastructure is much less time consuming than an equivalent coax or fibre one, and less expensive – but when used with NVT products, it can still provide fibre-like image quality to the control and recording equipment. Additionally, if we cannot avoid routing cables near adjacent electrical infrastructure (within the school’s cable ducting), NVT UTP transmission always ensures no interference to picture quality, due to its excellent inherent interference rejection capabilities.
“Thanks to our skilled engineers, the user friendly nature of Cat5 UTP cable, and NVT products’ simple installation and set-up, we were able to complete the system around the school’s working hours, often during weekends, holidays and evenings. This ensured no disruption to the school’s daily routine and the students’ learning activity.”
System
Now enjoying high-resolution live and recorded CCTV imagery from around the school site, Marcus Robinson says: “In addition to the security aspects, instantly accessible electronic surveillance imagery provides a great site management tool. Being able to patrol the site virtually via the CCTV system affords a level of visual verification around the school that previously I would have had to perform a physical tour to achieve. I can now spend my time much more economically and efficiently within my day. It also means that if we need to provide access to the clubs that regularly use the school’s facilities out of hours, we can visually identify members and remotely release doors automatically, to let them in, again, streamlining our operation and maximising our resources.”
Thanks to a successful installation from Spectre UK, the inherent expandability of NVT technology, and the success of the new cameras, the school is considering expanding the system to include more camera points, covering the perimeter fence line and sports field facilities – ensuring the NVT Hybrid Video based installation are extended to cover all parts of the Redhill site.
