IPVS for Schools

The purpose of this white paper is to provide an overview of IP surveillance including school-specific requirements. This paper also contains a section on potential cost savings available by using an IP-based video surveillance system for schools.

Overview of IP Surveillance Systems

Many schools today are monitored today with some form of video surveillance. IP Video surveillance systems are becoming much more common in schools because of their ease of expansion. These systems are different from and more capable than the original Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems. An IP video surveillance system consists of the following:

• One or more digital "network" cameras
• A standard Ethernet network, either shared or dedicated
• A central server
• One or more client viewing stations
• A digital storage unit

Cameras

IP cameras contain a digital CCD or CMOS sensor with an embedded microcomputer to do image processing and interface to the network. Both the digital video output frames from the camera and the camera control information flow through a standard Ethernet connector.

Network

The standard computer network that supports the digital video flow and the camera control information are identical to those that support the data flow between office computers, servers, and printers. Network cable, switches and wireless interfaces are standard hardware products, widely available and inexpensive. The network for the IP surveillance cameras is often shared with an existing, installed data network. This is appropriate if the current network is 100base-TX or Gigabit Ethernet. Some schools may desire to run a dedicated network, or a partially dedicated network for the IP surveillance system. Sometimes schools choose to upgrade an older network, providing improved computer functionality as well as supporting networked cameras.

Server

The central sever is often a standard Windows-based desktop computer, typically running the camera server software as a dedicated application. The server may physically connect to the network at any point. A standard mouse, keyboard and computer monitor connected to the server typically function as a real-time monitoring station.

The combination of the server plus storage is often called a Network Video Recorder.

Viewing Stations

The client viewing stations are standard office PCs or laptop computers. The client viewing is either a simple Windows application or a through a standard web browser. Multiple client viewing stations are easily supported anywhere on the network, or anywhere on or off campus, connected to the server via the Internet.

Storage

The digital storage unit is a standard disk subsystem, consisting of one or more disk drives. Often, multiple disks are used to provide fault tolerant video storage and to store many days of video automatically. A RAID-5 system that holds 14 days of video is the most common configuration. The disk subsystem is normally connected to the server; however it may be placed anywhere on the network, or even connected remotely via the Internet.

Figure 1: IP video surveillance components

The Need for IP Surveillance on School Grounds

Creating an environment where students and faculty feel safe has become increasing difficult over the last ten years. The hostile acts of students, whether directed against school facilities or against other students, creates an environment of fear and uncertainty and is not conducive to learning. However, hostile acts are not the only threat to the learning environment. Threats to students or faculty can come from people not involved with the school yet lurking on campus or near campus entrances and exits. For these reasons, more and more schools, from primary grades to colleges, are installing IP surveillance systems.

School Specific Requirements for IP Surveillance

The priority for all schools and educational institutions is student safety. But IP surveillance systems can also be used to discourage vandalism and provide a sense of security for staff and faculty members. Though each school will have its own unique needs based on the size, campus layout, and ages of its students, there are several requirements that are common to many schools.

Ease of Storage and Retrieval

Finding the video sequence that captures an act of vandalism or a fight required a lot of work with older CCTV-video tape based systems because of the sequential nature of the tapes. IP-based systems make it fairly easy to isolate an event based on time and motion detection. In the event of an abduction, time is the most critical factor. A system that shaves hours from the process of finding the right segment of video can make a difference in life or death.

Connection to Local Law Enforcement

In the worst-case scenario for a school, the local law enforcement needs a way to quickly view what is happening on the school grounds and to understand where specifically to send in enforcement personnel. An IP-based surveillance system allows an immediate connection from the cameras at the school to the local law enforcement offices or even to patrol cars in some cases.

Ease of Expansion

Once an IP surveillance system is installed and running, a school often finds it invaluable in deterring vandalism and hostile acts by students on campus. It is common for schools to want to expand an installation to include more cameras and additional monitoring capability or even a temporary expansion for big games and other events. IP-based surveillance systems can be easily expanded to meet these needs.

Flexible Monitoring

Cameras placed in a library may need to be monitored by a librarian. However, cameras placed at school entrances and exits may need nighttime monitoring from a central district or different campus location. IP surveillance systems allow monitoring from any PC. These systems may be set up so that individuals can access only certain cameras. Using the example of the library premise monitoring, the librarian would only have access to the cameras in the library.

Alerting

For night-time monitoring, in the case where cameras are not monitored in real-time, an IP video surveillance system can be set up to send an alert to a pager or a cell phone when certain cameras detect motion on campus. Alerts are flexible, sophisticated and programmable. Unlike passive motion or noise sensors, camera and computer-based motion detection distinguishes between significant events and normal movement. The specialized software allows the set up of "virtual trip wires" to detect such movement as the following

• People traveling the wrong way in crowded environments
• Motion in just one section of the camera view
• People creating motion as opposed to an animal
• An object that is removed from a location
• A new object appearing in a scene, such as a package left under a seat

Cost Justification

Most schools will ultimately place safety and security above the need to purchase a system, but cost justification must be presented for most fiscally responsible administrators. There are hard cost benefits associated with installing these systems (such as saving on costs to repair vandalism) but also soft costs such as the perception of feeling safe for students and faculty. These factors are difficult to quantify, but are meaningful to recognize.

Calculating Hard Cost Savings

The following costs can be used to evaluate potential savings gained from installing an IP surveillance system:

• Annual cost of repair from acts of vandalism - If you already have costs associated with vandalism, these are very easy to quantify.
• Potential cost of a fire - A fire is a special act of vandalism that can be devastating in impact. Even a small bathroom fire has significant costs associated with repair. It is clear that if the system prevents just one fire, than it can pay for itself many times over.
• Decreased cost of personnel required to monitor school grounds.
• Decreased cost of insurance - Some schools have been able to renegotiate their insurance rates by showing a decreased cost of vandalism for their school when an IP surveillance system is installed.

Incorporating Soft Cost Savings

Soft cost savings cannot be directly quantified, but must be considered when justifying an IP surveillance system. These soft costs savings include:

• Students feeling safer and more likely to stay with the school.
• Faculty and employees feeling safer about working late or coming in early in the morning.
• Parents touring a school where there is video surveillance will feel more comfortable that there is a watchful eye on the students.

Equipment Cost Considerations

Before meeting with an installer for an IP surveillance system to understand the costs involved in installing an IP surveillance system on your campus, it is important to consider the following:

• How long will you be storing the video? - Disk space is a key contributor to cost.
• Where is your school at the highest risk for vandalism? - The location and number of cameras will contribute to the cost. Cameras in exposed outdoor areas are more expensive than cameras designed for interior use.
• Do you need to monitor parking areas and pick-up zones? - Special mountings and enclosures may be needed for highly exposed cameras.
• Will you be monitoring the entire campus at night, or just certain locations? - Cameras designed to identify individuals at night are more expensive than those used only for daytime monitoring.
• Will you be monitoring playgrounds? - Specific cameras may be required to provide you with complete coverage of playgrounds.

Summary

IP surveillance systems are being installed in schools around the world in order to provide students with a sense of security and to deter acts of vandalism. Since each school will have specific requirements, it is important to consult with a company that can provide guidance and will design a system that addresses the unique needs of your school.

About SightMind, Inc.

SightMind is a national company dedicated to providing IP-based video surveillance (IPVS) solutions to schools, government agencies, and commercial/industrial facilities.
SightMind was founded with the goal to bring highly reliable IP-based video surveillance systems to the major institutions and organizations in North America, including high schools, colleges, natural resources, utilities, transportation, public safety, shopping centers, industrial facilities, and large private sites. Legacy CCTV systems are being replaced and updated with modern, digital, networked systems. These IP-based systems provide extensive benefits to their owners, including expanded storage, higher reliability, high resolution sufficient to provide clear identification of people and vehicles, easier administration, cost savings, and customer service benefits far beyond the original security motivations.

IP-based video surveillance systems provide not only proven security benefits, but also site operational cost savings, labor savings, and customer service benefits beyond most customer's original expectations.

www.sightmind.com
SightMind, Inc., 48025 Fremont Blvd, Fremont, CA 94538
Tel 877-478-7988
email: info@sightmind.com