GANZ RADAR VISION

12 Jun 2009

by: By John Adams

Radar Vision from GANZ allows site owners and operators to detect and track people and vehicles as they enter a protected area using 360-degree camera tracking combined with optical and thermal surveillance cameras. The system misses nothing and can alert security staff or activate recording while panning, tilting and zooming on multiple intruders.

GANZ is not a company you immediately associate with very high end video surveillance applications but that’s a mistake. GANZ’s Radar Vision solutions are designed to combine some of the most powerful and reliable surveillance technologies available on the market.

It’s undeniable that many CCTV systems are locked in position and may glean useful images if intruders happen to move through the field of view at a distance that suits the focal length of camera lenses installed. The only way around the weakness of fixed cameras is manned control rooms operating PTZs but this is an expensive and difficult model. Radar Vision resolves all these issues by scanning the target area and directing cameras to pan, tilt and zoom to any intruder breaching the alarm zone.

The Radar Vision solutions combine a radar unit with any of the C-AllView camera range to create a solution Ganz calls Radar Vision. It’s a neat team-up that delivers users of large sites with open lines of sight one of the most powerful video surveillance solutions we’ve ever seen.

In simple terms what Radar Vision offers is detection and automated tracking of multiple intruders on a site, as well as monitoring pre-alarm zones outside the site perimeter, and spotting vehicles before they enter the grounds to give adequate time to react accordingly. Once a person or vehicle enters the target zone they are tracked and their actions are recorded.

The principles behind the system are straightforward enough. An integrated radar unit is used to direct a PTZ camera to view and track intruders at ranges of up to 800 metres. If you’re worried about night time performance don’t be. Radar Vision can be kitted out with dual optical/thermal cameras that’ll detect intrusion at night or in fog or rain.

According to GANZ, the Radar Vision radar units are compact – about the size of a football and they scan 360 degrees from a few metres out to 800 metres every second. A clever software interface between the radar unit and the PTZ means that any intrusion is plotted and the PTZ directed to rush to that pan, tilt and zoom point – it’s clever stuff.

“What’s great about Radar Vision is that it can be installed as an adjunct to an existing CCTV system with recording and monitoring undertaken using the same infrastructure and resources as your existing system”

What’s great about Radar Vision is that it can be installed as an adjunct to an existing CCTV system with recording and monitoring undertaken using the same infrastructure and resources as your existing system. That applies to leveraging of existing PTZs, too. These can readily be linked to radar units if they have the capability to offer absolute positioning.

It’s also possible to support the Radar Vision units with wireless comms and solar or wind power so they can be installed anywhere on a site independent of trenched infrastructure. To defend a typical large perimeter, 4 radar units would be used to drive 5 PTZ cameras each, allowing saturation coverage. The system uses smart software so it doesn’t false alarm if activity is outside the perimeter and the target area can be customised exactly to fit your site’s boundaries. Alternatively, the system can be customised to issue an early warning of possible intrusion.

In the configuration described above, a system is capable of detecting and tracking multiple intruders at a time, with the system’s display showing alternate images of each intruder. The system is also capable of looking out across waterways and going into alarm should vessels approach too close to secure facilities.

There are 3 radar units available – the W200 which detects intruders at a radius of up to 200 metres, the W500 which detects intruders at a radius of up to 500m and the W800H, which detects intruders at a radius of 800 metres.

Teaming up with these radar units are a range of cameras. The first is the C-Allview Dual, a powerful 36x optical camera with a thermal lens option giving detection capability of intruders at 1000m. The C-AllView optical camera can look upwards, has 36x and 18x zoom options and has a built-in windscreen wiper. There’s also a high speed dome camera with day/night operation and 30x zoom.

The thermal imaging component of the system is provided by one of 2 GANZ thermal cameras that can be combined in the C-Allview Dual system, which integrates a thermal camera and an optical camera in a single external housing. Depending on your needs, fixed thermal or Optical cameras can also be employed.

In operation, when an intruder breaches a secure zone that’s monitored by Radar Vision, security officers are alerted to the intrusion audibly and visually through a workstation carrying Radar Vision software. Once an intruder has been detected, the system will automatically keep the cameras tracking them in real time while the event recorder stores the images to hard drive.

GANZ says the system is so reliable that security staff no longer need to monitor systems in real time on the off chance they’ll spot an intruder. The system has software analysis with customisable thresholds so you can tune out the false alarm signals common to your site, like wildlife.

Radar Vision's applications in a wide range of situations, such as ports, harbours and jetties, refineries, depots and pipelines, power stations and reservoirs, as well as commercial operations with large area perimeters - where the system is an ideal choice for providing detection at ranges up to 800m radius.

This is an excellent system that’s supported locally by CBC Australia’s new office headed up by Zaki Wazir. According to Wazir, the Radar Vision product is a powerful and capable perimeter security solution that has no competitors in the marketplace.

“For high security sites, Radar Vision enhances efficiency and improves security – it’s a unique solution that offers superb support for security teams.”