Bosch Security Systems North America
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IP-Based Monitoring for South Carolina DMV
The SCDMV recently improved their video surveillance by using Bosch Security System, Inc. advanced equipment. All 68 offices now have access to better security, and the main office has a substantial increase in the control and monitoring over its branch locations.
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When it decided to upgrade its security and surveillance system, the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), which is comprised of 68 offices throughout the state's 46 counties, mandated ease of use, flexibility and reliability as top priorities.
The new system had to accomplish many goals. Senior DMV officials from the central office needed real time access to the video in any field branch for staff and public security. They were also looking to use the system as a method to improve each branch's organizational structure by monitoring training as well as individual agents.
The South Carolina DMV consulted with Vihon Associates, a professional field sales organization serving the industrial security market in the Southeastern United States. Vihon assessed the needs of the DMV and recommended an IP-based security system that would help accomplish the state agency's goals. They enlisted the help of Anderson, SC based Blue Ridge Security, providers of alarm monitoring services and designs that sells, leases, installs, and services electronic security systems for individual commercial and mid- to high-end residential customers, as well as for large, multi-site national accounts.
Ed Hubbard of Blue Ridge Security noted, "Bosch made the most sense for this installation, as they have developed an IP-based security solution that removes the LAN/WAN dependence for digital video storage by buffering recorded video on-site with a compact flash card."
One of the big issues with networked technology is the loss of data when the system goes down, and there is no way to send the images being recorded to the monitoring station. In addition, when transmitting information via the Internet, as is the case with an IP-based system, the rate at which data is sent as well as the amount that can be sent (i.e.-bandwidth) is a hot item to consider, because bandwidth dictates the amount of information that can be transmitted during a given interval. The senior DMV officials needed the flexibility to view multiple offices to many reasons including analyzing and assessing situations where someone may be using false papers as well as to provide aid to early response and post-event review of significant events.
To accomplish their goals, the SCDMV revamped their video surveillance with Bosch Security Systems' advanced equipment. They employed multiple workstations, all powered by the VIDOS video management software, which is fully integrated to the VIDOS-networked video recorder (NVR) storage solution. An AutoDome with a VideoJet 10 Bosch Video over IP encoder was placed at each of the 68 branch offices throughout the state. A pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) camera then sends high quality analog video to the nearby digital encoder that puts it on the network within the branch. The IP video travels across the WAN via T1 lines to the headquarters in Columbia, SC, where they are all recorded on an NVR using Bosch proprietary VIDOS-NVR and highly secure RAID storage, giving protection against storage failures and enabling extended storage times.
This new system gives the DMV significantly increased reliability, since the new IP video network incorporates a patent-pending technique called Automatic Network Replenishment (ANR), where each VideoJet 10's embedded Compact Flash memory card buffers the video until the network comes back up during down times and scheduled maintenance. At that point, the centralized NVR software resumes a connection with each branch and along with the resumption of live video feeds, the encoder gradually fills the gap on the NVR's recording. Eventually the NVR reports that no video is missing.
The system also provides an exceptionally efficient use of bandwidth. Bosch Video over IP (BVIP) utilizes MPEG-4, the same compression algorithm used to stream most video to consumers across the Internet. An alternative standard, Motion-JPEG is far less efficient and typically uses up to five times the network bandwidth and centralized storage. With BVIP's MPEG-4, the network takes advantage of higher resolution video and more images per second (IPS) over the same T1 line as with JPEG. It also means the centralized storage costs are cut by up to 80%.
Bosch's VIDOS software incorporates centralized health monitoring, so it immediately detects when any encoder in any of the branches is not working or is offline. This alerts the DMV's technical support to instruct a field technician to remotely diagnose the root cause, and if necessary, to go on-site and repair or replace the unit without needing to replace the camera.
The South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles has been able to improve its complete video surveillance system by incorporating some of the newest technologies available. All 68 offices have access to better security and the main office has a substantial increase in the control and monitoring over all its branch locations.
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