Page 74 - Security Today, September 2017

Wireless driveway alarms — Be alerted any time someone enters the property.
Dakota Alert has sensors for your backyard, driveway, porch, outbuildings and more...
• Solar Powered Wireless Breakbeam
• Motion Detectors • Vehicle Sensors
• Easy installation • Wireless ranges
up to several miles
Dakota Alert, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of wireless alert products. Whether you’re trying to keep an eye on outbuildings or just want to know if someone is coming up your driveway, our wireless alerts and accessories allow you to be completely aware of any presence on your property.
(605) 356-2772 | www.DakotaAlert.com
Go to sp.hotims.com and enter 13 for product information.
Dakota Alert_Security Products AUG2017.indd 1 7/10/2017 11:30:01 AM
obvious are situations that require super high magnification. The clarity of optical zoom of- fered by traditional PTZ cameras across long distances far surpasses anything that can be delivered by the digital zoom of today’s high- est resolution hemispheric camera.
Angle and perspective should also be considered. A hemispheric would not work well as part of an LPR system, which needs to read plates from a camera mounted down at car level.
Lighting can also be an issue. Hemispher- ic cameras with fisheye lenses do not perform well in low light or uneven light, so for those conditions, it’s better to seek out a different camera option, or to invest in additional lighting to brighten the area.
Finally, hemispheric cameras with very high megapixel resolutions are growing in popularity, and with these high resolutions (6MP or 12MP) come the need for greater bandwidth and storage. Also, decoding and viewing such high resolution video streams requires a lot of a PC’s CPU power, so there is a limit as to how many of these cameras can be simultaneously viewed within a VMS. Hardware and network requirements, and associated costs, to support high-resolution hemispheric cameras need to be evaluated against the cost savings and benefits of using fewer cameras overall.
Hemispheric cameras are growing in popularity for good reason. When paired with the right VMS, they can save customers money and provide excellent coverage, while delivering capabilities and flexibility not pos- sible any other way. Just make sure that you choose a camera that offers high enough resolution to support your zooming require- ments, and a VMS that can process the im- age at the required resolution and frame rate, dewarp it, and allow for setting and calling up presets of your desired views. If all those boxes are checked, you can feel confident that your hemispheric cameras will provide added value and enhanced performance to your surveillance system.
Bret McGowan is the se- nior vice president of sales and marketing at Vicon Industries Inc.
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