Page 17 - Security Today, April 2020

“By using an advanced FLIR perimeter intrusion detection system, airports receive unmatched threat recognition, target tracking, perimeter defense and response capabilities.”
By Daniel Gundlach
which pose security threats.”
“With thermal cameras, the embedded
analytics can immediately distinguish be- tween an animal at 50 yards and a human at 300 yards, following their direction of movement. The viewing trajectory can be narrowed to cover just the fence, or wid- ened to include territory in front of or behind the fence. The bottom line is that thermal analytics provide definitive visual information and virtually eliminate un- necessary or inconsequential alerts.”
Thermal cameras continue to be the in- dustry standard for 24/7 perimeter moni- toring and the technology is a key part of SJC’s PIDS solution.
“The additional thermal and infrared camera coverage has greatly enhanced our abilities to detect unauthorized activi- ties around the perimeter of our airfield,” Lockhart said.
Funding, Installation
and Implementation
In September 2016, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Avia- tion Administration awarded SJC an $8.1 million grant for the design, purchase and installation of a perimeter fence technolo- gy system. Deployment of the FLIR PIDS solution began shortly thereafter.
The project had an initial 150-day or a five-month turnaround with work begin- ning around the holidays in December 2016. As the systems integrator, Ojo Tech- nology oversaw the phased commissioning of the project. Ojo engineers preconfigured the cameras and servers, programmed the analytics for all thermal cameras, tested the functionality of each camera under a vari- etyoflightingconditions,andworkedwith the airport security command center and its systems subcontractor to incorporate the new cameras into the existing network.
Installation was completed in the fall of 2017, and, afterward, Ojo worked
Bob Lockhart, the airport’s deputy direc- tor of operations. “However, we also rec- ognized some opportunities to improve the effectiveness of our perimeter, both from a perception perspective, as well as an actual strengthening of some of our perimeter.”
To find the best fence line analytic detec- tion technology, SJC consulted National Al- liance for Safe Skies, Inc. (Safe Skies), which is a federally funded non-profit organization that assists airports in the research, testing and evaluation of security technologies.
Safe Skies
SJC’s partnership with Safe Skies began in 2014 when the non-profit first discussed the airport’s perimeter security needs. Safe Skies was later tasked to review a variety of pe-
rimeter defense systems to determine what solutions would be most effective at SJC.
Safe Skies tested and evaluated six different types of technology on-site in- cluding, thermal cameras, thermal cam- eras with video analytics, behavioral video analytic systems, pressure sensor buried cables, laser detection systems and wireless cameras. Each system was tested for two weeks, and Safe Skies presented a perfor- mance report to SJC for each one. After a detailed analysis, SJC selected an end-to- end perimeter intrusion detection system (PIDS) from FLIR Systems, Inc.
The FLIR PIDS solution is composed of 57 FLIR Elara FC-Series ID thermal analytic cameras and 50 FLIR ioi HD An- alyticsBulletcamerasalongthefenceline. The system also includes four FLIR Triton PT-Series dual sensor cameras with ther- mal and visible light sensors with pan-tilt tracking. All of this technology fully inte- grates into the existing FLIR Latitude Net- work Video Management System, which is part of the FLIR United VMS family of products. As an ONVIF Profile S compli- ant platform, Latitude VMS enables seam- less integration with edge devices and third- party systems. For the SJC deployment, Latitude VMS integrates with the Software House’s C-CURE access control platform.
The Thermal Advantage
Ken Castle, vice president of business de- velopment at Ojo Technology, the systems integrator for the project, described the ad- vantages of the FLIR thermal technology.
“Thermal cameras provide the data and visual confirmations that are lacking from so-called traditional fiber-based ‘shaker fence’ systems, which generate alarms when objects strike a fence or something creates vibration,” Castle said. “The prob- lem is that such alerts could be caused by dogs, wildlife, bicyclists bumping into the fence, tree branches or winds—none of
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