University research laboratories offer rich pickings for the thief in search of anything from high tech equipment through to dangerous or controlled substances. With this in mind, security professionals at the University of Dundee have opted for a state-of-the-art systems solution to protect their own Medical School.
Part of the Ninewells Hospital complex, the University of Dundee's Medical School is a semi-public space that receives a very high number of visitors. It's also a location where NHS Trust and University employees work alongside one another.

As the site is designed for maximum accessibility, this makes the University's research and diagnostic laboratory particularly susceptible (with the large numbers of patients, visitors and students on site providing the perfect cover for acts of criminality).

Guy Hickman, estates and security manager for the University of Dundee, takes up the story. "On this site, it's not always clear where the hospital ends and the Medical School begins," states Hickman. "The laboratories contain a maze of corridors, and are very close to public areas. It isn't difficult for the criminally-minded to take advantage of the site's design."

While theft has been an issue on the site, and there's growing concern over staff safety, Hickman points out that the University is also obliged to demonstrate to its insurers steps are being taken to prevent and minimise losses.

To this end, Hickman approached Scottish Communication Systems (SCS) to tender for an all-new CCTV system aimed at protecting the Medical Centre. In fact, this was to be part of a much broader campus-wide review and upgrading of the University's lighting and security requirements as directed by consulting engineers the BDH Partnership.

As specialist contractors to the scheme's electrical contractor DH Morris, Brian Hibbert and Brian Davidson of SCS provided technical input to the original systems design following the tender process.

Ultimately, this has improved the installation without adding unnecessary and unwanted costs to the project as a whole.

Designing a bespoke CCTV system
The areas covered by the CCTV system are spread over three floors, each of which is subject to extremes of people movement. At one end of the spectrum are those areas that, at times, experience very high people flows. This means that, if individuals are to be monitored effectively, extremely high recording frame rates are essential.

Other areas within the complex are visited infrequently, though. "In this instance," states SCS' sales manager Brian Davidson, "we felt that a recording solution incorporating motion detection and event-triggered search capabilities would prove to be the best option."

Another factor taken into consideration was the location of the secondary monitoring station (three-and-a-half miles away at the main University campus site). The new surveillance system had to be capable of using the existing fibre optic link between the two sites.

"Although the presence of security officers will always be an important and highly visible aspect of security at any hospital," adds Davidson, "modern recording equipment offers certain capabilities that manned security cannot deliver, such as certainty with regard to image capture."

With the initial systems layout completed, the tender was issued in June last year and the project installation completed between September and January 2003.

In essence, the project can be divided into three key aspects: image capture, recording and monitoring. To date, 88 colour Vista VFD4V9C mini domes have been installed. The majority of the units, supplied by Norbain, are positioned in corridor environments, with one dome covering each door to capture a head and shoulders image of all individuals entering or leaving the space. A third dome captures a long shot of the corridor.

This combination of shots ensures the complete movement of any individual is recorded to a standard suitable for ID.

Although the presence of security officers will always be an important and highly visible aspect of security at any hospital, modern recording equipment offers certain capabilities that manned security cannot deliver, such as certainty with regard to

The centrepiece of the scheme's recording capability is the small Control Room that plays host to 20 Vista Triplex Columbus digital video recorders – the Vista VC04Te-40 model – each of which is connected to a VAIDe (Vista Array of Independent Disks/Ethernet) storage unit currently installed with 8x160 Gb hard drives. This provides the security team with 1.28 terabytes of digital image storage space.

To maximise use of the surveillance system, not all cameras covering the same sector are wired into the same digital video recorder (DVR). This means that, in the (unlikely) event of a DVR failing, parts of the sector may still be viewed and recorded. Also in the Control Room is a Baxall Pyramid 112 camera matrix system and 14" colour monitors. Recording is protected against power failure by the installation of a UPS system, while individual camera power failure is covered bv alarms linked to the system's matrix controller.

An intensive set-up
"The intensive nature of the recording set-up we have here is quite deliberate," suggests Scottish Communication Systems' technical manager Brian Hibbert. "The standard image capture rate is five frames per second per camera. That seems incredibly high, but it's essential given the heavy traffic flows encountered on site."

The Triplex Columbus DVR first attracted Davidson and Hibbert because of its wealth of functionality and flexibility, on top of its relatively narrow bandwidth requirements – a major factor to be borne in mind by today's security manager. In operation, the Triplex is able to record video from multiple cameras to an internal hard drive while simultaneously providing viewing of live and playback images on the same monitor.

The units offer images at selectable recording rates of up to 50 pictures per second, yielding extensive search and analysis functionality with instant playback as recording continues. This includes colour-coded graphical representation of the Columbus' internal hard disk for easy and swift trace of alarms and events or detailed search criteria by time and date, activity, event, alarm, text and camera input. Of particular value to the University of Dundee is the motion hot spot function that allows security officers to highlight an area of view and then search for previous motion activity within that defined area.

John Gilchrist – the University of Dundee's estates and building services co-ordinator and project manager for this installation – is happy with the end result. "From the very beginning, this project was planned and designed with regard to the problems that would be encountered when working in such a restricted area, from the removal of false ceilings to the installation of long cable runs," he comments. "As such, we are able to add new cameras and expand the system at will with minimum levels of disruption."

Alarm events trigger recording
Gilchrist is also pleased with the degree of control the new CCTV installation offers the hospital's security staff. "During the day," he continues, "the level of activity means that recording is continuous, but at night a different regime is called for with recording triggered by alarms only. Triggered by an alarm event, the recorders are able to begin storing to disk by recalling the previous five seconds of images leading up to the event. This is possible because, in alarm mode, the recorders temporarily hold all 25 images per second for a pre-set time interval. If no event occurs, the images that are older than the time interval are then recorded at the time lapse specification – say five per second.

"If an event should occur," adds Gilchrist, "all frames are recorded. That full recording will continue for a pre-set period after the event. This guarantees that we capture the whole sequence of the event, both before and after, without having to record hours of inactivity. This has longer term maintenance benefits for the system as a whole."

Primary responsibility for monitoring the CCTV system rests with the security office at the University's main site in Dundee city centre. The equipment here consists of 17" colour monitoring screens, a PY2 keyboard and time lapse VCRs that allow the security officers on duty to commence instant real time/time lapse recording as necessary.

At present, much of the monitoring activity is undertaken in the Estates Office where WaveReader software and Triplex Columbus DVRs provide staff with extensive search capabilities across the entire surveillance system. In time, this operation will become the responsibility of the security officers on site.

Tagging on to Ethernet LANs
"The CCTV system is run over its own twisted pair network installed for the purpose," explains Brian Hibbert. "However, for viewing and searching already recorded images, the WaveReader software runs across the University's own Ethernet LAN, which itself is password-protected."

According to Guy Hickman, much of the system's success boils down to the thorough planning undertaken beforehand, and effective consultation between all parties concerned.

Source

SMT