PTZ cameras are often used to watch outdoor areas, but when deployed for large perimeters, they will likely be looking in the wrong direction when an event occurs. Trying to manually steer a PTZ to identify an intrusion is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The solution is to a use a hands-free, auto tracking PTZ camera that automatically zooms and follows an intruder in real time.
The way this works is a fixed Thermal SightSensor is used to locate a target, never taking its eye off the perimeter, while auto steering a PTZ camera to zoom in on the event in real time.
You can see an example of an auto tracking PTZ camera in the video below:
Click for PTZ Auto Tracking Example
Traditional perimeter intrusion approaches like fence sensors, radar and other technologies are able to detect “something” by sensing activity over large areas. But they cannot tell about the nature of the intrusion. The standard approach has been to augment these perimeter sensing systems with a camera, because if something triggers movement to a fence, you need to know if this is a bona fide security event. The problem is that the PTZ camera is not going to be “looking” in the right place when an intrusion occurs. And trying to manually zoom a PTZ’s narrow field of view to the exact spot of an intrusion is virtually impossible.
Now, improvements in the sensitivity of thermal cameras for 24-hour image clarity, along with costs per linear foot that meet or even beat traditional perimeter sensors, means you can deploy very accurate intrusion detection systems while automatically steering PTZ cameras to the source of an event.
The key is to use detection cameras that are calibrated to map their field of view to the GPS coordinates of all points in the scene, so every object’s location, size and direction will be known. When steered by such GPS video analytic cameras, PTZ’s can provide accurate, real-time information about where a threat occurs and what it looks like. The result is a new dimension of accuracy to your security operations, ensuring “eyes on until hands” capability over your entire facility.
