Is IP Surveillance for You?

IP surveillance as we all know is the future of surveillance thanks to the

enormous benefits it offers including cost effectiveness and ease of deployment,

expandability, and flexibility in use. Surveillance cameras can be connected

over the Internet to allow monitoring from anywhere in the world. With the

popularity of wireless cameras, IP surveillance can be extended to areas where

wiring is not possible or not cost effective. To implement an IP based

surveillance three things are required. One needs a network that can be wireless

or wired, cameras that will define quality of feed, and monitoring and recording

system that will store and analyze recorded footage. Few points that should be

kept in mind include security of footage while it is transferred from camera to

monitoring system and access to footage. This can be taken care of by using

encryption techniques and authentication. Hypertext Transfer Protocol over

Secure Socket Layers (HTTPS) and VPNs can be effective in securing data while it

is transferred.

Application areas



In this section, we will try to find out application areas of IP

surveillance. Application areas of this technique are diverse and include

scenarios where safety, security, monitoring and quality control is high on

priority. With the recent Mumbaiterror attacks, the importance of IP

surveillance has further increased and in a country like India, where law

enforcement bodies are under tremendous pressure due to huge population, IP

surveillance can increase their reach. Below are some areas where IP

surveillance can be effective.

Counter terrorism



Live visuals from 26/11 attack came from CCTV cameras installed inside the

hotel. These feeds were helpful to security agencies involved in that operation.

This has again proven importance of surveillance to counter terrorism. One

important point here is that, IP surveillance can be used as a preventive

measure. Consider if IP cameras are installed in sensitive areas like busy

markets and train stations and intelligent analysis of videos is done at the

back end. Here an automated alarm is raised if there is any triggering pattern

difference. For example, in busy markets camera can raise alarm for bomb if an

object of a particular size and shape is found lying for too long. Now taking IP

surveillance to borders can control movement across borders. Instead of

patrolling, intelligent surveillance can be more effective especially at night

(with usage of thermal cameras).

Financial institutions



There is a clear guideline set by RBI for banks maintaining cash chests to

have IP surveillance and ATM machines fitted with cameras. These techniques

besides being effective in securing assets also help in enhancing confidence of

customers. Cameras can be of great help in preventing robberies, check frauds

and in crime investigation. Intelligent surveillance can be used to raise alarm

if a particular face is recognized that was involved in check fraud or other

safety breach. With advances in technology behavior recognizability is even

possible.

This illustrates a typical IP surveillance system. Once all components are in place, footage from cameras can be obtained using IP address of cameras.

Transportation



There is a huge requirement of surveillance in this domain. IP based cameras

can be installed at traffic crossings helping traffic cops to penalize people

from jumping signals or over-speeding. One can fit cameras at sensitive

buildings restricting cars to tale gate while entering premises. Alarm can be

raised if the distance between two cars entering perimeters is too short. One

great example of this technique is automatic toll collection booths on national

highways.

Intelligent surveillance makes it possible to thoroughly analyze feeds coming from cameras and then generate events based on those feeds.	Typical monitoring interface of an IP based surveillance system. Proper analysis of feed is important for effectiveness of this technique.

Data centers



Real asset to an organization is information in the form of digital data

that lies in a data center. This sensitive data needs to be protected at any

cost, and IP based surveillance is fast being adopted in such data centers.

Intelligent surveillance can raise an alarm if more people than what's been

specified enter a data center.

Besides the domains mentioned above, IP surveillance can be effective in

educational institutes and factories for maintaining quality control. Retail

shops can also be benefited from these techniques as they protect against theft

and other type of criminal activities.