Nio Security: watchful intelligence security technology

Nio Security: watchful intelligence security technology. At a global level, no security professional can argue that the post-9/11 world has seen the need for enhanced security to guarantee the safety of civilian populations. The security camera has become – for better or worse – a permanent part of public and private security measures and counter-measures alike. The need for security has prompted an explosion of not only cameras, but also a stunning amount of video footage that requires analysis to be useful. There are an estimated 80+ million security cameras in use, producing more than 2 billion hours of video – per day. The average video security guard is alert for approximately 20 minutes during an eighthour shift – that is 4 % efficient time.

Growing Security Demands and Limited Resources

Even with the currently high number of video cameras deployed worldwide, the installed base is growing exponentially faster than the number of video guards on duty to monitor them. On top of this, a fixed camera can also have a limited field of view or zoom, darkness can foil a non-infrared device, shaking due to weather or environmental factors can ruin a recording’s ability to capture the needed detail.

Even in a perfect environment and ideal conditions, a camera can normally only add value if there is a human being to review what is being recorded and make appropriate decisions. The huge security networks in cities like London, or major ports such as Dubai require hundreds or thousands of cameras operating 24/7 – providing ample opportunity for important evidence that can be missed due to lack of manpower or time.

These are all familiar issues to the security professional, but until the advent of intelligent cameras and video analytics peripherals, there was never a good solution. Through products from companies such as Nio Security, a leader in the industry – and others, these bottlenecks have now been addressed with state-of-the-art hardware, optics and intelligent software to create intelligent security solutions.

Smart PTZ Cameras Can Make the Difference

The use of smart PTZ cameras incorporating the idea of control and feedback as well as intelligent decision-making enable automatic zoom on a suspicious activity. Through this breakthrough, it is now possible to make the security camera act and react like a constantly alert video security guard with 100 % optimal efficiency, 24/7.

As a publicly-traded company backed by a worldwide R&D team and holding several patents in the areas of smart video solutions, Nio ([Néo], created by the merger of DynaPel and Tempest Microsystems) offers a complete range of smart cameras, DVRs and video analytics peripherals designed to solve all of these issues. With customers ranging from FedEX and US Steel to worldwide police forces, cities, ports and small businesses alike, Nio has focussed on solving the specific challenges required for intelligent video solutions.

Four Eyes See More than One

Nio’s recent introduction at IFSEC 2008 of a smart PTZ camera with up to four built-in reference cameras – the EyeMax – was a great success. EyeMax is the result of three generations of refinement and implementation of the company’s proprietary German optics and video intelligence technology. Available as both an analogue and IP design, the EyeMax can automatically identify movement and zoom in to obtain the best reference footage with the best possible focus.

EyeMax integrates Nio’s CloseView technology to zoom in on interesting objects that are necessary for ID shots. CloseView’s AI (artificial intelligence) algorithms watch the wide-angle video and directs the camera as necessary to zoom in on any detected motion.

Using EyeMax’s four different cameras, a full 360 degree field of surveillance is achieved. Through Nio’s unique 36x optical zoom technology, EyeMax can render close-up pictures that actually outperform megapixel cameras with digital zoom by far. This is possible because the resolution of even the best fixed megapixel cameras is typically limited by the resolving power of their 35 mm SLR optics – a problem not shared by EyeMax that actually generates a virtual resolution in the order of gigapixels.

Video analytics peripherals can also add this same type of functionality to existing analogue or IP cameras – Nio offers CloseView as a separate device in addition to integrating it into its own cameras. The company also offers Steady- Eye for image stabilisation of cameras mounted in high-wind or vibration areas and NightView for massive enhancement of low-light footage. In tandem, all of these technologies offer the video security market a camera enhancement solution that is unparalleled in flexibility, optical capabilities and design.

Combining Functionality and Design

Despite all these technology breakthroughs, it is actually in the area of industrial design that security manufacturers have traditionally fallen flat. The best security camera in the world is useless if it is not deployed – and many deployments require a camera that is more ‘end-user-friendly’ than the typical design of ‘beige body, red LED’. By this, we mean a camera that not only achieves the best possible performance, but is also less intimidating to the average citizen.

Nio has taken the unprecedented step of making a camera body that is unique, even elegant, to enclose its state-of-the-art electronics and optics. This was done for a very good reason – if you want to incorporate cameras in new buildings or architectural designs, the last thing an architect wants is an ugly camera ‘ruining’ the clean lines of their design.

By consulting with graphic designers and architects about what they would like to see in a camera design, Nio has made the new EyeMax camera one of the most talked about products at IFSEC. The average person can under certain conditions feel comforted by the fact that there is a camera watching a perimeter or area. A parking lot feels safer at night if you see a camera’s glowing LED above you, knowing that all is being recorded.

However, that same person may feel greatly intimidated – even violated – by seeing that identical camera in a different situation or locale. You can of course hide the camera, but pinhole or hidden cameras have obvious limitations on field of view, and are not applicable in many locations. PTZ cameras remain the best all-around choice for maintaining a ‘watchful presence’ of a location – but while the eye of the camera is all-seeing, it is not typically all-knowing. EyeMax addresses these issues of both design and technology in a single product.

The Perfect Backup for Smart Cameras: Smart DVRs

That same design philosophy has also been applied to the company’s upcoming smart DVR - the LH7 series. The LH7 Series DVR is a hybrid embedded-type digital recorder with H.264 compression, running the Linux operating system and supporting analogue cameras as well as network cameras. The LH7 is a powerful and easy-to-use eight or 16-channel recorder with exceptional video frame-rates, based on a single-board Intel architecture.

This Nio-specific design has more than enough power to achieve advanced video analytics and also incorporates two of the most powerful Texas Instruments DSP’s for superior H.264 compression rates. The LH7 is managed through a user-friendly GUI and can even be remotely managed via its own built-in Web server. The LH7 also includes the Nio focus on creating not just the best in technology – but one that has beauty as well as brains.

The Nio – Never Sleeping Guardians

At the end of the day, nothing can fully replace the human element in regards to analysing and decision-making. The goal of Nio Security and other video analytics companies is to offer solutions that make the overworked and understaffed security team as efficient and watchful as the Nio (the never-sleeping guardians of Japanese Buddhist Temples) itself.

The idea of ‘watchful intelligence’ is the ultimate goal of any intelligent video security solution. By also choosing to add compelling visual designs to all our new products, Nio has followed the lead of design innovators such as Apple to bring a unique balance of form and function to its own market. The security camera has become a ubiquitous presence in our daily lives – it may as well look good and protect even better than it already does.

Nio has made that goal a reality.

Contact:

Nio Security Inc.
Lysaker, Norway
Tel.: 0047 67 120 868
Fax: 0047 67 120 869
sales@niosec.com
www.niosec.com