Government Business - Security workflow

Security workflow

As planning for the Olympic Park pushes ahead, Sony’s Simon Nash reveals the value of workflow in today’s sophisticated security systems

The concept of automated workflow is tried, tested and proven – and is about to make an impact in the environment of network video monitoring - and with the venues and infrastructure for the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games moving swiftly into the planning stage, security sophistication could not have come at a better time.

The undeniable value of workflow has been recognised and leveraged for many years in environments, where repetitive but mission-critical tasks must be completed and are each reliant on other outcomes. The idea is that minimising human intervention in a process workflow improves accuracy and efficiency, at the same time as cutting costs.

The security industry, however, has not been able to take full advantage of these benefits, largely because analogue CCTV, the foundation of modern security systems, does not lend itself to network interaction. On the contrary, before network video monitoring, security monitoring has always sat outside any other related networks, manually operated and totally dependent on human intervention. All the key stages in any security process or policy, from threat detection to the subsequent escalation of procedures, have been almost entirely reliant on security staff.

The reason that this situation has been allowed to continue is simply that there was no alternative. What was missing from the security set-up was an end-to-end technical architecture that could enable the alternative workflow to function.

Security sophistication delivered
With the recent announcement that planning application has been submitted by the Olympic Delivery Authority, which sets the vision for one of the largest urban parks to be built in Europe for 150 years, Sony is now delivering a technical architecture-based network video monitoring solution that features workflow and also improves on each area of the security process as well. The new end-to-end architecture is only one element of the Sony solution that also includes the highly sophisticated new security software that runs on it, and intelligent cameras that both capture images and share a significant part of the processing load.

Sony’s new Distributed Enhanced Processing Architecture (DEPA) supports workflow functions that the security industry can now utilise effectively. On a very practical level it means that a multi-camera security set-up need not be complex or difficult to monitor. Instead the seamless and sophisticated software and intelligent camera set-up means personnel can be guided to ‘hot-spots’. The new workflow means operatives can be alerted to the right screens to watch, at the right time, and can even be shown the detail of a threat, and issue a response, before it becomes an incident. Having technically joined up security devices backed up by automated workflow allows network video monitoring to escape the confines of a sluggish process.

The benefits of network video monitoring
There are obvious return-on-investment benefits in bringing security video cameras into the network, and away from the stand-alone world of analogue CCTV. For one thing it is now no longer necessary to run, manage and upgrade two separate systems. The same investment that allows a company to save money on voice over IP can now benefit the security system as well.

Use of the network also allows the possibility of additional hardware devices to function alongside them, which can enable the introduction of very practical advanced features, such as triggered lighting or door locking in response to a detected threat. At the front-end of Sony’s workflow-enabled security solution, and one of the keys to its effectiveness, are the intelligent cameras that are at the same time both more integrated and more independent. One of their most important capabilities is being able to recognise visual security breaches, such as abandoned packages or suspicious movement, and trigger a rapid response.

To the jaded human eye what may be ignored as just another package amongst a bustle of activity will not be missed by a tireless intelligent camera. Likewise, the natural and measurable drop-off in attention when scanning busy crowds of flowing people is not something that the camera ever suffers from. The benefits of workflow also mean that the solution automatically triggers the next stage of response.

Sony’s new intelligent cameras are sophisticated enough to know the difference between moving people and safe background conditions, such as blowing trees or splashing fountains, so that those areas no longer need to form a security blind spot as they do with current analogue CCTV. There is no more need to ‘mask’ problem areas within the field of view. Most of the time-consuming false alarm scenarios can be eradicated too.

The camera’s intelligence, added to the fact that it is Internet Protocol (IP) based, also means that it shares the processing burden, and that bandwidth requirements are therefore minimised, because only legitimate threat images and data need be sent and stored. In a security environment where monitoring may be happening 24/7, the ability to screen out the irrelevant data is a big step forward. Not only does it make for fast and accurate results when searching through historical data, it can also make a big difference to the time and costs involved in managing the captured material.

Realshot manager
The new Sony software that runs on the end-to-end architecture is called RealShot Manager, a simple to use security package that analyses, assesses and responds to the images it sees via the intelligent cameras. By alerting and directing operatives to the visible threats within a frame of video, RealShot Manager provides more than just a safety net, offering instead proactive detection. RealShot Manager is designed with the practicalities of security work in mind, and it’s not only in that respect that the software delivers the vitally consistent on-line support security professionals need. Other features include an unmistakable on-screen highlight box to locate a static threat and capture the observer’s attention, leaving little room for error. If ignored, it can even trigger an alert.

It’s just one example of how RealShot Manager enhances not just the security decision-making process but also the response. The Sony DEPA system is redefining workflow for the security age at a time of massive social, environmental and physical regeneration.