The Alsancak Mustafa DenizIi Stadium in Izmir – named after former Turkish football player and current football coach Mustafa Denizli – is a multipurpose stadium that mainly hosts football matches. With over 15,000 seats, it is one of the medium-sized stadiums in Turkey. Originally built in 1929, it was demolished in 2015 and reopened after reconstruction in November 2021.

Up to 15 % fewer spectators due to riots

In Turkey, stadiums are usually owned by the Ministry of Sport, which then grants the rights of use to an operator. In the case of the Alsancak stadium, the operator is “Altay Izmir”, an Izmir-based football club that currently plays in Turkey’s top professional league. The club, like so many other football stadiums, has had its fair share of repeated incidents and threats to spectators and players. These have included verbal abuse and even the throwing of objects onto the pitch. In addition to the intangible damage to the image, the consequences have been painful, ranging from traditional fines to the closure of an entire block of spectators – a loss of 1,000 to 2,000 spectators per home game, and that on a regular basis.

Image quality defined to recognise perpetrators

Under these conditions, the operators were looking for a solution that would allow them to reliably detect and track potential offenders. The tender specified a minimum resolution density of 144 pixels per metre (px/m), which is also required by law. This means that there must be at least 144 pixels in the camera image to represent every metre of “reality” in the stands. This value is between the “recognition” (125 px/m) and “identification” (250 px/m) qualities specified in the IEC EN 62676-4 standard for video surveillance systems.

Only ten cameras to monitor the stands

To find the most suitable solution for the Alsancak Stadium, the Ministry of Sports decided to invite various manufacturers to a comparative test. After receiving the proofs of concept (PoCs) of several companies, the owner chose a solution from the German manufacturer Dallmeier electronic. In addition to around 140 single-sensor cameras for corridors, outdoor areas and entrances, only ten Panomera multifocal sensor systems are required for the particularly critical grandstand surveillance.

39 % more resolution than required

The low number of camera systems required for grandstand surveillance is due to the patented multifocal sensor technology: Panomera cameras combine the images from up to seven detail sensors and one overview sensor in a single camera system. This provides the user with a high-resolution overview of the entire area to be monitored, which acts as a single image of a vast environment. Within this overall picture, system operators can now open any number of detail views at the same time, while the overall scene is always available in high resolution – even during recording, which is essential for possible prosecution. This provides an optimal overview of the situation and ensures that all events can be followed in real time, in high resolution and in detail. Thanks to this technology, a minimum of 200 px/m is now available throughout the Alsancak stadium instead of the required 144 px/m – 39 per cent more than originally required.

Online training from Dallmeier

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the stadium's technicians were unable to travel to Dallmeier's headquarters in Regensburg, Germany, to commission the system and attend classroom training. For this reason, the so-called Dallmeier Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) took place online. The entire system was set up, configured and remotely accepted in the FAT centre in Regensburg. The training of the technicians and operators was carried out by Dallmeier Turkey experts on site. Serkan Atalar, CEO of RESA Construction Electromechanical Inc. CO, the installer company that implemented the project, is very pleased: “Dallmeier's sincere and collaborative approach, as well as the high-tech products and after sale support they offered were very impressive. We thank Dallmeier Turkey for the great cooperation.”

“The customer is very satisfied with the Panomera systems. The benefits are equivalent to combining a powerful megapixel camera with any number of high-resolution 'virtual' PTZ cameras. At the same time, the systems reduce the total cost of ownership for infrastructure, cables, masts, screens, workstations, etc.,” Serkan Atalar summarises. “Alsancak Stadium only needs three system operators with one monitor each. They also have two workstations for the police and management. The solution always gives them 100% control of the security situation in the stadium, allowing them to react immediately and reliably track down perpetrators. And all this at a low total cost of ownership and with minimal manpower thanks to the unique multifocal sensor technology.”