This year's biennial Air Show was one of the largest held so far and attracted nearly 1500 exhibiting companies from 35 countries, as well as 140,000 people who attended the trade show. Nearly as many - 130,000 - also visited the site on the two public days. Special Events Communications (also known as 'Silver Control') was contracted to provide surveillance for the 7-day event and commissioned two of Derwent's REG Dual systems to help secure the site.
MD Don Wetherell explains that ANPR was required to monitor the entry of vehicles at the site's one main entrance to match the international nature of the Air Show and its high profile commercial, diplomatic and military visitors, plus heads of state and other attending VIPs. In these circumstances, high security and terrorism prevention was a clear priority. As part of its mobile CCTV services, Silver Control supplied an ANPR system that used Derwent's REG cameras and an ANPR recording system with one ANPR and three overview cameras.
Derwent supplied Silver Control with two REG Dual cameras for use at the Farnborough Air Show. REG Dual provides a complete twin camera solution with matched IR illumination, a monochrome Ex-View camera captures the plate while a high resolution colour camera provides additional video evidence such as vehicle shape, colour and other identifying details. REG Dual delivers high resolution number plate images in both day and dark conditions and overcomes all of the issues typically associated with accurate number plate capture including speed, glare, headlights, reflectivity and accurate focus. A complete integrated system, REG Dual is supplied complete with PSU and bracket options for ease of installation and quick results in the field.
Mr Wetherell adds that REG units were selected for the Farnborough application because of the wide angle of entry at the site entrance involved, requiring some duplication of number plate reading to ensure no vehicles could be missed on entry. Working behind the scenes, reading the images provided, was ANPR recognition software supplied by Videofit.
"We use Derwent equipment because of the company's high reputation as leading specialists in the field," says Mr Wetherell. "Derwent products are also easy to install, with simple plug 'n' play connectivity - you just need to provide power plus a BNC connector to get up and running with immediate, reliable results."