“There will no doubt be a large number of interesting new products launched at Ifsec International 2013, but I think we can reasonably predict that panoramic cameras and video analytics will be the stars of the show,” said Chris. “From our perspective, the market for IP network based security solutions is buoyant. However, it is clear that users worldwide are looking at ways to reduce operational costs and maximise their ROI in a video surveillance system. Recent advances in the technologies deployed means that 360 degree and video analytics can help them achieve both objectives.”

It may be needed for security purposes, or perhaps for less mission critical applications such as objects or people counting, but Chris is of the opinion that video analytics in all its various forms, e.g. embedded in cameras or encoders, loaded onto centrally managed servers, or provided in specialist video analytics sensors, will have a big part to play in countless video surveillance systems that will be installed over the coming months.

“The good news is that with an open platform philosophy and metadata automation, Wavestore is able to support most applications of video analytics including, license plate recognition, people counting, intruder detection, perimeter security detection, traffic monitoring and biometrics such as facial recognition,” said Chris.

Wavestore’s VMS is able to support the growth in demand for 360 degree (and 180 degree) cameras by facilitating the recording of the captured fisheye images and simultaneously displaying the locally de-warped versions of the images created by the Wavestore software, alongside images from other network and analogue cameras in a multi-image display. Unique to Wavestore, this feature provides users with the ability to view the de-warped pre-recorded fisheye images and if required, use a 3-axis mouse or an industrial grade joystick to control a virtual PTZ function to repeatedly track and record unique video clips of the actions of an unlimited number of individuals or moving objects captured in the camera’s field of view. The process can be repeated as often as is required in order to extract and save evidence. This powerful feature gives panoramic cameras a major advantage over traditional PTZ cameras which, when manually controlled or pre-programmed to zoom into one section of a scene, cannot capture recordable images of activity taking place outside the zoomed in area.