Future Proofing Video Surveillance
Posted on Tue, Jan 31, 2012
Future Proofing Video Surveillance at Orange County Convention's 2.5 Million Square Foot Facility
The Orange County Convention Center (OCCC), located in Orlando, Florida, is the nation's 
second largest convention facility and a world-class destination. The complex is comprised of two separate buildings connected by a 1,500 foot, open-air bridge with moving sidewalks across International Drive.
OCCC sought to increase the effectiveness of their surveillance operations by replacing its analog cameras and video encoders with superior performance IP cameras. During an extensive camera evaluation process, Manny Rustia, MIS Analyst for the OCCC, and his colleagues narrowed the choice down to cameras with resolution above 3 megapixels with H.264 compression and day/night capabilities as a way of “future-proofing” the system. “Arecont Vision was the hands-down standout based on megapixel quality and price,” said Rustia.
Approximately 350 cameras are strategically positioned throughout the interior and around the perimeter of the OCCC’s West Building. The system includes one administrative server and 10 camera servers to date with about 30 to 40 cameras per server. Each server and camera is allocated archive disk space with “live storage” kept on each relative server. This allows OCCC management to view live video with full electronic PTZ imaging capabilities while simultaneously recording full screen images – a capability simply not achievable with conventional IP or analog cameras.
The OCCC uses Arecont Vision’s AV5105DN, a 5 megapixel day/night camera to provide 2,592 x 1,944 resolution at 9 frames per second (fps). Light sensitivity is 0.3 lux at F1.4. The camera uses H.264 (MPEG-4, Part 10) compression to minimize system bandwidth and storage needs. The AV5105DN can also be used at lower resolutions for various frame rates up to full motion. The camera provides full-motion progressive-scan 1,280 x 1,024 video at 30fps, 1,600 x 1,200 video at 24fps or 2,048 x 1,536 at 15fps. The camera incorporates Arecont Vision's MegaVideo® image processing at 80 billion operations per second. Features include forensic zooming to zero-in and view the details of a recorded image, on camera motion detection and image cropping. The camera's day/night version used at the OCCC includes a motorized infrared (IR) cut filter. The camera can output multiple image formats, allowing the simultaneous viewing of the full-resolution field-of-view and regions of interest for high-definition forensic zooming.
The all-in-one integrated dome version of the camera is also among the cameras used at the Convention Center. Arecont Vision's AV5155DN is an integrated 5 megapixel camera, lens and IP66-rated dome housing (to withstand environmental conditions). The MegaDome® model includes a camera gimbal with 360 degree pan and 90 degree tilt adjustments. Other specifications are similar to the AV5105DN box camera.
Cameras inside and outside the facility provide video images with extreme clarity 24/7. In addition to greater image clarity, the megapixel cameras' ability to cover more square footage using fewer cameras versus conventional IP cameras helps to lower the total cost of ownership of the system. The megapixel IP cameras allow operators to zoom in on specific areas of live or archived video to see important details such as a license plate number.