With many areas open to the public, as well as multiple floors, corridors, staircases, lifts and car parks, hotels need a large number of cameras to ensure that there are no blind spots, particularly in locations where thieves are likely to be active. Managing large numbers of cameras to efficiently monitor live images or quickly retrieve recorded video of any incidents can be a challenge, but technology has come to the rescue in the form of Hanwha Techwin's Smart Security Manager (SSM) platform.
There are countless reasons for hotels to invest in video surveillance systems, not least of which is the fact that a welcoming, open-door environment inevitably attracts the attention of opportunistic thieves and gangs.
Loss of guests' personal property, damage or theft of valuable equipment, and theft from vehicles in hotel car parks are just a few examples that illustrate why a well-designed camera system can pay for itself in a very short time. The system can also ensure health and safety compliance. The monitoring of a hotel's swimming pool
or spa areas, for example, can allow hotel management to ensure that there are enough staff on duty during busy periods and to respond appropriately if an emergency occurs.
Hanwha Techwin, the manufacturer of Samsung's Wisenet CCTV, has designed a powerful, new smart security manager (SSM) software platform designed to be a one-stop, total video-management solution for market sectors such as hotels. It maximises the efficiency of Wisenet IP network cameras, recording devices and servers while facilitating integration with third-party systems such as intruder alarms, fire detection, access control and ANPR (vehicle number-plate recognition) to offer a fully integrated security system.
Regardless of the number of cameras deployed, SSM's scalability and long list of innovative, practical features make life easy for control-room operators in their endeavours to monitor activity throughout a hotel. The SSM's virtual matrix allows operators to set up displays that best suit their needs while maintaining complete control of all monitors. The system can display live and recorded images from a large number of cameras deployed over a wide area. SSM also enables authorised operators to set up a map-based layout to match live images captured in real time. Event pop-up windows indicate where an event has occurred in order to help facilitate a quick response.
Video evidence of any incident can be rapidly retrieved via the video-summary function, SSM's advanced search facility, which can be refined by defining direction of movement and object colour.
SSM supports integrated facial-recognition applications to instantly recognise, for example, a database of employees
or known offenders. With the ability to record up to 1,000 events a second, it can help combat vandalism or theft. It is also able to interact with access control platforms available from Honeywell and Johnson Controls to monitor, control and visually verify each person who has gained access into restricted areas.
SSM also supports Wisenet people-counting and heat-mapping cameras, which are ready to work straight out of box. Wisenet cameras enable hotel management to identify areas where efficiencies could be introduced, such as optimising staffing levels in busy locations like bars and reception areas.
The sharpness and clarity of the latest generation of ultra-high-definition 4K cameras needs to be seen to be believed, but these products often come at a high price. Moreover, multi-pixel high-definition images quickly fill up the capacity of a network video recorder (NVR) or server when recorded at full frame rate and resolution. Hanwha Techwin's design engineers have found a clever solution by developing the unique WiseStream technology.
When WiseStream is combined with H.265 compression, bandwidth efficiency can be improved by up to 75% compared with current H.264 technology. This ensures that Hanwha Techwin's new Wisenet P 4K ultra-high-definition cameras, along with the Wisenet Q 2MP and 4MP cameras introduced in summer 2016, are among the most bandwidth-friendly cameras available.
