#IFSEC
IFSEC-2009
The IFSEC exhibition, one of the central events of the year for the entire security industry, has ended.
In my opinion, IFSEC-2009 was held somewhat more modestly than usual. The total exhibition area was smaller.
The main players in the CCTV market, of course, were present at the exhibition with their stands, but their size, height and the amount of equipment presented were very often small.
Apparently, the financial crisis had a negative impact on manufacturers from Europe, the USA and even Japan.
Companies from Korea, China and Taiwan tried to take advantage of the situation and win back market share from their venerable competitors.
Korean companies, which have managed to accumulate serious scientific and production potential by now, are in the most advantageous position. Along with the high quality and reliability of their products, they can offer reasonable prices, which is especially important in times of crisis.
However, even among the monolithic Korean rows, the Samsung Techwin and Samsung Electronics stands stood out for their scale, sparkling lights, variety of products on display, and, ultimately, a large number of visitors.
No group of companies, except Samsung, could afford to present two stands of such a level at IFSEC.
The main direction of the industry development is still the development of video transmission systems over IP networks.
However, the lack of standardization in the field of IP video is already having a negative effect on the integration of products of some manufacturers with products of others and, ultimately, is slowing down the development of the entire area.
Therefore, more and more companies are joining ONVIF (Open Network Video Interface Forum), which was created in 2008 by three corporations: Axis, Bosch and Sony.
At present, 48 companies have already joined the community as full-fledged members, including Cisco, Samsung, Panasonic, Indigo Vision, Siemens and a number of others.
A characteristic feature of many products presented at IFSEC was the use of intelligent video processing functions.
Their presence in the software of various PC-based systems has become a completely common occurrence.
It is interesting that the ability to highlight areas of interest, hide part of the image, and a motion detector that can be configured via the on-screen menu are quite often used even in analog cameras.
Some manufacturers add the ability to detect motion in a given direction, record disappearing and appearing objects, and count objects crossing a given line in the frame to analog and IP cameras.
In my opinion, the palm of primacy in this belongs to Asian manufacturers, who are already significantly ahead of their more conservative European and American competitors. The positions of those few companies that work in the field of CCTV and are also manufacturers of DSP-microcircuits for video signal processing are especially strong.
Samsung Techwin presented cameras created on the basis of its latest development – the SV-5 crystal, which, along with the already described capabilities of intelligent video, implements the functions of “day-night”, accumulation, progressive noise reduction algorithms SSNR-3, compensation of ultra-high image illumination, extended dynamic range, high camera resolution (up to 700 TVL in black and white mode) and high sensitivity.
Samsung Techwin also presented the concept of a new DSP, which will be used in megapixel cameras produced by the company.
The visitors and participants of IFSEC-2009 were especially impressed by the demonstration of identification of human faces and eyes falling into the camera's field of view.
All this allows us to speak of Samsung Techwin as one of the leaders in the production of analog and IP cameras.
The IFSEC exhibition demonstrated the high popularity of thermal imaging equipment, which makes it possible to detect an object in conditions of complete lack of visibility (fog, dust).
Samsung Techwin did not stay away from this trend, presenting a series of outdoor cameras STC.
From our point of view, this equipment can be useful to Russian consumers in creating perimeter protection systems or in technological television, for example, to determine the level of liquid in tanks, leaks from pipelines, etc.
And yet, one of the central exhibits of IFSEC was Robot SGR-1 — a multifunctional complex device for protecting objects, demonstrated at the Samsung Techwin stand.
This innovative technology includes several systems for various purposes, integrated with each other into a single whole.
At the bottom of the SGR-1 there is a video surveillance module, which is a rotating platform with cameras mounted on it on both sides (a standard high-sensitivity and resolution CCD camera and a thermal imaging camera), installed in outdoor housings.
This video system enables detection of an object at a distance of up to 4 km during the day and up to 2 km at night.
A tracking module is located at the top of the device.
This is a rotating platform with a combined video tracking system mounted on it, placed in an outdoor casing.
It consists of a high-resolution and high-sensitivity day-night CCD camera, an infrared illuminator, and a laser-range video finder.
This video system provides automatic tracking of an object at a distance of up to 2 km during the day and up to 1 km at night.
On the upper rotating platform, coaxially with the video system, there is a bracket for attaching special devices that provide actual protection of the object.
These can be a high-intensity floodlight HID, an acoustic system of psychotropic influence on an intruder at a distance of up to 500 m, or an automatic weapon of 5.45 mm or 7.62 mm caliber.
The SGR-1 system by Samsung Techwin is unique on the market and has remarkable capabilities for protecting the perimeters of various facilities and even borders between individual states.
We are confident that it will be in demand in the markets of Russia and the CIS.
Any exhibition of the scale of IFSEC is a multifaceted and very important event, since its results show the trends in the development of the security market as a whole.
In 2009, we saw further development of CCTV areas that had already been identified earlier.
One of the notable factors is not just the active participation of companies from Asia, but also their already clearly emerging dominance.
They actively offer new high-tech solutions and, most importantly, new ideas for building security systems, an example of which is the Robot (SGR-1) described above.