#safe city
The «safe city» project in action.
Many cities in Russia are ready to announce the development of the «Safe City» project in their region.
Indeed, the introduction of modern information technologies into the operational and service activities of internal affairs agencies is one of the most effective measures to increase the overall security of the city.
Increasing technical equipment, using modern monitoring tools, security tools, mechanisms for analyzing accumulated data and rapid response — these are measures that can bring significant results in counteracting the growth of crime and creating a safe environment for citizens.
Efficient operation of the monitoring system, as a general information technology infrastructure, is possible with the use of intelligent technologies that can automate the work of security specialists and increase the socio-economic effect of financial investments.
It should be noted that the current level and state of security in many cities in the country indicate the need to develop and use new methods of ensuring it based on hardware and software security systems.
The following factors have a significant impact on the state of security in modern cities:
* the absence of a systemic centralized mechanism for ensuring the security of the population;
* the existing threats of the spread of terrorism and extremism;
* increasing population mobility;
* lack of a single information space for emergency exchange of information between forces involved in ensuring security;
* insufficient level of use of intelligent technologies in the field of ensuring security;
* the absence of a single interdepartmental information center that accumulates data and monitors all systems involved in ensuring security (information registers, video surveillance, housing and communal services monitoring, etc.).
The creation and development of the «Safe City» complexes is aimed at solving these problems. Let's try to determine what a modern complex should include.
Let's start by defining the goals, these are:
* increasing the level of public and personal safety of citizens;
* protecting citizens from natural and man-made threats;
* reducing the level of criminal activity.
Tasks solved by the «Safe City» complex:
* ensuring public and personal safety of citizens;
* preventing criminal and terrorist activities;
* obtaining an objective assessment of the operational situation when responding to and holding mass events;
* ensuring road safety;
* ensuring the safety of transport facilities and transport infrastructure;
* ensuring the safety of residential buildings, natural and technological facilities associated with increased risk;
* ensuring the safety of municipal facilities (including housing and communal services);
* effective management of forces and resources;
* monitoring of the environmental situation and emergency situations;
* monitoring the effectiveness of public safety services.
In three cities of the country — Chelyabinsk, Khanty-Mansiysk, Yekaterinburg — large-scale «Safe City» complexes have been implemented at a modern technological level, which are already producing results; their example will be used to consider the structure and functionality of systems of this kind.
The concept of «Safe City» in these cities is understood as a complex of systems deployed within a city or region, united by a single information environment, aimed at providing technical support to public safety services.
The system integrator in these cities was the company «Astra ST» (Verysell group of companies).
The standard complex includes the following systems:
* a city intelligent video surveillance system covering crowded areas, busy intersections, sections of intercity highways, schools and city hospitals, and also including commercial video surveillance systems (shopping and entertainment centers, gas stations, etc.);
* a geographic information system for monitoring moving objects (electronic city map);
* a citizen-police emergency communication subsystem;
* subsystem for video recording of traffic violations «administrative practice»;
* subsystem for detecting wanted vehicles;
* integrated databases with intelligent mechanisms for searching and analyzing information;
* control centers for patrols that combine the advantages of other systems.
The «Safe City» complex can also include specific systems in accordance with the current tasks for the region:
* system for ensuring the security of housing and communal services facilities;
* a system for monitoring and forecasting emergency situations;
* a system for monitoring the environmental condition of the region;
* a unified system for processing and storing medical information for residents of the region.
The architectural feature of all complexes implemented by Astra ST is the organization of a high-speed multiservice network, as well as centralization of processing and storage.
This means that information from all city systems is transmitted through unified communication channels and accumulated in the archive of a common data processing center, which, depending on the conditions of the region, is deployed on the basis of the city Department of Internal Affairs, the regional Main Directorate of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the regional government or another department.
To provide users with access to the systems of the complex, specialized monitoring and control centers are deployed, which, through a multi-service network, exchange information with the common processing center within the scope of their authority.
Among such centers, the following may be deployed:
* a control center for patrols and outfits at the city police department with an electronic map of the city, access to the city video surveillance system, fire alarm systems, and citizen-police emergency communication systems;
* a center for monitoring the situation on city roads and intercity highways at the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate;
* a control center for the forces and resources of emergency response services (EMERCOM, fire department, rescue service);
* emergency and environmental monitoring centers at the Ministry of Emergency Situations;
* medical information center at the Ministry of Health for access to a single medical database on residents of the region;
* information and analysis center for road accidents at the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate — «drivers' insurance history bureau» for access by representatives of insurance companies.
The design of all subsystems of the Safe City APCS is carried out taking into account the achievements of modern technologies and ensuring the possibility of further increasing functionality and productivity.
The well-developed structure of the project allows for the deployment of a data processing center in a short time and the connection of a wide variety of automated security subsystems to a single information space (multiservice network).
The capabilities of the information systems used include:
* the use of digital megapixel video surveillance cameras with a digital output for connection to a single network;
* ensuring uninterrupted operation of equipment at video surveillance posts and in the data processing center;
* using specialized video walls to display the operational situation at automated workstations in the task force control center and the force and resources control center;
* using autonomous video information processing systems on route sections (block containers with equipment);
* display of the current situation and moving objects on an electronic situational map of the city, while the status of each object is displayed: the speed of the patrol crew, its current assignment, weapons, fuel reserves, characteristics of the emergency situation, forces involved, etc.;
* recording of conversations in the control center of the outfits with the maintenance of a single database of requests and situations;
* connection to the multi-service network of additional services: sensors of security and fire alarm systems, sensors for assessing the ecological state of atmospheric air, sensors for monitoring the operation of automated boiler houses, pumping stations, monitoring the condition of dams and pipelines;
* use of unified databases with intelligent mechanisms for searching and analyzing information for conducting investigative work, predicting emergency situations, monitoring the effectiveness of activities.
Returning to the cities in which the Safe City complex actually functions, we will describe the features of the solution in each of them.
Chelyabinsk. At the first stage of creating the complexes, Astra ST specialists received a technical assignment from the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of the Chelyabinsk Region, which specified the requirements for the elements of the «Safe City» and described the already deployed systems of the complex for the possibility of integration.
After the design stage, the company began implementation.
Astra ST's own developments have been integrated with proven systems, for example, the video data of the Intellect software from ITV is used by the Administrative Practice module.
It is interesting that thanks to this module, deductions are already being made to the budget by issuing resolutions on administrative violations (violation of markings, speeding, driving through a red light) on sections of the highway and on city roads.
In Chelyabinsk, a city video surveillance network, a citizen-police emergency communication subsystem, a patrol and guard service location monitoring system, a traffic violation video recording subsystem, and a stolen vehicle detection subsystem have been deployed.
A multi-service data transmission network has been created in the city, a single data processing center and two video monitoring centers (along the MOB line and along the GAI line) have been built.
The video surveillance network covers the city's central squares and parks, busy intersections, the train station, shopping and entertainment centers, and sections of the M5 federal highway.
The city has 230 digital megapixel video cameras, which are distributed between 21 video surveillance posts along the MOB line, 7 posts along the GAI line, and 15 city schools.
These cameras provide surveillance of an area that is ten times larger than that of analog cameras.
A single data processing center with a video archive has been installed, capable of storing the entire volume of video information of the city video surveillance system for 7 days. In addition, video data with a frequency of 1 frame per second is stored for 30 days.
Three Video Monitoring Centers (VMC) have been created to monitor the situation and work with the video archive. The first (on the MOB line) is equipped with 8 workstations, 4 of which are used around the clock.
The second (by the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate) and the third (by the Regional State Traffic Safety Inspectorate) have automated workstations that allow inspectors to process accumulated orders on imposing fines for violations recorded by the video recording system, and also provide the opportunity to analyze accidents that have occurred on city roads or on sections of the highway.
One of the most technologically advanced urban video surveillance systems in the country has been deployed in Yekaterinburg. The system uses digital cameras with a resolution of 3 and 5 MP, as well as rotating cameras with optical zoom, which allow covering large areas.
The video surveillance network covers busy intersections, sections of city transport arteries, the administrative center of the city, in addition, the general situation in the city is monitored by installing cameras under the roofs of buildings.
A single specialized high-speed multiservice network with digital communication lines has been built for data transmission, which allows information to be transmitted between all participants in the information exchange without loss of signal quality, as well as to increase the number of access points.
The network bandwidth in each section ranges from 1 to 10 Gb/s.
The data center archive is connected to the multiservice network by a channel with a bandwidth of 10 Gb/s.
The storage allows you to save the entire volume of video information of the city video surveillance system for 14 days. In addition, video data with a frequency of 1 frame per second is saved for 30 days.
The video monitoring center is located in the city police department.
Specialized workstations (video walls) are installed on its base.
The cameras are controlled from the control center based on an electronic map of the city, one of the layers of which are video surveillance posts. The duty officer selects the desired point on the map and receives a video stream on the video wall monitor.
In Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg, as part of the project, the information system «Administrative Practice» has been deployed, which performs the tasks of video recording of traffic violations (driving through a red light, violating markings, speeding).
This system records violations and generates orders to impose administrative fines, attaching photographs of the violation to them.
The inspector intervenes in this process through a specialized workstation, making decisions on each case. Information on issued orders is entered into the departmental database and monitored.
The Safe City APCS in Khanty-Mansiysk is based on the city video surveillance system, which covers 27 points at the central intersections of the city and in places of mass gatherings of people (the central square, entertainment complexes, pedestrian streets).
For video surveillance, PTZ cameras with optical zoom for high detail are used.
The cameras are connected by a hybrid data transmission network, which includes fiber-optic communication lines and wireless broadband access channels (based on 6 base stations).
The system has a single video monitoring center, which is connected to the data transmission network via high-speed channels. The video information storage allows storing the entire volume of video data for two days, in addition, recordings with a frequency of 1 frame per second are stored for two weeks.
It can already be said that this level of development of the Safe City project is only the first stage of creating a larger complex. But today, based on the experience of the Astra ST company, we can assess the current development paths of the complex.
These include:
* coverage of the monitoring and emergency communication system of all schools and medical institutions of the cities;
* inclusion of video surveillance systems of large office, shopping and entertainment centers in a single network of city video surveillance;
* increasing the disaster resistance of the system by creating a backup data processing center;
* use of unmanned aerial vehicles for operational surveillance through squad control centers;
* development of a single information resource «electronic event database» to solve problems of operational search work, monitoring, analysis, prevention and prevention of crimes.