ISC Preview: Seattle Police Goes Wireless Video
The Seattle Police Department successfully deployed a wireless mesh network to establish a flexible video surveillance operation during the annual Mardi Gras celebration in their historic downtown neighborhood known as
Facing the need to see and control potentially dangerous situations as they developed during the event, the Seattle Police Department sought a solution that would provide the advantages of additional views of the area quickly and cost effectively. Azalea’s wireless mesh solution provided the necessary level of video throughput over multiple hops within the network, something the Seattle PD had not been able to achieve with a previous network deployment. Semaphore Corporation, a leading network integrator in the
The wireless network connects a series of cameras that provides streaming video over a 12-square block area. Deployed in just a matter of days, the wireless network offers speeds of up to 30 Mbps for backhaul of video to Seattle police headquarters where the video is recorded, then sends that streaming video over the 4.9 GHz licensed public safety spectrum to a mobile police command center, where each camera view is monitored and controlled. “The video feeds into a central server and is shared with the command center and our officers on the street,” reported Seattle Police Detective Monty Moss. “Finally the technology has arrived that lets us do the type of work we need to do to provide the best possible protection for our community,” he added.
Officers on patrol are also able to control the angle and zoom level of each individual camera using handheld multi-media devices. These devices, leveraging the 2.4 GHz spectrum, provide the officers with the ability to modify the scene from each camera and gain a bird’s eye view of their surroundings, particularly useful in high density crowds.
Firetide and Fluidmesh also specialize in wireless. Tomorrow’s Security Magazine Web will feature a special interview with Firetide.
Fluidmesh also is introducing new technology at ISC and aims at police departments, too.
Its technology is used by the Corning Police Department to place cameras at key locations throughout the city without incurring the cost of hard wiring the system. The wireless mesh solution also reduced the installation time without sacrificing video quality or reliability.
Fluidmesh furnished integrator CPE Interlink with a list of peripheral equipment required for connectivity, including routers, switches, and IP addresses for all equipment in the network. “Our team was so impressed with the quality of the video and the professional installation that additional cameras were added to other locations in this project,” Police Chief Trentanelli added. “We saw immediate improvement with high resolution, real time video. Having cameras in our business district and public areas has been very beneficial. We have used the system to solve vandalism and mischief complaints and to dispatch officers to incidents as we see them occur. The team is pleased with the system and its capabilities and is currently identifying other locations for additional cameras."