Spot On Security

Storage at the edge of the network, especially right in the camera, continues to generate interest, as I mentioned in my last blog post.

However, not many realize all of the reasons why it is so compelling.

For example, the whole idea for centralized recording of video comes from the traditional data center. It is natural to think that what makes sense for data centers is also the right solution for video storage.

It turns out, however, that this is not the best architecture for IP surveillance, which is why the industry has run into so many problems with bandwidth, storage costs, system reliability, etc.

Storing video in DVRs from analog cameras is actually closer to the edge of the network than IP cameras with server storage. IP cameras have actually been going the wrong direction. The answer that makes everything far simpler, and overcomes many of the biggest problems, is to go the other way and move storage and intelligence further to the edge, right into the camera itself.

It makes more sense to treat cameras as sensors, not just data sources, because sensing is what they are really about. This becomes much more obvious once you include video analytics in the cameras. Then it becomes much easier to see why sensor systems work better with distributed storage and intelligence. Where do you want to do the sensing? Back at a central location or right there at the sensor? Why send 100% of the video back, when you only access 1% of it? Why waste 100X as much bandwidth as you need?

I just finished a whitepaper that describes why intelligent storage in the camera is going to have a big impact on IP video systems. It’s a look at the future of where technology is going and why.

You can download the whitepaper here:

http://www.videoiq.com/products/resource-center/whitepapers/

I will also be holding a free webinar on the subject in a few weeks. Here is a link to register, if you are interested:

https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=153908&sessionid=1&key=BAB80E0D27E9D00175CACB0907737599&partnerref=july8&sourcepage=register

The leading video management systems companies are beginning to recognize the importance of intelligent storage in the camera, but I think it is going to end up being a much bigger trend than they realize. There are a number of future shifts in technology that are going to make it even more compelling. For example, solid state storage, megapixel cameras and the move to video web services.

Some have suggested that as bandwidth gets easier to find and storage gets cheaper that these will make centralized storage and intelligence more popular, but this is all based on thinking of cameras as if they were data sources, not sensors. Yes, there are lots of PC applications and data that run much more efficiently in the data center, but sensor systems work much better at the edge. Everyone has simply been looking at this the wrong way.

Video intelligence offers a lot more than just detection. It changes the whole system for the better.

I don’t mean to suggest that standard resolution CCD cameras are going to disappear anytime soon. But the industry reached some milestones in the advancement of CMOS image technology, and there seems to be consensus that CMOS imagers can now match even the low light performance of CCD.

The word I’ve heard from companies who work in the digital camera world is that as of 2010, all new digital cameras will be using CMOS imagers. Even in the highest end professional digital cameras, where quality is of the utmost importance. You won’t see CCD any more.

Digital cameras and camcorders drive most imager development, so, this makes 2010 a big watershed year for CMOS imagers.

Where this will have the biggest impact will be in megapixel cameras, since CMOS has big advantages on faster frame rates of megapixel images. CCD has always struggled with this.

The other big area is wide dynamic range. Post processing of CMOS images is the best way of getting ultra wide dynamic range – which provides a significant improvement in video quality, especially with outdoor scenes.

Another new development that is just starting to show up in very high-end digital cameras that is worth keeping an eye on, is post-processing of the image to improve low light performance. Nikon has a camera, for example, that can now take pictures with an ASA rating of 3,200.

You can’t always believe the ASA rating on digital cameras, but what Nikon is doing is adding a lot of extra post processing of each image allowing it to extract the image information out of the noise, making for much better low-light pictures.

The problem is that today the method they are using takes seconds to process one image, so it won’t work real time for video. But I’m sure it is only a matter of time before this can be done in real time, which will represent a huge advancement for security applications.

While I’m on this subject, I think it is also worth mentioning that CMOS imagers also passed another important milestone a few years ago. Industry experts agree that CMOS imagers have now passed the resolution and quality of film.

Here’s a link if you would like to read more about this:

http://www.normankoren.com/Tutorials/MTF7.html

While CCD technology hasn’t seen any significant advances in the last 5 years, CMOS imager designs keep getting better, going through improvements every two years. So, we can expect ongoing developments in the coming years.