System Architecture

Transcript

System Architecture SmartRecorders White Paper prepared by 3VR Security, Inc. — January 27, 2007 3VR Searchable Surveillance Abstract The advent of Searchable Surveillance marks a distinct change in the security industry, and the creation of a new sort of security system - one that combines old world record and store functionality with new world analytics tailored to the mainstream security market. At the forefront of this new group of security systems, 3VR Security continues to add functional analytics to its robust intelligent video platform. 3VR systems have been designed from the ground up with the specific needs of mainstream security managers in mind, both in terms of functionality and in terms of system architecture. Though 3VR’s systems enable a variety of advanced capabilities, the systems are simple to install, use, update and grow. This paper will explain the architecture of the 3VR platform, how to tailor the system to the particular needs of each organization, how to manage the system, and how to grow and update the system should the need arise. Abstract Page 2 3VR Searchable Surveillance SmartRecorders™ SmartRecorders™ are the final step in the evolution of security products towards providing a comprehensive security solution. Searchable Surveillance Systems™ combine a best-in-class DVR with tightly integrated analytics all managed by an extensible enterprise platform. Rather than cobbling together solutions that do not address all needs, at great expense, many security organizations are opting for one product that ties everything together and does it all affordably: 3VR’s SmartRecorder™. Turning Video into Tightened Security 3VR SmartRecorders™ tightly integrate video capture with multiple analytics. The 3VR software consists of an analysis pipeline that all data is passed through on its way to storage on hard disk. The purpose of the pipeline is to take the data (video, images, signals from other sensors, transactional text, etc.) and create metadata (information about what is happening in the environment) from it. Traditional digital and network video recorders (DVRs and NVRs) exclusively store data, which is primarily video in a compressed format. Video is valuable because it is what humans understand, but watching all recorded video from a system is time-consuming and costly. The creation of metadata provides a rapid synthesis, by a computer, of what the video data means to the security professional, saving the time and cost of humans watching all of the video. The result of analysis performed automatically by the 3VR SmartRecorder™ is metadata that describes events. Events are the basis for the 3VR system’s user interface and database system. The simplest event is a Motion Event: “Motion occurred on camera 45 at 3:34pm on February 3, 2006 for 34 seconds,” for example. From there, events get as complex as the underlying analysis will allow. Objects appear, move, and disappear. John Smith exited the building. A silver vehicle with license plate 3AHL200 entered the parking lot. 1600i Searchable Surveillance Systems Page 3 3VR Searchable Surveillance Conceptual Architecture 3VR is a software platform. It utilizes commercial off-the-shelf hardware (COTS) to capture, record, and analyze CCTV video feeds. Inputs can be either IP-based networked cameras or traditional analog video cameras with special capture and encoding cards.Developed by Silicon Valley database and software development experts, 3VR uniquely provides the full range of system design elements necessary for an effective and manageable large-scale security solution. Underlying the system is a scalable, unified relational database management system that seamlessly organizes the analytics and information produced by thousands of cameras and other inputs across hundreds of locations. 3VR is the first to solve the critical computer architecture problems that are a requirement for emerging physical security systems The system provides an integrated alerting and investigation management interface that enables security operators to quickly and easily monitor real-time alerts and search for specific video content to support threat and incident assessment. 3VR provides a unique visual summary monitoring format that enables quick assessment of real-time threats. 3VR provides a truly multi-analytic platform that enables organizations to detect, track and assess people and objects based on a range of analytics from a single interface, integrated into a single enterprise wide database management system. Conceptual Architecture Page 4 3VR Searchable Surveillance Monitoring Productivity Visual Event Dashboard EventStoryboard™ Though something like a user interface may seem inconsequential, in a security environment it enables a crucial switch from reactive to proactive monitoring. 3VR’s Searchable Surveiilance System™ populates one monitoring panel (as opposed to dozens of screens), called the Visual Event Dashboard, with all motion and face events. Events are presented in three-part summary cards that show a beginning, middle and end frame, giving guards a quick and accurate idea of what’s happening in their environment. This allows fewer guards to monitor more cameras as they are presented only with motion and face events, not screen after screen of dead time. Event-based monitoring means that, whether personnel are watching or not, all events are captured, not missed. This automatic initial bit of analysis (structuring raw video into events and presenting them in a visual dashboard) frees personnel up to focus on assessment and rapid response. Cameras can be quickly, accurately, and easily adjusted from the monitoring screen as well, to provide the best possible angle and zoom at “pinch points” (key entrances, the front desk, and guest floor accesses), allowing hotels to extend surveillance coverage across both high and low traffic areas. Average Cameras Per Guard Average Time to Acquire Video Average Time Reviewing Video Per Investigation Monitoring Productivity DVR/NVR 3VR 10 50 1 day/(Tapes/CDs) 10 Seconds (Remote Search) 120 minutes 5 minutes Page 5 3VR Searchable Surveillance Open API 3VR is an open analytic platform that fosters the tight integration of third party analytics into the system. This allows organizations to customize the number and type of analytics most appropriate for the threats they face. Moreover, it ensures a clear path for the incorporation of future advances in analytics. Providing an XML based API and adherence to security systems standards, 3VR enables large-scale organizations to interface their other security subsystems, creating an overall security solution that is responsive and maximally capable of intercepting threats. The 3VR platform is available as a software only application that can be flexibly applied to commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware for deployment in varying environments and configurations. Data Apps Cameras Analytics SmartFusion™ SmartSearch™ SmartManager™ SmartVideo™ Open API Page 6 3VR Searchable Surveillance Raw Video Capture & Storage Despite recent market advances by digital network cameras, analog video cameras are still the dominant method used to capture video in CCTV installations. Cameras transmit video over coaxial wire in one of two primary standards: NTSC (North America) or PAL (Europe, Asia, Africa, some others). These are the same standards used for television broadcasts in these regions and have many of the same drawbacks: susceptibility to noise and interference, the need for dedicated runs of “Coax” wire back to the recording device, and limited resolutions of about 704 x 480 (NTSC). In order to store analog video in a digital format, it must be encoded. 3VR uses an encoding format called H.264, also known as MPEG4 Part 10, the most advanced of the MPEG4 family of encoding formats. Digital network cameras, also called IP cameras, encode the video at the camera and transmit the video over an Ethernet network. Though the natural assumption would be that this eliminates the need for expensive coax cabling by using existing building data networks, it is often the case that IP cameras require their own network. This is largely due to the large bandwidth requirements of video transmission. Even with their own network, IP camera networks are often more economical due to the ability to aggregate feeds on trunk lines. IP cameras also overcome many of the limitations posed by analog NTSC or PAL transmission. NTSC and PAL are both interlaced standards, which leads to lower visual quality when compared to non-interlaced IP cameras. IP cameras can also take advantage of advances in CCD density and generate images of much higher resolution than analog transmission will allow. Soon, it will not be unusual to see IP cameras capable of megapixel and multi-megapixel resolutions as high as 1600x1200. The most common encoding format used in IP cameras is Motion JPEG, or MJPEG. This format enables high quality images and easy decoding, but suffers from large size and increased storage space requirements when compared to more advanced MPEG4 formats. Some newer IP cameras also stream MPEG4 feeds. 3VR software uses MJPEG for video analysis and, if available, MPEG4 feeds for storage. H.264 and MPEG4 feeds vary widely in bitrate and associated storage requirements, depending on configuration and activity level in the video. The user must trade video quality, as measured by visual quality, size, and frame rate, with storage costs. For analog cameras, the 3VR user can control video encoding on a per camera basis. Each camera can be configured to record at settings that range from CIF to 4CIF resolution, low to very high image quality, and 1 to 30 frames per second. These settings allow feeds to be stored in average bitrates ranging from 15Kb/s up to 800Kb/s. Raw Video Capture & Storage Page 7 3VR Searchable Surveillance Motion-based Recording and Multi-Analytic Pipeline 3VR is also a motion-based recorder. There are 2 recording modes: Motion and non-motion. Motion is triggered using 3VR’s proprietary motion detection algorithms, and can be fine-tuned using exclusion zones, object sizes, and other parameters. During periods of non-motion, recording parameters can be lowered, or even turned off, to save storage space. The 3VR software consists of an analysis pipeline that all data is passed through on its way to storage on hard disk. The purpose of the pipeline is to take data (video, images, signals from other sensors, transactional text, etc.) and create metadata (information about what is happening in the environment). Traditional digital video recorders (DVRs) exclusively store data, which is primarily video in a compressed format. Video is valuable because it is what humans understand, but watching all recorded video from a system is time-consuming and costly. The creation of metadata provides a rapid synthesis, by a computer, of what the video data means to the security professional, saving time and cost. Clearly, there are many different types of metadata that can be extracted from video data using various analytics. Each of these technologies requires different inputs (single frame, multiframes, background frames, regions of motion, etc.) and different computational resources. The 3VR pipeline is architected for easy plug-in of many of today’s and tomorrow’s analysis algorithms. The result of this analysis is metadata that describes events. Events are the basis of 3VR’s user interface and database system. The simplest event is a Motion Event: “Motion occurred on camera 45 at 3:34pm on February 3, 2006 for 34 seconds”. From there, events get as complex as the underlying analysis allows. Objects appear, move, and disappear. John Smith exits the building. A silver vehicle with license plate 3AHL200 enters the parking lot. Each event is tied to captured video and entered into the event database. DATA Video of parking lot entrance EXTRACTED METADATA License Plate scan Colors and makes of cars seen Times and dates of entrances and exits Video of a hallway Times, dates, and IDs of people seen in hall Counts of people, traffic patterns Video of a building exterior Times, dates of moving objects and their trajectories Times, dates, and IDs of people entering and exiting Motion-based Recording and Multi-Analytic Pipeline Page 8 3VR Searchable Surveillance Event Database The 3VR event database is a relational database management system that contains all the metadata associated with every captured event, and connects it to video and images. It is an enterprise-class SQL database capable of scaling up to years of data and many simultaneous users. The event database enables two of the breakthrough features of the 3VR system: proactive alerting and fast forensics. Proactive Alerting Once information is stored in the database, it can then be used to set alerts. For example, all employees can be logged entering the building, which enables alerting both for specific employees and for non-employees. In addition to alerts associated with previously captured footage and images, images and video can be imported to the database and associated with alerts. For example, mug shots of wanted persons on a federal watch list can be imported to a 3VR system and an alert can be set to notify security staff and/or sound an alarm when someone from this list is caught on any camera, anywhere on the premises. In this way the 3VR system is one of the most proactive solutions on the market, enabling meaningful prevention of criminal activity, not just post-event analysis. Fast Forensics Of course there will still be incidents that cannot be prevented by any security system. When incidents occur, the 3VR system allows users to search for particular events and people in seconds. Searches can be conducted for particular people, times, events, locations, or cameras. Results are returned in seconds (as opposed to the hours required to sift through the video feeds generated by the hundreds of cameras in the average office building), and investigators can view associated video and images to track down their suspects quickly and accurately. Event Database Page 9 3VR Searchable Surveillance Hardware - Roles and Responsibilities within the System’s Architecture 3VR software is designed to be hardware independent. There are several feasible hardware and network architectures, and the exact deployment depends on the customer’s needs. The architectures scale from integrated onemachine systems serving only a few cameras to geographically distributed networks of systems connected to hundreds of cameras. HealthManager™ 3VR is architected around Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) hardware. It uses Intel Pentium and Xeon processors and video capture and encoding boards based on TI Digital Signal Processors (DSPs). Any of the systems can be used with OpCenter Remote, 3VR’s client software, which can access a 3VR system with the same user interface available from the system itself. 3VR’s integrated systems are single-machine systems that enclose all required hardware in a single system. Depending on the features and analysis required, integrated systems can serve up to 32 cameras. Integrated systems work well both as stand-alone systems in small applications, or as part of a Federated network in large, geographically distributed networks (see below). Federated Systems Federated systems are networks of multiple integrated systems. The only hardware addition is that of a Federation Server, but sometimes an existing system can serve as a federation server. The individual systems store all data and metadata locally, and only a subset of the metadata is sent on to the federation server. When users connect to the federation server, it combines the network of systems into a virtual 3VR, with all video feeds, events, and alerts from all individual systems available in one combined interface. The Federation Server also enables centralized system management and health monitoring. Users are added through the server and propagated to all of the networked systems, and cameras or systems can be centrally updated with software upgrades. If a hard drive or a camera fails, the servers central HealthManager™ automatically detects the problem and sends an alert to the appropriate system. Hardware - Roles and Responsibilities within the System's Architecture Page 10 3VR Searchable Surveillance Federation is valuable in geographically distributed sites. Communication between the individual systems and the federation server requires very little bandwidth and can usually run alongside, and without impact to, existing network traffic. Client Workstation While the user can monitor and search directly from the 3VR system, this is often not a practical solution for rackmount or distributed systems. Instead, the most common method of use is over the network through OpCenter Remote, 3VR’s client application. OpCenter Remote installs on any Windows XP computer with the following minimum specifications: Intel Pentium 4, 2.4GHz or faster Display and video card capable of (and configured to use 1600x resolution) At least 512MB RAM and 2GB free disk space Use with laptop computers is not unusual – 3VR has had excellent success with the Lenovo (IBM) ThinkPad T42p with its built-in 1600x1200 display. Network Requirements There are three network connections in the 3VR system, each of which has different network requirements: CONNECTION MINIMUM RECOMMENDED NETWORK BANDWIDTH Integrated system to Federation Server 20-100 Kbps Client Workstation 250-700 Kbps Hardware - Roles and Responsibilities within the System's Architecture COMMENTS Steady state use is very small (0-30Kbps), but spikes can be greater. Greater bandwidth will result in a better user experience when viewing stored or live video Greater bandwidth will result in a better user experience when viewing stored or live video. Page 11 3VR Searchable Surveillance Key Benefits Flexible Architecture The 3VR architecture provides a great amount of flexibility to adapt to specific customer needs. Interfacing with External Data Sources and Users 3VR uses several technologies to facilitate interaction with data sources and other data systems. Camera Types As mentioned above, the 3VR system works with both analog and IP cameras. Analog cameras may be NTSC or PAL, but not mixed on the same integrated or Edge system. For basic recording, any analog camera will work. However, when applying analytics, the camera becomes a critical part of the system and will need to be selected and tuned appropriately. Face recognition is the most demanding analytic and requires cameras that are: • Appropriately positioned - 1.5 meter field of view, and no higher than 15° downward angle towards the face • Color and 450 vertical lines-of-resolution (LOR) • Well lit and properly focused • With a minimum of backlight For IP cameras, 3VR currently supports Axis™ cameras. Support for cameras from other manufacturers will be added in the future. E-mail Alerting An alert, when triggered, can be configured to generate one or more actions. The most common action is an SMTP e-mail. After a 3VR system is configured with an SMTP server name, any alert can trigger an e-mail to be sent. The email will contain the details of the event (date, time, associated camera, etc.), the response instructions, as well as attached images or video. Hardware inputs and outputs Any 3VR device can be expanded with optional hardware inputs (optically isolated inputs) or outputs (relays). These physical switches can be used to create hardware input events that appear in the user interface. Relays can be closed or opened as actions on alerts. Key Benefits Page 12 3VR Searchable Surveillance Importing people and images Watchlists can be created by importing digital images of people of interest. The images are treated much like video: the 3VR system will create an Imported Image Event and, if there is a face found in the image, an associated face event. This can be done on a image-by-image basis, or the 3VR system can analyze an entire directory structure finding all available pictures. The images can be used to seed subsequent facial recognition or used to search for similar people previously cataloged. For good facial recognition, there should be at least 30 pixels between the eyes of the subject. Exporting people and events People and events in the 3VR database can be exported to CD or disk. The data files are written in a 3VR-generated directory structure, with an accompanying XML file that contains descriptions of the files and all associated metadata. The exported data can be re-imported into another 3VR system with no loss of information, or can be used in other applications that parse the XML file. Application Programming Interface (API) 3VR offers SOAP/XML-based web services to provide real-time posting of events to external systems and processing of events generated elsewhere. The API is capable of accepting self-described events into the 3VR database, and has extensions for specific applications like access control and building automation systems. Included in the API is an HTTP server interface capable of serving streams of live video or video from particular events or times. Data and Network Security The 3VR system’s operating system is based on Microsoft Windows XP Embedded (“XPe”), a pared-down version of Windows XP Professional. However, the 3VR system bears little resemblance to Windows: • The system boots into the 3VR login screen, not the Windows login screen • 3VR manages all user authentication, utilizing one-way MD5 password encryption • 3VR provides no Start menu, task switching, Task Manager, command prompt, or any other method for the user to access the operating system • There is no Internet browser and no method to install 3rd party applications Key Benefits Page 13 3VR Searchable Surveillance There are 2 user levels: Administrator and User. Each has varying levels of permission to perform changes to the system. 3VR software can be deployed on other Microsoft operating systems as well. This option can be attractive to customers who have extensive network and server management policies and capabilities. Such users usually prefer to perform their own patch and virus protection tasks. 3VR uses a single, configurable TCP port to communicate with the client system and with Edge processors. All other ports are normally closed, unless optional ports for system management (see below) or SOAP web services are opened. Key Benefits Page 14 3VR Searchable Surveillance FEATURE Scalable, Unified Relational Database Management System Integrated Alerting and Investigation Management Multi-Analytic Platform Key Benefits VALUE INDUSTRY ENHANCEMENT Ensures that alert management and investigations can be performed across all of the sensors and video cameras deployed throughout an organization. Enables organizations to solve security problems that were previously impossble or extremely difficult and time-consuming to solve. Reduces the cost of performing security monitoiing and investigations. Video management systems do not provide a singular scalable database management system for 100s of cameras. Operators can view 1000s of cameras but they cannot manage analytics or conduct image and video searches seamlessly across those cameras and sensors. It will be very difficult and costly for systems that do not currently provide this to transition to this functionality. Enables comprehensive and seamless execution from a singular interface against the entire range of threats using myriad leading analytic tools. Reduces the number of subsystems and hardware components required to deliver a solution. The standard approach in surveillance monitoring is providing distinct hardware and subsystems to provide alerting and investigation management functionalities. Operators are forced to use separate monitoring interfaces. With the standard approach, it will be infeasible to upgrade and tightly integrate these functionalities. Organizations face a range of threats that can only be successfully managed through the utilization of a range of analytics tuned for particular tactics and threats. By enabling organizations to seamlessly employ a range of different analytics in a singular interface, security organizations increase the solution’s performance. The predominant industry trend is to loosely integrate third party analytics or provide a singular analytic as a bundle with existing video management systems. This significantly restricts the ability of legacy systems from evolving into platforms that provide multiple analytics. Page 15 3VR Searchable Surveillance FEATURE Open Analytic Platform Open Interface Security Systems Key Benefits VALUE INDUSTRY ENHANCEMENT New and improved analytics are constantly being developed. Organizations require the flexibility to integrate and incorporate new analytics as they are developed. By providing a system that provides a smooth and clear migration path, organizations reduce the cost of inevitably neccessary upgrades. Developing an open analytic platform is a challenging task that requires a flexible design and a structure that enables new analytic modules to be integrated in the future. As such, it is extremely uncommon for even the market leaders to proivde open analytic platforms. Security operations require a range of subsystems to monitor and manage risks, including legacy subsystems. Through an open, XML-based API and adherence to security standards, organizations can integrate surveillance systems with access control, intrusion detection systems and other core security subsystems. By providing this, organizations can ensure backwards compatibility and immediate assessment of a range of threats. The standard approach in surveillance monitoring is providing distinct hardware and subsystems to provide alerting and investigation management functionalities. Operators are forced to use separate monitoring interfaces. With the standard approach, it will be infeasible to upgrade and tightly integrate these functionalities. Page 16 About 3VR Security, Inc. 3VR Security, Inc., the pioneers of Searchable Surveillance, provides the first video management system powered by a search engine and integrated video analytics. These innovations drive new value by lowering physical and operational costs while dramatically improving the effectiveness and efficiency of investigations for fraud, theft, and other crimes. Based in San Francisco, CA, the company is privately held with funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Vantagepoint Ventures, In-Q-Tel, and DAG Ventures. 3VR is the three-time winner of the SIA best new video product, and was named security product of the year from Frost & Sullivan in 2006 and 2007, among other awards. Tel: 415.495.5790 Sales: 415.513.4611 Fax: 415.495.5797 Email: [email protected] Website: www.3VR.com 3VR Security, Inc. 475 Brannan Street, Suite 430, San Francisco, CA 941071