RIVA - Video Surveillance Cameras With Built-in Video Analytics - The Next Generation

ViDiCore KG is a manufacturer and agent for network-based video technology and video analytics and has been a partner for national and international system integrators and distributors for more than six years. With cameras in the area of video security equipped with integrated video analytics, the company now brings more efficiency to the security industry.

Whether in super markets, at petrol stations, in banks, at airports, train stations or in parking – today, state-of-the-art video systems are part of everyday life when it comes to the reliable observation of person or traffic stream monitoring to maintain safety. Achim Hauschke already had more than two decades of professional experience in this field when he founded ViDiCore together with a team of equally experienced colleagues in 2006.

"After being the representative of a US company during the first years, we started planning our own camera system, the RIVA line, in Mid-2011. Our goal was producing cameras that take into account high resolution and at the same time enable convenient and efficient video analytics," the managing director of ViDiCore explains.

With the RIVA IP camera technology, ViDiCore presents the next generation in IP camera technology together with now twelve employees in Hückelhoven. The product line combines high-quality IP cameras and IP encoders with embedded video analytics in every product at the price of a standard camera.

"Cameras more and more tend to have always pixel-intensive HD technology which previously posed the problem of having to transfer huge amounts of data from camera to computer for video analysis. And this required high computer and memory performance," Achim Hauschke explains. "That raises the question of whether so much information has to be transferred for analysis at all times at all.

Our cameras reduce this process by deciding independently when data is to be sent to the responsible security staff.

For instance, there is no surveillance in museums while visitors are moving with the general flow. As soon as someone starts moving in the opposite direction though, the camera will immediately start transferring the images to the security guards for further decision making."

With "onboard" video analytics, video images are analysed and evaluated in the camera already before they are either saved in the camera or transmitted for storage. This prevents the transmission of large amounts of data which contain little or no process information on the scene.

The strain on network and computer is reduced at the same time and additional expenses for storage media prevented. The 3D analytics differentiates between persons, vehicles and other objects and thus prevent false alarms triggered by e.g. animals.

A self-learning algorithm that automatically adapts to environmental changes ignores changes in lighting conditions based on cloud formation, artificial light or auto- iris operation of the camera as well as repeating movements of e.g. leaves on trees or movements on the surface of water.

There is also a large number of analytic filters to choose from: Entrance, exit, direction detection, speed-sensitive detection, smoke/fire, tailgating (one or several persons), speed increase or a reduction in the number of objects.

"Their capacity for color analysis makes our cameras also excellent for use in highly sensitive areas like depots or hospitals," Achim Hauschke adds. "The color of clothing helps identify persons as either staff or outsiders."

RIVA cameras can be equipped with SD cards with a maximum capacity of 32 GB. This allows recording three images per second for a total recording period of approx. 8 days. Local memory is often used for continuous recording so that the source of an event can be reconstructed at any time in after an alarm.

"All our cameras are equipped with video analytics," Achim Hauschke emphasizes. "They also have tamper detection against repositioning, covering or defocusing to increase camera security. We offer our customers high-quality, modern surveillance cameras at a highly attractive price." Video analytic in the camera is a trend that is acclaimed not only by camera manufacturers but also by the software industry.

ViDiCore will considerably expand its marketing and sales activities in Europe in the years ahead to establish "onboard" video analytics as a standard feature of video surveillance technology; this plan includes training that focuses on handling/configuration and the effective use of video analytic filters.

Site analyses and practical case studies are also part of the training and aim at reducing the number of false alarms. This is the only way to illustrate the necessity of "onboard" video analytics and establish it as standard in the market.

One of the most important criteria for the acceptance of video analytics is the setup, configuration and operation of the functions. We have decided on the “VCA Technology” solution because operation is very intuitive and can be set up in 30 minutes by partners that are not trained.

There is a sense of achievement after a very short time already and that is crucial for further use. It very quickly demonstrates the benefits of this technology with regard to price and also handling.

Various camera manufacturers have already discovered the onboard video analytics argument but unfortunately with insufficient algorithms that are more video motion detection than video analytics which deals with different movement patterns.

The price of truly outstanding solutions prevents them from reaching the mass market which is indeed necessary for technical trends though. 

With its RIVA camera line and the integrated video analytics of VCA Technology in London, one of the video content analytics pioneers, Vidicore is presenting a product line that combines just that: high quality camera technology with built-in video analytics that is in no way inferior to that of leading VCA manufacturers when it comes to efficiency – and all that at the price of a standard IP camera.