IFCPP welcomes it's newest Associate Member, MOBOTIX, and looks forward to their August 11 presentation at the Annual Conference in Denver. Thanks very much to MOBOTIX for sponsoring Monday's conference luncheon!
About MOBOTIX AG:
MOBOTIX AG sees itself as a software company with in-house hardware development in the area of digital, high-resolution and network-based video security solutions. The company focuses on the development of user-friendly complete system solutions from a single source. The publicly-traded company with headquarters in Langmeil, Germany, is known as the leading pioneer in network camera technology since its foundation in 1999 and its decentralised concept has also made high-resolution video systems cost-efficient. From 2010 onwards, MOBOTIX will extend its product range to include intelligent building automation products that are developed in-house. Whether in embassies, airports, railway stations, ports, gas stations, hotels, museums, art galleries, libraries or highways, over one hundred thousand MOBOTIX video systems have been in operation on every continent for years.
Mobotix Technology:
MOBOTIX has been producing megapixel cameras exclusively for many years now and is regarded as the global market leader for high-resolution video systems. With a higher resolution One single MOBOTIX camera with 3.1 megapixels records around 30 times more detail than regular CIF analog cameras. Unlike other systems, with the decentralised MOBOTIX concept, a high-speed computer and if necessary, digital long-term memory (MicroSD Card) is built into every camera, providing several days of recording time. The PC and the video control center now serve only for viewing and controlling the cameras (PTZ), not for analysis or recording. With the intelligence built in the camera, at the edge, Mobotix systems are capable to monitor various building sub-systems and trigger notifications when changes within the environment are detected. Furthermore, combining sound with motion detection and the ground breaking Mx Activity Sensor, Mobotix cameras can issue highly accurate alarms and reduce the load at onsite and remote Monitoring Centers, reducing fatigue and increasing response time of security personnel.
Successful Solutions:
The Vatican Apostolic Library does not need any introduction. Mobotix project’s innovativeness and originality distinguishes it from any other security system. MOBOTIX IP megapixel camera technology is combined with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology that uses microchips. With RFID technology, which is used both for identification cards and microchips integrated in the books, people can be linked to the volumes they have consulted and their movements within the library can be monitored. To do so, the motion detection feature was activated on the MOBOTIX cameras positioned at 20 exits. This way, it is possible to identify these people and assign them to the correct ID and the books that they have checked out. Thanks to the specially developed AI software (Artificial Intelligence),it is possible to assign the microchip to the corresponding video clip from the camera, allowing the operator to evaluate the recordings quickly and easily using a single search key, for example, the book title, the name of the person or the time at which the person left the building. All images from the cameras are stored for a year in a center for data evaluation and it is only accessible to authorised persons. This cutting-edge system ensures the security of all volumes in the Vatican Library and any anomalies can be identified immediately. If a person accesses a library volume without authorisation, this is detected immediately by the combined RFID and video surveillance system, and if this person tries to leave the building with the unauthorised volume through one of the library exits, an alarm is triggered. Combining the highly reliable and intelligent Mobotix cameras with the AI software, not only ensures immediate detection, but the system learns from its experience and gets more and more accurate with time.
Luciano Ammenti, who is responsible for coordinating the library‘s information services is excited: “We are incredibly satisfied with this project because we now have a video surveillance system that is head and shoulders above any of the other systems in use today. The IP megapixel technology from MOBOTIX creates recordings of outstanding quality. It was important for us to have clear and distortion-free images so that we can precisely recognise people’s faces and their identities. The cameras are easy to install, which is why we don’t have to make any structural changes to buildings that date back to the sixteenth century.”
General Director of the Völklinger Ironworks World Cultural Heritage Site, Dr. Meinrad Maria Grewenig, succeeded in bringing 120 masterpieces from the Larco Museum in Peru and 50 other exhibits from the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart into a unique atmosphere of a 6,000-m2 furnace hall in the ironworks to stage an exhibition entitled ”IncaGold”. It s no wonder that the press is talking about a ”bizarre combination well worth seeing”, which is expected to draw more than 150,000 visitors from July 2004 to April 2005. This is the first time that the exquisite gold exhibits from Peru have been on display in Germany. They provide an overview of 3,000 years of highly sophisticated culture in South America.
“We were especially careful in our planning of the security measures for the ”IncaGold”exhibition and went to a great extent right from the beginning.”In view of the extraordinarily valuable exhibits, Arno Harth, chief administrator at the exhibition company, based his actions on these words: “God forbid anything should happen!”
The monument protection laws prohibited the exhibition organisers from laying any additional cables in the building. Instead, they were required to use the existing computer network , which consisted of fibre glass and copper cabling.
In addition, to comply with further monument protection laws, it was also necessary to have the cameras positioned as inconspicuously as possible. There is not a lot of light available in the exhibition area itself. An extremely delicate feathered piece of jewellery can tolerate a maximum of 50 lux, which is equal to the light emitted by 50 votive candles. The design of the exhibition also presented problems. While the setting is in deep blue and violet colors (carpeting, walls, display cases) and provides an excellent backdrop for the glittering gold, it also absorbs much of the red portion of the light and adds to the already difficult lighting conditions.
It was not difficult to integrate the digital camera system into an existing network infrastructure. With the help of diffused 8-watt infrared spotlights and a highly sensitive low-light, infrared sensor, the MOBOTIX cameras are able to generate sharp, high-resolution black-and-white images. If more light is available, the cameras automatically switch from the night lens to the day lens for better color reproduction. Of course, the colors of the exhibition environment absorb most of the red portion of the infrared light, but the MOBOTIX color correction mechanisms counteract that problem. Also, installing the cameras in unnoticeable places allows inconspicuous surveillance.
The National Museum of Iceland safeguards and displays some of the most valuable objects that the Icelandic nation owns.“Our old system was simply not up to the task. It was analogue and controlled with a Video Management Software that was more than a decade old”, says Haukur Sævar Bessason, Supervisor of Buildings and Security at the National Museum of Iceland. He explains that besides aiming for an upgrade of the surveillance function, the National Museum of Iceland was also on the look-out for a new solution that integrated a counting system –in order to track the number of visitors at the museum and gauge the popularity of different exhibitions, among other thing. Another important criterion was to avoid any “hidden”costs not immediately apparent from the purchase costs of the cameras alone, such as license fees.
“The MOBOTIX system could replace our old counting system and upgrade our surveillance system in one go. We had seen the MOBOTIX solution in use at other locations in Iceland and the proven durability, high quality images and easy management of the cameras –along with the fact that there are no license fees –were the crucial factors for us”, says Haukur Sævar Bessason and continues: “The system is mainly used for security purposes, but there are Q24 cameras that are counting as well as recording”.
In the Americas, the latest high profile project is currently under way, Mobotix securing the centennial events at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, ON, Canada. With continuous improvement to the product line and 100% free of charge software solutions, Mobotix is looking forward to expand and duplicate their success stories while protecting cultural property worldwide.
Important Note:
This notification contains statements that are based on assumptions and estimates of MOBOTIX AG. Even though the management considers these assumptions and estimates to be true and accurate, the future actual development and the actual results may deviate from these assumptions and estimates for various reasons. Among those reasons are changes of the overall economic situation, foreign exchange rates, interest rates as well as changes in the market trends or the competitive environment. MOBOTIX AG does not assume any liability for deviations of the future development and actual results from the assumptions and estimates as contained in this ad hoc announcement / press release / corporate news.
