Types and Features of IP Surveillance Cameras

In this article we take a look at the basic types of IP Surveillance Cameras. We would also discuss some of the salient features of IP Surveillance cameras as well as IP PTZ Surveillance cameras to see how they enhance video surveillance.

Types of IP Surveillance Cameras:

There are basically four types of IP Surveillance cameras: Fixed, Fixed Dome, PTZ and PTZ Dome.

In Fixed cameras the viewing angle is fixed and it is permanently mounted to cover a certain area always. The camera and its direction of coverage is also pretty visible to everyone and the lenses might be easily changeable. For outdoor applications, they might have to be kept within some kind of protective housing.

With Fixed Dome cameras, the cameras are fixed in a small dome type housing to cover a certain area always. But due to the dome enclosure, it is hard to see in which direction the camera is pointing and it is hard to tamper with such cameras and they are also weather resistant and hence suitable for outdoor applications without requiring additional protective housing. However, the number of lenses that can be attached with them is limited based on the size of the dome.

A PTZ Camera refers to Pan Tilt and Zoom Camera where the camera’s view can be remotely controlled either manually or automatically for tilting up and down, panning side to side and zooming in and out. An operator can for instance follow a person along the road by rotating the camera up, down, sideways and zooming on them as required.

A PTZ dome camera is also a PTZ camera, but it is kept inside a dome. These PTZ dome cameras have a full 360 degree Pan and they can continuously move between preset positions (which are already stored) to monitor multiple angles/areas one by one in a particular sequence.

There are also Non-Mechanical PTZ cameras which has a wide angle lens (sometimes more than 180 degrees) and can zoom in to any part of the image without mechanical movement but by using optics alone. But here, the pan,tilt and zoom actions are limited.

Salient Features of IP/PTZ Surveillance Cameras:

Auto Focus: The auto focus feature of IP Surveillance cameras that can be zoomed could be handy when working with PTZ IP Cameras.

Night Vision: Many IP Surveillance cameras support night vision by turning off the IR Filter which makes the image viewable at night, in black and white.

White balance: Some IP Surveillance cameras can identify the light source used and compensate for its colour which is useful to reflect the natural colours.

Bandwidth Limiting: Certain IP Surveillance cameras can limit the bit rate at which the images are sent via the network and hence controlling the network bandwidth that is required to transmit the captured video images of the IP Cameras. But there might be some loss in image quality due to this.

Freeze: Images can be freezed during the pan, tilt and zoom operations (for PTZ Camera) and the current image can be shown after the camera has reached its position.

Back-light compensation: This feature makes the focused objects look more clear against a bright background.

Audio: Some IP Cameras allow for recording the voice along with video (external microphone connectivity is provided in the cameras). With some models, a full duplex voice communication is possible which enables to transmit and receive audio like a telephone conversation.

Camera Preset Positions: Many IP PTZ Surveillance cameras allow for setting pre-set camera viewing angle/zoom positions which can be accessed with a single click, later. The camera can also move through the selected pre-set positions in set order or at random.

360 Degree View: Certain PTZ cameras support continuous 360 degree rotation for coverage. Even if there is a mechanical stop in between, the camera can exhibit continuous Pan movement in the same direction by reversing the camera lens and slipping it over when the camera reaches the mechanical stop.

Motion Detection: This feature is used to generate an alarm whenever movement occurs (or stops) in the image. There are certain include windows which can target specific areas within the images and there are certain exclude windows which can ignore specific areas for motion detection. Motion detection may not function which the camera lens is moving.

Interchangeable components: Some IP Surveillance cameras provide interchangeable components (including the CPU, power supply, cameras etc) and individual components can be replaced/changed at any time. This helps rectify faults and there is also no need to change the whole camera when the CPU becomes obsolete, for example.

Analog connectivity: Some IP Surveillance cameras come with an optional analog connectivity which can also connect to the co-axial cable network in addition to the IP network. Analog surveillance cameras can be connected to the IP network using Video encoders.

Privacy Masks: IP Surveillance cameras allow to block/blur certain parts of the screen using privacy masks. In fact, multiple privacy masks can be deployed in the same scene. In some IP Cameras, these privacy masks increase their size automatically, when the image is zoomed in.

Recorded Tour: Some IP Cameras allow the recording of the movements of the operator (pan, zoom included) and the same can be played back later.

Alarms: If any unwanted incidents happen with the cameras like cutting the cables etc. that can stop the functioning of the IP cameras, certain alarms can be activated by them based on the event and severity. These alarms can range from sending emails, SMS to activating an external device automatically through input/output ports available in the cameras.

Simultaneous streaming of multiple formats: Certain IP surveillance cameras support the streaming of multiple compression formats (like Motion JPEG, MPEG 4), frame rates, resolutions etc. simultaneously to multiple devices for optimum performance.

Auto-tracking: Some IP Cameras support auto-tracking of images where Pan and Tilt can be automatically controlled by the camera to follow moving objects by centring them in the screen.

Power Over Ethernet (POE): Many IP surveillance cameras support POE – Power Over Ethernet feature which lets the network data cable (Cat 5E/6) to carry both power and data simultaneously without having to carry a separate power cable to the cameras.

Wireless: Some IP surveillance cameras support wireless connectivity to networks/access points through IEEE 802 wireless standards.This can be useful in cases where the data cables cannot be taken/very expensive to be taken till the IP cameras.

API: Some IP Surveillance cameras give an open standards based Application Programming Interface that enables many software vendors to write programs for specific applications using the IP Cameras.

excITingIP.com

In case you have any questions, you can contact us using the contact form or leave a comment below. You can also subscribe with your email address (on the right side of this site) to get notified (title and summary) when a new article is published on this site.