How mobile video surveillance changes the security industry
 

Mobile surveillance is no longer a new word for the security industry. From its inception to the present, its technology has been continuously developed and matured, becoming an important branch of the video surveillance “big family”.

What is mobile monitoring?

Mobile monitoring refers to the professional video surveillance products that are transmitted through the wireless form or transmitted through the wireless or network. It can be received and viewed through mobile. For example, mobile phones or computers can monitor remote real-time dynamic pictures. Simpler, more convenient, and more timely monitoring solutions for launch and mobile reception. Mobile monitoring can be said to be a product of the close integration of wireless network technology with traditional security monitoring technology.

Mobile surveillance products can be broadly classified into two categories: one is to monitor fixed or non-fixed locations through wirelessly transmitted mobile monitoring devices, such as law enforcement vehicles that carry surveillance cameras through surveillance cameras mounted on the roof or through law enforcement personnel. Real-time image acquisition on the law enforcement site; second, through mobile terminal devices (such as mobile phones), obtain images captured by fixed surveillance cameras at fixed locations and locations, such as 3G mobile phone monitoring. At present, the main forms of mobile monitoring products are: mobile phone (or mobile terminal) monitoring, bus mobile monitoring, vehicle mobile monitoring (mainly law enforcement vehicles), law enforcement recorders, mobile individual equipment.

Since the advent of mobile monitoring technology, due to factors such as cost and network bandwidth, market applications have been tepid, far from meeting our ideals and market expectations.

3G and 4G technologies have undoubtedly brought unprecedented opportunities for mobile monitoring. It is time for us to pay attention to the mobile surveillance market.

Mobile monitoring classification and characteristics

The transmission medium is required for the transmission of any monitored image. Mobile surveillance, like a fixed surveillance system, also requires image transmission, except that fixed-monitored image transmission is transmitted over wiring and cable, while mobile surveillance image transmission is transmitted through or via a network. Cable transmission (or fiber) is also required for network transmission, but this work is done by the telecom operator. In the wireless monitoring system, the wireless monitoring center needs to obtain the video information of the monitored point in real time, and the video information must be continuous and clear. At the wireless monitoring point, the camera is usually used to collect the scene in real time. The camera is connected to the video wireless transmission device, and the data signal is sent to the monitoring center by radio waves.

Throughout the wireless mobile monitoring transmission, it can be said that a variety of transmission methods coexist. The main transmission methods are: wireless mobile network (3G / GPRS), wireless broadband (WIFI / WIMAX) microwave system, satellite and so on.

From a professional point of view, the current mobile surveillance cameras are mainly divided into the following categories:

First, WIFI wireless network camera. WIFI wireless network cameras need to work with wireless routers, and wireless routers are required to be able to access the Internet. The advantage of adopting WIFI wireless network camera is that it does not need wiring, the installation and increase of the number of cameras are relatively convenient, and the cost of the Internet is relatively low; the disadvantage is that it is necessary to do some simple network configuration according to the instructions before installation. The distance from the network camera to the wireless router is generally required to be in the range of 30-100 meters. If it exceeds this range, a dedicated antenna or a nearby wireless router is required. In a place where the wireless router is used more densely, it is necessary to set the working frequency band of the wireless router. Second, wired network cameras. A wired network camera can be directly plugged into a network port or router that can access the Internet to work properly. The advantage of using a wired network camera is that it is simple to use, can be used without any configuration, is not afraid of signal interference, is stable and reliable, and has low Internet access cost; the disadvantage is that a network cable is required. Third, 3G wireless network camera. The 3G network camera has a mobile TD-SCDMA type, a Unicom WCDMA type, and a telecommunication CDMA2000 type, and a corresponding mobile phone card needs to be inserted into the camera. The advantage of using a 3G network camera is that it is easy to use, does not require any configuration, can be used, does not require wiring, and does not require the user to set up any network by itself, as long as it has a mobile phone network and a power source.

The advantages of mobile video surveillance

As we all know, the people, cars and things in the city are constantly moving. Therefore, it is not enough to control the urban public security monitoring system with a fixed point. It is difficult to achieve all-round coverage. It must be fully mobilized by means of flexible positioning of mobile points. Stereo security monitoring needs. The movement point is an effective complement to the fixed point. Compared with the traditional wired monitoring solution, wireless monitoring has the advantages of being free from cable constraints, flexible networking, short installation period, convenient maintenance, plug and play, easy maintenance, strong capacity expansion, and low overall cost.

At present, there are two main applications of wireless mobile monitoring products on the market, one is the home application of WiFi local area network. It is generally based on IPC with WiFi function and is suitable for home or small-scale applications. This kind of application has just started, but it represents the trend of the future civil monitoring market; the second is the industrial application of 3G as the transmission network. With the gradual popularization of 3G networks, 3G applications with mobility and urgency as the main applications will be more and more, and enter a rapid development stage.

For video surveillance applications with mobility or emergency temporary deployment, traditional wired monitoring cannot be met at all. Users can only use wireless monitoring to implement these applications. These applications mainly include mobile application scenarios represented by in-vehicle and individual surveillance systems. The staged emergency monitoring application scenario of emergency deployment after the occurrence of emergencies represented by portable wireless monitoring equipment is the main.

Insiders say that if you build a large wireless video surveillance system, you can use the existing carrier's telecommunications infrastructure. Otherwise, the cost of re-entering the equipment is very high and requires unified planning and construction.

Under normal circumstances, the monitored point and the central control center are far apart and the position is relatively scattered. The traditional wiring method is not only very costly, but also the cable network is helpless when encountering obstacles such as rivers and mountains. At this point, the unparalleled advantages of wireless networks are reflected.

At present, mobile wireless monitoring technology has been widely used in transportation, highway and rail passenger transportation, shipping, public security, urban management, fire protection and other fields.

The "bottleneck" in the development of mobile monitoring technology

Mobile monitoring has been around for many years, and it has many unique advantages, but it has not been widely popularized and applied. Why are many security engineers and system integrators not willing to use wireless technology to build video surveillance systems for a number of reasons? There are technical reasons and cost reasons, but one of the most important reasons is the network bandwidth problem.

In contrast, traditional mobile communications have a fatal flaw - low data transfer rates. Even with the current state-of-the-art H.264 video coding technology, a clear, full frame rate network video surveillance signal requires at least 200 Kbps of bandwidth, and traditional mobile communication cannot meet such transmission requirements.

The main problems encountered in wireless mobile monitoring applications are network deployment problems, power-taking problems in mobile environments, video storage problems, etc. The main challenges are twofold: First, the transmission image occupies a large bandwidth, and at the same location, the same This bandwidth cannot be reused in one band, so the resource usage is relatively large. Secondly, the current transmission mode is basically one-to-one, and the practicality is greatly reduced. For these reasons, wireless surveillance is currently only used as an aid, and it has never been the protagonist of the surveillance market.

According to data released by Akamai, the world's largest CDN service provider, the world average network speed is 2.7Mbps in the fourth quarter of 2011, and the country with the fastest average speed is South Korea, with an average network speed of 16.7Mbps. Hong Kong, China ranked second with 10.5 Mbps, Japan ranked third with 8.9 Mbps, and the United States ranked 13th with 6.1 Mbps. Mainland China ranks 90th in the world, with an average speed of 1.4Mbps, far below the world average.

Although China's Internet speed is not high, the charges are not low. According to the "China Broadband User Survey" released by DCCI Internet Data Center, the monthly fee for 1M bandwidth for fixed broadband users in mainland China is three times that of Vietnam, four times that of the United States, 29 times that of South Korea, and 469 times that of Hong Kong, China. Due to lack of competition, compared with other countries, China's broadband has the problem of high quality and low price, which is called "snail-level" network speed and "rhino-class" charge. To a certain extent, this will inevitably restrict the application and development of related industries including mobile monitoring technology.

In addition, system stability is also a problem that users are worried about. Only by completely eliminating the worries of users, mobile video surveillance is likely to be widely popularized and applied, and it will become the main force in the video surveillance market.

3G, open a new e ra of mobile surveillance development

In January 2009, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 3G operation licenses for the three major operators, marking the beginning of China's communications market into the 3G era. The three major operators have launched 3G wireless video surveillance services, relying on their own 3G wireless network, seamlessly integrate video surveillance and anti-theft alarm functions, bringing people a new wireless network video surveillance experience.

The emergence of 3G has undoubtedly brought an opportunity for the development of mobile video surveillance. The high bandwidth of 3G truly meets the wireless transmission requirements of video surveillance. 3G wireless mobile video surveillance combines 3G transmission and video service functions, becoming a new bright spot for long-distance, wide-range video surveillance.

The high bandwidth and mobility of 3G technology will undoubtedly promote the deep integration of security monitoring and mobile communication. Security monitoring will also realize a transition from analog monitoring, digital monitoring, wired network monitoring to wireless video surveillance. The increase of 3G network bandwidth will greatly expand the application field of wireless mobile monitoring, so that those areas and users who do not have wireless mobile monitoring needs can easily apply mobile monitoring. It is foreseeable that in the future, 3G-based wireless video will be more widely used.

What is even more gratifying is that soon after that, 4G came out again and began to be applied in cities such as Guangzhou and Hangzhou, which opened a new door for mobile monitoring bandwidth transmission.

Like fixed monitoring systems, wireless mobile monitoring technology will also move toward high-definition in the future, and H.264 High Profile encoding technology will be increasingly used in coding technology. Under the premise of ensuring image quality, the bandwidth consumption is reduced, and the adaptability to the wireless network is improved.

What needs to be seen is that even with the support of 3G and 4G, it is not that there is no obstacle or unimpeded development in the development of wireless mobile monitoring. Because 3G is good or 4G, it is still in the pilot application stage.

The current 3G video mobile terminal is not fully applicable to 3G video surveillance. For example, in the front-end storage, the ordinary hard disk is too large, which makes the whole machine unfavorable for installation. These problems still need to be solved, and the technology needs to be further improved. At present, the reasons for restricting the development of 3G wireless monitoring applications are as follows: 1. The application of 3G in the field of wireless video surveillance has just started. There is no open and unified industry standard, private standards are not compatible, and large-scale promotion is difficult. Second, 3G network stability, coverage is a key issue. Although 3G networks have been covered in some urban hotspots, the number of 3G base stations is not enough, resulting in unstable networks in certain areas. Third, there is no coverage of 3G networks in second- and third-tier cities, economically underdeveloped areas and vast rural areas. Will become a constraint to the development of the wireless mobile surveillance market to a certain extent.

Miao Wei, Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, admitted that there is still a big gap between domestic broadband technology and the international average. Fiber-optic access has been included in the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”, and China’s broadband is expected to be greatly accelerated. Reduce accordingly.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that in 2012, a series of measures will be implemented to accelerate the pace of informationization, including the promotion of the “Broadband China” strategy, the implementation of broadband Internet speed-up projects, the launch of IPv6 (Next Generation Internet Protocol) pilots, and the expansion of triple-network integration pilot cities. . The National Development and Reform Commission has determined that small-scale commercial pilots of IPv6 networks will be launched before the end of 2013, and large-scale deployment and commercialization will be carried out from 2014 to 2015. These are all positive factors for the development of wireless mobile surveillance.

With the continuous development of communication network technology and the further improvement of the network environment, it is believed that the development and application of wireless mobile video surveillance technology will enter a new stage of development.

Mobile surveillance application market prospects attractive

The mobile video surveillance system is flexible and can be used with the monitoring features. Therefore, in some remote places such as mountains, forests, rivers and rivers, etc., where there is no way to lay wires, or temporary monitoring sites, there is no need to lay wires. Traditional wired monitoring cannot meet the needs, only mobile video surveillance. To meet the demand. Wireless mobile monitoring is a true "clairvoyant" and "shunfeng ear", so it has the unparalleled and irreplaceable advantages of traditional monitoring, especially in the application fields such as bus, subway, emergency command, on-site stability, on-site law enforcement, etc. people.

We are pleased to see that while the network transmission is conducive to the popularization of mobile surveillance technology, the mobile monitoring technology itself is also constantly improving. Nowadays, most of the bus mobile surveillance cameras, vehicle mobile surveillance cameras, and individual mobile wireless surveillance cameras have night vision functions, and the monitoring distance is farther and farther. For example, the infrared laser night vision police car heads launched by Bao Qianli in Shenzhen recently. The monitoring distance reached 400 meters.

In terms of applications, mobile phone (or mobile terminal) monitoring is mostly used for enterprise users, industry users and home users. The market potential of the civilian market is huge; bus mobile monitoring is mainly used in transportation, including long-distance buses, dangerous goods transport vehicles, etc. The market space is very large; vehicle mobile monitoring, mainly used in law enforcement vehicles, including police cars, emergency command vehicles, urban management law enforcement vehicles, fire trucks, etc.; law enforcement recorders and mobile individual equipment, relatively more professional applications, but also have No small market potential. With the continuous development and maturity of mobile monitoring technology, network and deployment costs are declining, and the spring of wireless mobile monitoring development is bound to come.

So how big is the mobile surveillance market? Below we take the bus mobile monitoring as an example for analysis.

In recent years, bus mobile monitoring applications can be said to be in full swing, and the installation of mobile surveillance cameras on buses has become a common practice. Up to now, there have been more than 20,000 mobile surveillance cameras installed in Shenzhen buses, and 3 buses have been installed for each bus, and they are connected to the police 110. The images taken by the camera can be transmitted to the public security command center simultaneously. At the end of 2007, Guangzhou installed cameras for more than 8,000 buses in the city. The total number of cameras installed will exceed 26,000. Dongguan, Foshan and other cities in the Pearl River Delta have also installed mobile surveillance cameras for the city's buses. Most of the buses are installed in three, and some are installed in four and two. Dongguan installed mobile surveillance cameras on 6,000 buses in the city, with a total investment of more than 100 million yuan. How many buses are there in the country? It is impossible to count. There are only nine cities in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi'an and Chongqing. The total number of buses exceeds 100,000, and the bus mobile monitoring market is big. Imagine it. In addition, there is a taxi mobile surveillance market, no less than bus mobile video surveillance.

In recent years, mobile video surveillance of law enforcement vehicles has quietly emerged. Due to the need for on-site law enforcement, many government law enforcement agencies such as the public security, judicial, traffic police, and urban management have installed mobile video surveillance systems for law enforcement vehicles. Taking Guangdong as an example, according to the “Three-Year Plan for the Construction of the Social Security Video Surveillance System of Guangdong Province (2012-2014)”, more than 70% of the duty police cars in Guangdong Province should install the vehicle moving image monitoring system to realize the on-site law enforcement dynamics. monitor. In the future, this demand will expand and extend to more provinces and cities and more law enforcement units, so this market cannot be ignored.

So, in the next few years, can mobile monitoring be equal to fixed monitoring and IP monitoring? Can mobile monitoring become the protagonist of the surveillance market? Let us wait and see.