The bench test 2 Solar so good

What our experts say …

If you were to ask most installers what their biggest gripes with dome cameras were, then we suspect that there's a good chance that installation would come fairly high on the list. Dome cameras are by their nature tricky beasts, and whilst Bewator doesn't claim to have solved every problem with its Solaris range, it does promise to make the installation engineer's life a good deal easier.

The two areas that Bewator have made the most progress with are the mechanical fixing and mounting, and the wiring arrangements for the Solaris dome. The former benefits from an elegantly simple sealed head unit and a range of mounting brackets that can be quickly and easily configured to suit just about any type of installation, including wall, ceiling, corner, pole and pendant type fixings.

The head unit wiring comprises a single cable, using a standard pre-terminated Cat 5 lead, connected to a sophisticated external termination unit (XTU) that handles power supply, telemetry, alarm and relay, video processing, control and setup functions, plus one rather unusual extra facility, which we'll come to in a moment.

Solaris is also no mean performer when it comes to generating a video image, and that is largely thanks to the use of a Sony Exwave day/night camera module with switchable IR cut filter.

This is based around a 1/4-inch CCD (752 x 582 pixels) with a sensitivity of 0.05 lux in colour and 0.01 lux in monochrome/night mode, giving a claimed resolution of 460 lines. The camera's 4.1-73.8mm lens has an 18x optical zoom augmented by 12x digital zoom, and this is combined with a good assortment of manual and automatic exposure adjustments that should be able to cope with just about any lighting situation.

Remarkably nimble

The camera is mounted on a remarkably nimble pan/tilt platform capable of speeds of up to 360 degrees a second in both axes. A total of 99 preset positions can be stored, and these may be used to program four separate automated tours of up to 32 steps, each with variable speed and dwell times.

There is also a facility to record a 'pattern' of operator movements and camera actions lasting several minutes, as well as a random tour mode for unattended operation. Additional features include Privacy Zones; up to 24 can be stored, of which eight can be on the screen at any time. Limits can be imposed on the camera's tilt angle and the continuous 360 deg field of view can be divided into 16 named sectors that appear as part of the camera's on-screen display. Each of the camera's eight alarms can be individually programmed to carry out a range of actions, and these can be assigned a 24 character on-screen text ident. At switch-on the camera goes through a brief self-diagnostic routine that checks all key functions and flags up wear on drive belts and the internal fan before switching to normal operating mode.

In addition to Bewator's own camera controller units, the Solaris dome is compatible with a range of third-party controllers and telemetry protocols including Pelco D, Pelco P, Ernitec ERNA, VCL, Videmech Universal, Photon and TTY. Considerable thought has gone into the design of the head unit. It's a single piece ABS moulding fitted with a hinged top shroud and interchangeable bracket. This can be re-orientated to accommodate a vertical or horizontal fixing by undoing just three screws. Because of its simplicity, it appears to be very well protected against the ingress of moisture; in fact, the only possible entry point is around the feed-through connector for the Cat 5 cable, which is very well protected with a rubber gasket. The transparent acrylic dome is held in place by a simple collar fixed by six screws and again it provides a secure and weatherproof seal.

The camera and PTZ module is a model of simplicity. It fixes to the inside of the head unit using just three screws. A rotating platform is suspended from the three-armed mounting bracket, which is driven by a toothed belt coupled to a stepper motor with a brass pulley - presumably to reduce noise and wear.

The motor is mounted on a lightweight plastic chassis, which also supports a large PC responsible for camera and motor control. A small thermostatically controlled fan is next to the PCB. This is directed at a set of three large resistors that provide a stream of warmed air to control the internal temperature of the dome unit.

The actual camera module, housed inside a ventilated metal exoskeleton, is mounted on a bearing attached to a short vertical arm beneath the PCB. This is also moved by a toothed belt and stepper motor arrangement. With so few moving parts, there is very little to go wrong, and the lightweight construction means the assembly has a relatively low mass, which undoubtedly contributes to the fast pan/tilt speeds and positional accuracy.

We now move on to the External Termination Unit (XTU), which the otherwise clearly presented instruction manual refers to as an external 'telemetry' unit. This is housed inside a sealed and weatherproofed ABS box measuring 175 x 250 x 75mm. The idea is that this is mounted in a convenient location near to the head unit; a 10m Cat 5 cable is supplied with the dome, along with a fixing kit and Allen keys. The XTU houses the mains power supply and a single PCB with all of the support electronics responsible for telemetry, control, protocol conversion and video processing, plus three banks of screw terminals for the alarm and telemetry connections. A tamper switch activated by the removal of the box lid can be programmed to trigger the camera's alarm relay.

Unusual feature

One very unusual feature of the XTU is a small backlit LCD panel with a cluster of cursor and menu buttons. This provides access to some of the dome's low-level setup functions and can also control the PTZ mechanism. The unexpected extra feature is that the LCD screen doubles up as a video monitor, providing a monochrome image of the camera's video output.

Pressing the centre cursor button displays the XTU's main menu, which has nine options. 'Protocol' selects a telemetry protocol from a list. 'Interface' is used to select a telemetry connection type (co-ax or RS485). 'Receiver Adr' assigns a unique address for each camera (between 1 and 512). 'LCD Contrast' adjusts the display to suit different lighting conditions and the orientation of the unit. 'Video Gain' has two adjustments for video brightness and sharpness. 'Temperature' displays the internal temperature of the dome unit. 'Software Info' shows the version number of the operating software. 'Factory Reset' puts the XTU back to its default settings. 'Test Mode' displays a set of sub-menus for checking the alarms, relay, LCD, telemetry connections, EPROM, and a summary of the self-diagnostic tests.

PTZ and focus functions can be accessed from the Test menu or by pressing the View and Menu buttons. This displays a set of control functions on the LCD, for pan and tilt actions; pressing the Menu button a second time switches the controls to zoom and focus adjustments. Using the LCD as a video monitor seems like a good idea, though in practice the displayed greyscale image is far too coarse and contrasty to make out any significant detail, apart from large, solid and well-lit shapes.

Setup and operation

As already indicated, wiring the head unit to the XTU involves connecting a single cable, which takes only a few seconds. The telemetry and video connections are similarly straightforward and since they will normally be carried out at ground level installation should pose few, if any, problems.

The XTU provides only limited access to the camera's high-level setup functions - this is the responsibility of the controller unit and the camera's own on-screen display system. Pressing the controller's Menu button displays eight sub menu options: Camera, Presets, Privacy Zones, Limits and Sectors, Alarms, OSD, Diagnostics and Passcodes. The Camera sub menu covers White Balance, (auto, manual, auto tracing, indoor and outdoor), Backlight control (on/off), Special (zoom on/off, day/night mode, video brightness & sharpness, reset), and Exposure (exposure priority, shutter speed, iris, gain, slow shutter on/off).

The Presets menu deals with programming positions, tours and the 'learning' mode. Privacy Zones is used to specify the shape, position and colour of the 24 available masks, and Limits lets the operator program the vertical range of the camera's field of view and name the 16 sectors, which appear on the screen as the camera pans.

The Diagnostics sub menu provides access to the dome's self-check routine, and finally Passcodes sets up PIN code access to installer and operator functions.

Performance

Bewator's decision to use a Sony camera module has ensured first-rate video quality. Resolution is at or very close to the manufacturer's figure of 460 lines, and low-light performance is outstanding, yielding a useable black and white image in near dark conditions. In decent natural light the image is very well balanced with negligible amounts of picture noise and crisp, natural looking colours. The auto white balance system compensates smoothly for changes in light source with only minor aberrations and a slight yellowish caste when the scene is lit exclusively with tube light.

The exposure system is very responsive and handles small and sudden variations in level without any drama; however, some slight red colour fringing was evident on light coloured and brightly lit objects. A very strong light source within the scene can temporarily upset the backlighting control but in general it copes admirably with extreme conditions. Pan and tilt motion is silky smooth and keyed into the zoom so that really fine adjustments are possible at higher magnification levels.

What the manufacturer says ...

Bewator's Solaris is a dome camera that offers unparalleled levels of accuracy, speed and configurability, and is suitable for both internal and external use.

Different to all other domes currently on the market, the Solaris has an ingenious design to allow all connections - power, data, video, alarms, network etc - to be made to an easily accessible weatherproof box, XTU, that is mounted separately to the 'Dome' head .

Connection between the dome head and the XTU box is a simple cat5 lead with externally mounted waterproof RJ45 connections.

With a built-in PSU and LCD set-up screen, the XTU makes quick work of diagnostics, installation, setup and termination, and can be mounted up to 30m from the dome at a convenient and accessible position, such as a tower base, riser etc. This means that the installing engineer need never open the camera head and spend wasted time in the rain/snow etc making difficult connections and settings.

After initial set-up, all programming of the Solaris is via intuitive on screens menus which can be accessed by any supporting controller, allowing configuration of all features, regardless of the protocol being used.

Solaris has a range of features including:

• Uses a high quality Sony camera module for best image quality
• Fully programmable presets, tours and patrols
• High speed acquisition of presets combined with precise manual control
• Alarm inputs, programmable reaction to alarms, and alarm outputs via contacts and telemetry make Solaris fully compatible with detector activated CCTV systems
• A configurable video launch amplifier permitting longer coax cable runs
• Twisted pair and over the coax methods of telemetry transmission along with a range of telemetry protocols make Solaris compatible with a wide range of control systems and DVRs
• Unshielded twisted pair video transmission between the dome head and XTU
• IP video CODEC can be incorporated in the XTU
• Weatherproof to IP67