The Vico system is configured to work on an ISDN line. However should this not be available, or if the ISDN connection fails, it can also operate on a conventional analogue PSTN line and, at a pinch, via a GSM cellular telephone link. However it is worth saying straight away that the slower data rates of PSTN and GSM will have a significant impact on picture quality and/or image refresh rates. The bottom line is that an ISDN line is necessary for optimum performance.
There are essentially two elements in the system: the Vico alarm module or transmitter, which is located at the remote site, and the receiver software that runs on a PC at the monitoring site. First let's look at the alarm module. It is housed in a slim plastic box measuring 294 x 294 x 43mm. Externally there is not much to see apart from a row of green LED status indicators.
The alarm module is normally mounted close to the telephone connection point; it has an internal ISDN interface and is powered by a small plug-in mains adapter. The alarm module has video inputs for up to six colour or black and white cameras and eight signalling inputs for external alarm sensors. Additional facilities include on-board motion detection, a transparent data channel used to remotely control camera functions (pan/tilt/zoom etc), and full duplex audio.
The Vico unit is optionally available with a built-in hard disc drive for on-site video recording. The disc has a 4.3-gigabyte capacity (VCS has recently upgraded the drives from 2.1Gb), and that allows it to record between 4,000 and 8,000 minutes of moving video (up to 120 hours) or 200,000 individual images.
The recording facility can be used in a number of ways, including continuous, sequence, time-lapse and at specified daily or weekly intervals from one or all cameras. It has a repeat recording mode that continuously overwrites the data and recordings can be accessed and viewed at the monitor site.
Installation is reasonably straightforward. The Vico module is quite small, and easy to fit. Removing the clip-on top cover accesses all the connections. Inside the case there is a single PCB with all of the important gubbins enclosed by a metal screen. The inputs and outputs are brought out on to a row of connectors along one edge of the board. On the far left there is a single BNC socket for video input 1 (when using a single camera) and a set of screw terminals for the six camera inputs.
Next to that is a video output connection for a local monitor. A second bank of screw terminals carries the alarm inputs and two switched relay outputs. A third terminal block carries the connections for any audio devices (microphone and loudspeaker). There are two nine-pin D-Sub sockets. One is used to convey RS232 data to camera control units and the second is a serial data link for an external modem (for analogue or GSM communications links). Lastly, on the far right side of the main board there are two 'RJ' type sockets for the ISDN lines.
Once installation is complete the Vico module has to be configured and this is normally carried out over the ISDN (PSTN or GSM) connection, though it is possible to connect the unit directly to a PC via the external modem's serial RS232 connector. This takes us to the second part of the system, the operating software.
THE SOFTWARE
Essentially there are three options. The Vico module comes with a basic utility called ViewStation. This is a single screen viewer with recording facilities; it also supports a two-way audio link to the Vico box. ViewStation is supplied on two 3.5-inch floppy discs and it will run on any reasonably recent IBM PC or compatible with a 486/66 or faster processor, 8Mb of RAM, SVGA graphics, an ISDN interface (or modem) and using Windows 3.1 or 95.
Program number two is called Provilook. Whereas ViewStation is essentially an adaptation of an off-the-shelf NetCam program, Provilook is a purpose-designed control and management program for the Vico system. The main display comprises a quad screen or single screen, with allied alarm data and controls displayed alongside each camera image.
Provilook can simultaneously display and record incoming video (and audio) from up to four cameras onto the host PC's hard disc drive. Additional facilities include a set of protocols to operate a range of popular PTZ camera heads, queuing facilities for incoming alarm calls and an archiving facility that logs alarm events and replays recordings.
Provilook has rather more demanding system requirements than ViewStation. It is designed to run on IBM PCs and compatibles but the processor must be a Pentium II, 300MHz or faster, with at least 64Mb of RAM and an advanced graphics card.
As with ViewStation, the PC needs an ISDN connection and the operating system should be Windows 95/98 or NT (Version 4 onwards). Provilook software is supplied on a CD-ROM and it comes with a 'dongle' or licence module (to restrict its use to a single PC) that plugs into the PC's parallel port.
’The Vico alarm module is an impressive piece of kit. Build quality and attention to detail appear to be very good ...’
The third program is Provi. It is a sophisticated video alarm management system using site map graphics. The program includes a site map editor utility to create custom graphics of the monitored locations. The main display shows an inset video image alongside a graphic of the site, with indicators showing the locations of cameras and alarm sensors.
Incoming alarm signals are automatically associated with the indicators on the site map, allowing the operator to instantly assess the situation and where necessary take control of the relevant cameras. Provi has similar recording and logging facilities to Provilook and the same system requirements.
Although Security Installer has not subjected this equipment to a Bench Test evaluation, we were able to get a good feel for the Provilook software package and get a fairly accurate impression of the system's capabilities using a demo PC supplied by Controlware Communications, which had a number of stored recordings from previous test installations.
Depending how the unit is configured the usual sequence of events is as follows: the Vico module will normally be set up to respond to an alarm trigger or any unexpected movement on one of the cameras. When activated the unit dials up the monitoring site (the memory can store up to 50 phone numbers). The PC automatically answers the call and sounds an alarm (a very annoying police siren).
The siren is cancelled by clicking on the appropriate 'bell' icon on the screen. Immediately a single image or quad screen is displayed, the call is logged and the incoming video is recorded on the PC's hard disc. The images could be in a variety of formats, from low to medium definition real time video at 25 frames per second to higher definition single frames or still 'snapshots', updated every few seconds.
This will of course depend on how the system has been set up and the type of connection used. The operator can use the on-screen controls to direct remote cameras (assuming they are installed), and listen to, or communicate with, persons at the remote site using the two-way audio option.
Alternatively the remote site can be dialled up from the monitoring station to check its status, view and position single cameras, or watch a quad display. The PC can also replay and download images recorded on the Vico module's hard disc drive (if fitted) and remotely change or configure any of the system's operating modes.
From the sample recordings on the demo system it appears that picture quality is very good indeed. Images processed and transmitted from the Vico alarm module have a maximum resolution of 352 x 288 pixels. Clearly this is some way below what is possible from a conventional hard-wired CCTV system but if the originating image is good to begin with a lot of the detail in the image survives the journey from the remote site to the PC.
Viewing the image in a window on a PC screen helps as the slightly smaller picture (compared with a normal 12-14 inch video monitor) tends to look quite sharp. It was apparent from most of the demo recordings that the contrast range is not especially wide, the system is definitely at its best handling brightly-lit scenes. Noise levels are very low, to the point of being negligible. In fact any noise in the picture is likely to have been present on the original video signal. Generally speaking colours look natural though saturated reds in some of the test recordings appeared to be slightly over-emphasised.
However, it is unlikely this was due to camera mis-alignment or processing errors in the transmission system and we are prepared to give the Vico module and Provilook software the benefit of the doubt, since it did not appear to affect all of the demo recordings equally.
With a maximum refresh rate of 25 frames per second, real time video inevitably has a very slight jerkiness but this is really not a problem. In practice, the only time it becomes noticeable is when the image contains a lot of movement in which case the digital processing sometimes has trouble keeping up and the picture degrades.
Operationally Provilook is very easy to use; our only small criticism concerns the replay facilities for archived recordings. The image is shown in a fairly small window, and it would have useful to have been able to enlarge the image. Secondly, the replay controls are confined to play, still and stop. There is a moving 'timeline' bar display beneath the image and it is possible to use the mouse to skip to any part of the recording.
However, it lacks precise control over speed and direction (reverse play, slomo etc). A repeat mode would not go amiss either, so a designated segment of a recording could be more closely analysed.
CONCLUSION
Source
Security Installer
