Panoramic Cameras: Cost Effectively Eliminating Blind Spots

When it comes to the task of selecting the right camera format or model to monitor expansive open areas like airports, car parks, industrial estates, stadiums, large offices, public spaces, and train stations, we are presented with a plethora of choices.

Traditionally, this has involved a large number of cameras leading to high equipment and installation costs. However, Dahua and Hanwha Vision, two of the market leading manufacturers of video surveillance solutions, have developed panoramic cameras which can reduce the overall cost of high camera count projects. In addition to reducing capital costs, both solutions offer the potential of saving time and money by minimising how much time engineers have to spend up on ladders drilling and fitting brackets and conduit, as well as reducing the amount of cabling and network switches required.

Most importantly, regardless of how many cameras are required, both the Dahua and Hanwha Vision solutions eliminate blind spots and thus avoid the risk that video evidence of any incident or suspicious activity may not be seen or recorded. In addition, control room operators can benefit from only having to monitor a single seamlessly stitched video stream, rather than multiple streams, to gain situational awareness as to what be occurring.

Dahua Panoramic Casmeras

The Dahua full-colour DUO 4K panoramic cameras, which form part of the company’s CUBE portfolio, are equipped with dual (left and right) F1.0 aperture lens. The camera uses standardised image correction technology with a processor within the camera calculating the features of the left and right images to prevent warping and pixel loss. Dahua’s technically advanced pixel-level metadata fusion verifies the feature data of the two images to produce a fusion image. The result is a seamless 180 degree wide angle image which does not have any blind spots. The camera is equipped with electronic pan, tilt and zoom (EPTZ), which provides a panoramic image for a wider field of view of the scene. It also produces sub-images that allow control room operators to focus on specific areas or targets and take advantage of real-time tracking. A linkage track feature enables users to simultaneously zoom in and track multiple people and vehicles.

Hanwha Vision

The Wisenet 3-Channel multi-sensor PNM-8082VT camera is designed to avoid blind spots when there is a need to monitor two adjacent sides of a building. With the middle camera sensor covering the blind spot between the areas being monitored by the other two sensors, the PNM-8082VT provides an efficient way to ‘see around corners’ and offers a cost-effective alternative to deploying three standard fixed cameras and with just a single IP connection, only one VMS licence is required.

With IP66, IK10 and NEMA4X ratings for protection against water, dust and mechanical impact, the Hanwha Vision PNM-8082VT is suitable for outdoor applications, although it also offers an equally affordable solution for indoor applications, such as when there is a requirement to observe activity taking place, at a ‘T’ shaped corridor.

The PNM-8082VT’s middle sensor can be used to make it impossible for an intruder to attempt to attack or spray paint on the camera’s lens without video evidence of them being captured. However, the camera’s ‘claim to fame’ is that it negates blind spots which can occur when two standard cameras are pointing in different directions to cover two corner sides of a building. This is because the PNM-8082VT’s 3 directional monitoring ensures that regardless of which direction the intruder approaches, they will be caught on camera.

When choosing panoramic cameras, which are best?

Well it will depend on individual customer requirements and it should also be noted that both cameras are packed with long lists of other real-life practical features. These enable them to deliver superb quality images in challenging lighting conditions and they also offer different forms of video analytics which will allow operators to carry our post-event forensic analysis of any incidents.

Both cameras are available from Smart R Distribution, along with other multi-sensor models manufactured by Hanwha Vision and Dahua. These include the Dahua Mini Hubble series which boasts a choice of 180 degree or 360 degree multi camera static cameras that are equipped with fully featured auto tracking PTZ. You can see this functionality in action at our Smart R House demonstration room, whilst the cameras will shortly be the subject of a dedicated article.

You can shop our complete range of video surveillance cameras, or if you would like any advice, please contact us for more information.