Control program for ptz surveillance cameras. PTZ surveillance cameras - controls, specifications and features. Design features and technical characteristics of cameras

This review focuses on how to control the Speed ​​Dome integrated PTZ cameras.

The consumption of PTZ cameras has grown significantly in the market over the past 10 years. A significant reduction in the price of these devices is affecting, as well as an increase in their technical capabilities: speed, optical zoom, functionality. Now the normal rotation speed during the setting of the "preset" reaches (often exceeds) 400 degrees / s, the optical zoom has long stepped over 30x, and some cameras even got the ability to track objects in their field of view on their own.

Modern prices for domes range from $500 to $600 for Chinese brands to several thousand euros for well-known Japanese, American or European brands. Unlike individual pan and tilt mechanisms, where control is carried out by its own pair for each degree of freedom (mainly 24 or 220 V alternating voltage), a telemetry receiver is integrated into the SpeedDome, which allows you to control the camera with just two wires (in the case of RS-485; some models require 4 wires for duplex control) or video cable. Well, SpeedDome IP video cameras do not require additional control wires at all, although they usually have the ability to work "the old fashioned way".

Controllers and keyboards

The easiest and "ancient" way Speed ​​control Dome camera - using the keyboard, as well as a separate stand-alone device with its own power source. The minimum cost keyboard will control pan and zoom using only buttons and RS-485 protocol. Buttons are quite enough when you only need to set up cameras and then manage, for example, presets. But if the operator needs to constantly control the cameras, the remote control will greatly slow down his work. For such cases, a remote control with a joystick will be much more convenient - it allows you to control the camera in two coordinates at once, focal length lens, as well as the speed of rotation with one movement of the hand. The higher the cost of the keyboard, the more additional features(for example, control of video recorders, display of signals from video cameras and recorders on the built-in TFT monitor) it has. Working with DVRs is limited only by the fact that they must be released by the same company as the keyboard; there are no such problems with controlling video cameras - usually remotes support several protocols, which means that you can control cameras from different manufacturers. With the advent of IP-cameras, the question of remote controllers for them arose with an edge. Of course, almost all PTZ IP cameras have the ability to control via RS-485, but it makes no sense to drag additional wires when there is already a high-bandwidth digital network. The only drawback of an Ethernet network based on copper UTP, which is the basis for 99% of IP video systems, compared to an analog network is the short segment length from the device to the switch (about a hundred meters if you do not use optics).

PTZ camera features

Here we can talk about two things. First, some camcorders have built-in advanced controls. An appropriately configured video camera constantly monitors with a maximum viewing angle. When the built-in motion detector detects motion, the camera zooms in on the area and "leads" the moving object as far as possible. At the moment of such tracking, the camera "does not see" the surroundings and cannot switch to another object without returning to its original position with a minimum zoom. Of course, not all cameras even have a built-in motion detector, let alone automatic tracking.

The second applies only to IP cameras. It has already been said above that the Speed ​​Dome IP camera can be controlled both using a conventional remote control and an IP remote control. However, IP PTZ cameras are, in a sense, self-sufficient devices and "have on board" a Web server. By logging in from any computer through a Web browser, you can get the image from the camera, configure its settings and control the pan and lens. It offers 2 methods - a simple one that imitates the buttons of the control panel and allows you to simultaneously control two coordinates, and an advanced one that differs for each manufacturer in details. Here you control the rotation and scaling with your computer mouse. By drawing a rectangle in any part of the camera window, you will force it to zoom in on this area or, by moving the cursor to the edge of the image, you will get an arrow hint; which you can move the camera in the desired direction (at the left edge - to the left, at the right - to the right, and so on).

Control by DVR non-PC

Control PTZ cameras has been an integral basic function of DVRs for a very long time. Only very cheap and very limited DVRs can afford not to have one. Cameras with non-PC DVRs are controlled in 99% of cases using the RS-485 interface. Some newer hybrid recorders that can work with both analog and IP cameras may support control over IP. According to the control method, all DVRs can be divided into 3 types: those that control using the keyboard of the DVR (from the front panel), control only the mouse (for DVRs where there is no keyboard), and DVRs that support both options. The first option is acceptable only for those who very rarely use manual control of PTZ cameras (cameras are configured to bypass "presets" or "tours" in automatic mode). In most cases, using the front panel of a video recorder to control a PTZ camera is a pain in the ass, as there are only limited buttons to work with: no 3D joysticks. Mouse control can also vary greatly. The simple version is an imitation of the same limited set of buttons from the front panel, it is not much more convenient. Other NVRs may use roughly the same mechanism as described in the previous section, which is found mostly in IP cameras. Of course, you will have to configure everything using the same buttons or on-screen menu, but this is the only option for all DVRs. Total: the mouse is good, the keyboard is not very good. The good news is that there are more and more mouse-controlled registrars, but even the latter's internal software can vary greatly.

The control methods listed above have one common drawback. Any Speed ​​Dome camera has 2 control speeds. The speed of control in manual mode usually does not exceed even half the speed of turning the camera at the time of using the presets. At the same time, it is obvious that the higher the speed of such manual control, the less accurate, the accuracy of positioning the camera on the area or object of interest. It can be noted here that the camera is not used to 100% of its capabilities, and the efficiency of its use could be higher. New computer interfaces and developments are called upon to cope with this task.

Software (PC-based DVR)

Computer DVRs always outperform non-PCs. Firstly, new technologies, especially resource-intensive and complex ones, are easier to develop and debug on computers, and secondly, competition with DVRs based on embedded processors forces the same developers to constantly add new features and capabilities, make their software more flexible and powerful. . What new software developers offer us for video recording and control of PTZ cameras? If we discard the variations associated with the interactivity of control directly on the image, or the imitation of a 2D joystick, then 3 categories of new products (interfaces) can be distinguished separately. The first is adding the ability to automatically control those cameras that do not have it initially, that is, controlling the camera using a motion detector in software. Such detectors can be more powerful and advanced than those built into cameras. The second and third ones are connected with the use of at least one more video camera (overview), the field of view of which coincides completely or partially with the turning one at the minimum focal length.

Manual control

In this mode, the combination of the survey and PTZ cameras allows the operator to control the PTZ camera with one mouse click or, by selecting a rectangular area of ​​the image from the survey camera, to get it optically enlarged using the PTZ camera. At the same time, 2 drawbacks of the interfaces described above disappear at once, control is performed at the maximum speed1 available for the video camera (usually declared as the positioning speed according to presets), and the operator does not lose sight of the protected area - he sees the whole situation as a whole and its details with maximum optical zoom, so it can move the camera from one position to another as quickly as it could with traditional interfaces.

The fact that the Speed ​​Dome does not need to return to the viewing position in order to select new object, and this, as already noted, is the slowest part of positioning. When the camera is positioned without major zoom changes (almost not using the zoom), the speed increases significantly.

Automatic control

This implies the same bundle of overview and PTZ cameras. The motion detector analyzes the image from the overview camera and sends commands to the PTZ camera - now the control is fully automatic. Systems of this kind appeared many years ago, however, then they worked according to presets - each square of the image of the overview camera was assigned its own position, and as we remember, Speed ​​Dome can have up to 256 presets. However, now developers use the capabilities of not only modern detectors, but also video cameras. The detectors are smart enough to transmit not just the coordinates of the object, but also the vector of its movement, since while the camera is turning towards the object, it may already have shifted. And the cameras have the ability not only to work according to presets, but also to execute direct commands to install at certain coordinates; they also have sufficient speed. It should only be noted that not all Speed ​​Dome cameras, even from the average price range, will support these functions. You should not expect that the Chinese noname will be as fast and will have a fully implemented protocol, especially a borrowed one. If several objects appear in the field of view of the overview camera, the PTZ camera will switch between them, following each one for the set time. Today, some developers are supplying systems that can control multiple Speed ​​Dome cameras at the same time, and almost unlimited combinations of panoramic and PTZ cameras, where you can have a live view of what is happening around 360 ° around, while providing high resolution and detail of moving objects. It would seem that with the increase in resolution, when there are already digital video cameras of 5.8 Mpx and more, the need for such a solution is not so high. But the optical zoom is still difficult to replace, and a combination of panoramic and PTZ cameras using, for example, a 35x zoom gives the equivalent of a system resolution of more than 300 Mpx - to achieve the same result digital cameras can soon. Again, the use of megapixel panoramic and PTZ cameras will always push this barrier forward. Of course, this system also has disadvantages. First, as mentioned, not all PTZ cameras are compatible, and not all of them are fast enough to track objects moving at high angular velocity. Secondly, the system increases in price (however, the fee is worth it - like any increase in functionality that increases the security of the facility or your enterprise). Thirdly, the system requires calibration - setting the coordinates of the overview and PTZ cameras (although there are positive shifts here - for some cameras you need to set only 9 coordinate anchor points, and the rest will be calculated by the system itself).

It can be noted in which direction we should expect the development of manual and automatic control technology:

Switching to megapixel panoramic and PTZ cameras and striving for higher resolution;
construction panoramic images, made up of pictures obtained from a variety of survey cameras, which also contain images of rotary ones. Thus, a single interactive scene of an object or its section is created. However, it will be inferior without the ability to reproduce the archive in the same way (although this can be a serious load on the server);
improving the performance of motion detectors. New tracing technologies, scene and object recognition, improved tracing quality at night.
Of course, one should not rely entirely on the capabilities of the detectors. It is not worth saving on video cameras, hoping that the detector will cope with both noise and low-resolution images. General rule for any security system, the system will only be as bad as its smallest component. A cheap lens attached to an expensive camera, a cable with a low-quality connector, or any other component can wipe out all your costs.

Glossary

Speed ​​Dome- speed dome PTZ camera. High-speed in comparison with usual rotary mechanisms. Dome, since more than 90% of such cameras are designed as a cylinder with a domed optically transparent casing that protects the optics and mechanism from dust and moisture. Speed ​​Dome cameras are also called integrated, meaning that all the necessary components are assembled in one body: the video camera itself, optics, a two-coordinate mechanism and a telemetry receiver.

preset- the ability of the Speed ​​Dome to be set to a pre-programmed position with the maximum available speed. Various modifications can store from 32 to 256 presets.

Tours(Tour, or Touring) - the ability of a PTZ video camera to execute a series of commands, such as a sequence of presets. The advanced option involves the camera remembering your actions and then cyclic execution. Protocol - a set of commands for controlling PTZ cameras using a telemetry receiver. Usually, large manufacturers use their own protocol, but they also necessarily integrate additional Pelco types, which have become the de facto standard due to the openness of the manufacturer's policy. Small manufacturers use only such open protocols and implement (depending on their laziness or camera capabilities) only a part of the commands. PTZ is an abbreviation for Pan, Tilt and Zoom, respectively horizontal and vertical rotation and lens control. A PTZ camera is a correspondingly integrated camera with a swivel mechanism and a zoom lens.

I.V. Oleinik
DSSL CEO

This overview focuses on how to control SpeedDome integrated PTZ cameras.

The consumption of PTZ cameras has grown significantly in the market over the past 10 years. A significant reduction in the price of these devices is affecting, as well as an increase in their technical capabilities: speed, optical zoom, functionality. Now the normal rotation speed during the setting of the "preset" reaches (often exceeds) 400 degrees / s, the optical zoom has long stepped over 30x, and some cameras even got the ability to track objects in their field of view on their own. Modern prices for domes range from $500 to $600 for Chinese brands to several thousand euros for well-known Japanese, American or European brands. Unlike individual pan and tilt mechanisms, where control is carried out by its own pair for each degree of freedom (mainly 24 or 220 V alternating voltage), a telemetry receiver is integrated into the SpeedDome, which allows you to control the camera with just two wires (in the case of RS-485; some models require 4 wires for duplex control) or video cable. Well, SpeedDome IP video cameras do not require additional control wires at all, although they usually have the ability to work "the old fashioned way".

Controllers and keyboards

The easiest and "ancient" way to control a Speed ​​Dome camera is with a keyboard, as well as a separate stand-alone device with its own power source. The minimum cost keyboard will control pan and zoom using only buttons and RS-485 protocol. Buttons are quite enough when you only need to set up cameras and then manage, for example, presets. But if the operator needs to constantly control the cameras, the remote control will greatly slow down his work. For such cases, a remote control with a joystick will be much more convenient - it allows you to control the camera in two coordinates at once, the focal length of the lens, as well as the rotation speed with one hand movement. The higher the cost of the keyboard, the more additional features (for example, control of video recorders, displaying signals from video cameras and recorders on the built-in TFT monitor) it has. Working with DVRs is limited only by the fact that they must be released by the same company as the keyboard; there are no such problems with controlling video cameras - usually remotes support several protocols, which means that you can control cameras from different manufacturers. With the advent of IP-cameras, the question of remote controllers for them arose with an edge. Of course, almost all PTZ IP cameras have the ability to control via RS-485, but it makes no sense to drag additional wires when there is already a high-bandwidth digital network. The only drawback of an Ethernet network based on copper UTP, which is the basis for 99% of IP video systems, compared to an analog network is the short segment length from the device to the switch (about a hundred meters if you do not use optics).

PTZ camera features

Here we can talk about two things. First, some camcorders have built-in advanced controls. An appropriately configured video camera constantly monitors with a maximum viewing angle. When the built-in motion detector detects motion, the camera zooms in on the area and "leads" the moving object as far as possible. At the moment of such tracking, the camera "does not see" the surroundings and cannot switch to another object without returning to its original position with a minimum zoom. Of course, not all cameras even have a built-in motion detector, let alone automatic tracking.

The second applies only to IP cameras. It has already been said above that the Speed ​​Dome IP camera can be controlled both using a conventional remote control and an IP remote control. However, IP PTZ cameras are, in a sense, self-sufficient devices and "have on board" a Web server. By logging in from any computer through a Web browser, you can get the image from the camera, configure its settings and control the pan and lens. It offers 2 methods - a simple one that imitates the buttons of the control panel and allows you to simultaneously control two coordinates, and an advanced one that differs for each manufacturer in details. Here you control the rotation and scaling with your computer mouse. By drawing a rectangle in any part of the camera window, you will force it to zoom in on this area or, by moving the cursor to the edge of the image, you will get an arrow hint; which you can move the camera in the desired direction (at the left edge - to the left, at the right - to the right, and so on).

Control by DVR non-PC

PTZ camera control has been an integral basic function of DVRs for a very long time. Only very cheap and very limited DVRs can afford not to have one. Cameras with non-PC DVRs are controlled in 99% of cases using the RS-485 interface. Some newer hybrid recorders that can work with both analog and IP cameras may support control over IP. According to the control method, all DVRs can be divided into 3 types: those that control using the keyboard of the DVR (from the front panel), control only the mouse (for DVRs where there is no keyboard), and DVRs that support both options. The first option is acceptable only for those who very rarely use manual control of PTZ cameras (cameras are configured to bypass "presets" or "tours" in automatic mode). In most cases, using the front panel of a video recorder to control a PTZ camera is a pain in the ass, as there are only limited buttons to work with: no 3D joysticks. Mouse control can also vary greatly. The simple version is an imitation of the same limited set of buttons from the front panel, it is not much more convenient. Other NVRs may use roughly the same mechanism as described in the previous section, which is found mostly in IP cameras. Of course, you will have to configure everything using the same buttons or on-screen menu, but this is the only option for all DVRs. Total: the mouse is good, the keyboard is not very good. The good news is that there are more and more mouse-controlled registrars, but even the latter's internal software can vary greatly.

The control methods listed above have one common drawback. Any Speed ​​Dome camera has 2 control speeds. The speed of control in manual mode usually does not exceed even half the speed of turning the camera at the time of using the presets. At the same time, it is obvious that the higher the speed of such manual control, the less accurate, the accuracy of positioning the camera on the area or object of interest. It can be noted here that the camera is not used to 100% of its capabilities, and the efficiency of its use could be higher. New computer interfaces and developments are called upon to cope with this task.

Software (PC-based DVR)

Computer DVRs always outperform non-PCs. Firstly, new technologies, especially resource-intensive and complex ones, are easier to develop and debug on computers, and secondly, competition with DVRs based on embedded processors forces the same developers to constantly add new features and capabilities, make their software more flexible and powerful. . What new software developers offer us for video recording and control of PTZ cameras? If we discard the variations associated with the interactivity of control directly on the image, or the imitation of a 2D joystick, then 3 categories of new products (interfaces) can be distinguished separately. The first is adding the ability to automatically control those cameras that do not have it initially, that is, controlling the camera using a motion detector in the software. Such detectors can be more powerful and advanced than those built into cameras. The second and third ones are connected with the use of at least one more video camera (overview), the field of view of which coincides completely or partially with the turning one at the minimum focal length.

Manual control

In this mode, the combination of the survey and PTZ cameras allows the operator to control the PTZ camera with one mouse click or, by selecting a rectangular area of ​​the image from the survey camera, to get it optically enlarged using the PTZ camera. At the same time, 2 drawbacks of the interfaces described above disappear at once, control is performed at the maximum speed1 available for the video camera (usually declared as the positioning speed according to presets), and the operator does not lose sight of the protected area - he sees the whole situation as a whole and its details with maximum optical zoom, so it can move the camera from one position to another as quickly as it could with traditional interfaces.

The fact that the Speed ​​Dome camera does not need to return to the viewing position in order to select a new object also plays its role in the speed of control, and this, as already noted, is the slowest part of positioning. When the camera is positioned without major zoom changes (almost not using the zoom), the speed increases significantly.

Automatic control

This implies the same bundle of overview and PTZ cameras. The motion detector analyzes the image from the overview camera and sends commands to the PTZ camera - now the control is fully automatic. Systems of this kind appeared many years ago, however, then they worked according to presets - each square of the image of the overview camera was assigned its own position, and as we remember, Speed ​​Dome can have up to 256 presets. However, now developers use the capabilities of not only modern detectors, but also video cameras. The detectors are smart enough to transmit not just the coordinates of the object, but also the vector of its movement, since while the camera is turning towards the object, it may already have shifted. And the cameras have the ability not only to work according to presets, but also to execute direct commands to install at certain coordinates; they also have sufficient speed. It should only be noted that not all Speed ​​Dome cameras, even from the average price range, will support these functions. You should not expect that the Chinese noname will be as fast and will have a fully implemented protocol, especially a borrowed one. If several objects appear in the field of view of the overview camera, the PTZ camera will switch between them, following each one for the set time. Today, some developers are supplying systems that can control multiple Speed ​​Dome cameras at the same time, and almost unlimited combinations of panoramic and PTZ cameras, where you can have a live view of what is happening around 360 ° around, while providing high resolution and detail of moving objects. It would seem that with the increase in resolution, when there are already digital video cameras of 5.8 Mpx and more, the need for such a solution is not so high. But the optical zoom is still difficult to replace, and a combination of panoramic and PTZ cameras using, for example, a 35x zoom gives the equivalent of a system resolution of more than 300 megapixels - digital cameras will not be able to achieve the same result soon. Again, the use of megapixel panoramic and PTZ cameras will always push this barrier forward. Of course, this system also has disadvantages. First, as mentioned, not all PTZ cameras are compatible, and not all of them are fast enough to track objects moving at high angular velocity. Secondly, the system increases in price (however, the fee is worth it - like any increase in functionality that increases the security of the facility or your enterprise). Thirdly, the system requires calibration - setting the coordinates of the overview and PTZ cameras (although there are positive shifts here - for some cameras you need to set only 9 coordinate anchor points, and the rest will be calculated by the system itself).

It can be noted in which direction we should expect the development of manual and automatic control technology:

• transition to megapixel panoramic and PTZ cameras and the desire for higher resolution;
• construction of panoramic images, composed of images received from a plurality of survey cameras, which also include images of rotary ones. Thus, a single interactive scene of an object or its section is created. However, it will be inferior without the ability to reproduce the archive in the same way (although this can be a serious load on the server);
• improving the performance of motion detectors. New tracing technologies, scene and object recognition, improved tracing quality at night.

Of course, one should not rely entirely on the capabilities of the detectors. It is not worth saving on video cameras, hoping that the detector will cope with both noise and low-resolution images. The general rule for any security system is that a system will only be as bad as its smallest component. A cheap lens attached to an expensive camera, a cable with a low-quality connector, or any other component can wipe out all your costs.

Glossary

Speed ​​Dome is a speed dome PTZ camera. High-speed in comparison with usual rotary mechanisms. Dome, since more than 90% of such cameras are designed as a cylinder with a domed optically transparent casing that protects the optics and mechanism from dust and moisture. Speed ​​Dome cameras are also called integrated, meaning that all the necessary components are assembled in one body: the video camera itself, optics, a two-coordinate mechanism and a telemetry receiver.

Preset - the ability of the Speed ​​Dome to be set to a pre-programmed position with the maximum available speed. Various modifications can store from 32 to 256 presets.

Tours (Tour, or Touring) - the ability of a PTZ video camera to execute a series of commands, such as a sequence of presets. The advanced option involves the camera remembering your actions and then cyclic execution. Protocol - a set of commands for controlling PTZ cameras using a telemetry receiver. Usually, large manufacturers use their own protocol, but they also necessarily integrate additional Pelco types, which have become the de facto standard due to the openness of the manufacturer's policy. Small manufacturers use only such open protocols and implement (depending on their laziness or camera capabilities) only a part of the commands. PTZ is an abbreviation for Pan, Tilt and Zoom, respectively horizontal and vertical rotation and lens control. A PTZ camera is a correspondingly integrated camera with a swivel mechanism and a zoom lens.