While video surveillance remains a robust market segment for the security industry, camera commoditization and eroding hardware margins have been a key pain point for systems integrators.
The so-called “race to the bottom” has forced the security channel to expand the video solutions and services they offer in order to differentiate themselves, and one of the technologies integrators have been adding to their portfolio is thermal imaging cameras – for good reason.
Twenty years ago, thermal imaging was still a military technology that critical infrastructure organizations could not afford; however, the commercialization of thermal technology has significantly decreased the cost, making room for the introduction of more options – including thermal cameras with uncooled cores and advanced analytics. Thanks to greater market availability and lower prices, thermal cameras are now a viable surveillance and detection option for airports, utilities, commercial institutions, correctional facilities, and other large enterprises.
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“All facilities have perimeters to protect and monitor,” says Noel Tamayo, security systems designer at Convergint Technologies. “With more competition, different manufacturers now in the marketplace and prices going down, the deployment of thermal cameras in perimeter security is becoming common, and the features of thermal cameras are becoming more advanced as the race continues.”
In addition to their usefulness as a perimeter security solution, thermal cameras also yield substantial infrastructure and labor installation cost-savings for integration firms, ultimately increasing margins and driving the bottom line
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Thermal cameras produce video surveillance images based on the measurement of the electromagnetic heat radiation emitted by all objects and individuals. They are unaffected by bright lights, complete darkness, foliage and light fog. They pick up all differences in heat, no matter how small, to produce images with high contrast, which are essential to the successful performance of video analytics and intrusion detection. “Thermal cameras are better than night vision devices because they produce images from a heat source, while night vision devices depend on visible light,” Tamayo says. “All security projects that I’ve handled that deal with perimeter protection use thermal cameras – the majority in oil and gas industries, data centers, mines and power stations where perimeter protection is highly required. It is usually coupled with a second layer of protection such as fence sensors, microwaves and PTZ cameras – or combination.”
