Most governments are ramping up security for critical infrastructure. Video surveillance is an integral part of making a robust plan for securing critical public assets. Most video surveillance systems to be deployed in critical infrastructure in 2020 shall have the following characteristics:
1. IP CCTV resolution ranges from 720p (1 MP) to 3MP in most of these projects. We have seen some 4K cameras in few major RFPs, but this trend will continue to increase. Expect to see more 4K cameras in a typical critical infrastructure project.
2. Use of IP PTZ (2 MP+) cameras has increased in video surveillance projects related to city surveillance and transportation sector projects. This trend will continue to stay. However, higher resolutions (3MP, 4K, etc.) will come into play. Multi-imager cameras will also find some prominence in the critical infrastructure design, especially for capturing “overview” visuals.
3. Panorama / Fisheye cameras continue to improve resolution and performance. Some traditional PTZ installs can be replaced by solid 6 MP / 12 MP integrated IR Fisheye cams. This trend will become more prominent as consultants and integrators are getting more comfortable with Fisheye cams. Also, there is now wide VMS support available for software dewarping.
4. Separate fixed type box cameras with CS Mount telephoto lens will do well in specialty critical infrastructure markets – especially city surveillance. These cameras allow integrators to get enough flexibility to get the right PPM (pixels per meter) metrics to ensure RFP compliance.
5. Manual Varifocal lens for bullet and dome cameras would trend towards becoming motorized. Motorized options make it easier to focus remotely and also ensure tamper free operations. As the costs for motorized options become almost equal to non-motorized, expect the motorized varifocal cameras to become the norm.
6. Thermal cameras footprint will increase. Laser IR cameras providing low light / zero light imaging upto 500m will also find some interesting use-cases: border patrol.
7. Ever-increasing storage and redundancy requirements demand expensive SAN-based solutions. As cost / PB keep decreasing, expect companies like EMC, Netapp, and Quantum to come up with more innovative and cost-effective solutions to cater to the growing megapixel range of camera manufacturers.
8. Network performance has always been the most under appreciated metric and often ignored. This destroys the whole project. So better designed networks will ensure better performance.
9. Video Analytics will be big this year. Video analytics like face detection, LPR, object search and heatmaps will continue to increase software license sales and add value to Governments worldwide.
10. Drones will become more prominent in the air with very tight regulation. Payload capacities will increase. Imaging will also include thermal co-existing together with IR based options.