Security

As surveillance systems advance from simple passive observation windows to active agents incorporating advanced technologies such as facial recognition, parcel detection, and traffic flow management, they require the integration of increasingly advanced camera technology. Similarly, aerospace and defense applications are increasing their use of advanced camera-based capabilities that require specialized knowledge and experience.

Extreme conditions combined with uncompromising video quality goals make surveillance camera design a unique challenge. Effective surveillance requires seeing all elements of a scene in lighting conditions that potentially range from complete darkness to bright daylight. In addition, they often need to handle intense back lighting. As a result, many surveillance applications require integrating multiple sensors, including near-IR and thermal sensors, with visible-light cameras, as well as with multi-frame or other HDR solutions. Given the environments in which they often operate, surveillance cameras must have good video stabilization, as they are susceptible to being swayed by the wind or shaken by heavy vehicular traffic (for example). Further, surveillance camera systems have to capture good wide-angle shots that avoid distortion and have a coherent and uniform appearance all across the field.

With the growing popularity of automatic image analysis, surveillance cameras need to be optimized for both human and computer vision, including input to AI-based analysis systems. Given the large amount of data that cameras capture, the intelligent compression of the data stream without sacrificing important information is also crucial. Depending on circumstances, many surveillance systems also need to be able to support deployment in harsh conditions, including rain and snow.