Whichever two competitors square off at Dolphin Stadium Feb. 7 in sports' greatest spectacle - Super Bowl XLIV - each will have epitomized the concept of teamwork in their quest to capture the NFL's Lombardi Trophy. This will be plain to see for the 75,000+ fans in attendance and some 100 million watching on TV. Not nearly as conspicuous yet critical to the enjoyment and safety of all is the equally cohesive teamwork behind the event's video surveillance system.
The key players on this team are Aware Digital, Sony Electronics Security Systems Group and the Miami Dade Police Department (MDPD) Homeland Security Section, in conjunction with the FBI and Miami Dade County Fire Department. The systems integrator, manufacturer and first responders have forged a special partnership dedicated to designing and deploying the best possible solution to ensure smooth operations in and around the stadium, which also hosts the Pro Bowl on Jan. 31.
"The system will provide added situational awareness for law enforcement on the stadium grounds as well as offsite to many different agencies," says Joshua Mann, president of Miami-based Aware Digital. "The system will be used for inbound and outbound traffic control, incident management and overall force multiplication."
The project entailed digitally encoding the stadium's existing analog cameras, converting them into IP and adding standard and high definition (HD) IP pan/tilt/zoom (p/t/z) and rapid deployment cameras using wireless transmission. These cameras will be augmented by the venue's approximately 200 existing IP cameras. It was critical to bring all the feeds into a centralized video management system (VMS) so everything that transpires will be readily available for live viewing and/or review by stadium security, MDPD and other responders and emergency management agencies.
"This solution was requested in order to provide the absolute highest quality video coverage and deployment flexibility for the Super Bowl, a worldwide event," says Mann. "Our company offered extensive experience with rapid deployment cameras, and the Sony HD cameras and encoder products, as well as integration of outside feeds to provide a single situational awareness platform."
That awareness will help authorities mitigate anything and everything from crowd control to potential terrorist activity - a heightened threat for this type of event ever since 9/11. If all goes off as planned, Miami will have successfully, and safely, served as the site for a record 10th Super Bowl.