How VTI Security Protected an Electrical Substation With a Radar-Thermal Imaging Solution
Find out how VTI Security helped its end customer gain exceptional situational awareness beyond its fence line with a radar-thermal imaging solution.
Achieving a Seamless Integration
To maximize performance of the radar-thermal solution, VTI worked closely with SpotterRF and FLIR.
“VTI partnered with both manufacturers to ensure they committed not only to integration on the platforms and equipment in use today, but also that they would continue to support future versions of firmware and hardware as the technology changes,” Klapak says.
The integrator worked with each company’s support and development teams, as well as the VMS manufacturer Verint to ensure the technologies not only worked with one another, but also met the client’s needs for bandwidth consumption and VMS interface and display.
“Testing of the integration was done to ensure the functionality committed to was complete and validated by both manufacturers as well as our team before we deployed them at our client’s sites,” Klapak says.
Together, the SpotterRF C20 and C40 radars and FLIR PT-Series cameras deliver maximum coverage and detection, he continues.
“The distinct advantage for using radar-thermal technology is being able to get notifications of activity outside the perimeter of the site with video verification so the threat can be identified and responded to before they ever enter the site,” Klapak says. “In addition to this pre-alert, the devices provide an added layer of safety during non-alarm events by ensuring the PT cameras are following activity within the fence without operator intervention.”
When someone walks into the field of view of SpotterRF’s C20 or C40 radar, the radio waves bounce off the person and back to the radar, which then calculates the precise GPS location of the target and target size and relays that position information to SpotterRF’s NetworkedIO server.
In the event an intruder walks into the field of view of SpotterRF’s radar, radio waves bounce off the person and back to the radar, which then calculates the precise GPS location of the target and target size. The position information is then relayed to SpotterRF’s NetworkedIO server.
The NetworkedIO server then tells the PT-Series camera to zoom to that location and keeps cueing the camera automatically on the target, moving with and tracking the target. The NetworkedIO server provides a web-based map display of the radar tracks and FLIR cameras.
It displays a satellite map with the tracks and camera position superimposed along with the video feed, streaming lining target identification, visual verification, assessment and response. Additionally, because the radars cue the cameras, the cameras only move upon detection, which can significantly extend the shelf life of the cameras and potentially allow them to last for years without replacement.
“The PT-Series slews to the cue of the SpotterRF detection at an impressive speed,” adds Distelzweig. “This dynamic combination of technologies not only delivers superior coverage, but also underscores the importance of system integration. At FLIR, we are committed to this standard. We ensure our cameras are built with the ability to interface with other systems so that our partners have the ability to design customized solutions for maximum impact.”
The FLIR and SpotterRF solution addresses an important pain point for the perimeter security and intrusion detection market.
“In the past, utilities tried to use video analytics to find targets. Because these systems were outdoors, a number of environmental factors affected performance, including weather, lighting and moving trees,” says Logan Harris, CEO of SpotterRF. “However, by combining our radar with FLIR’s pan tilt thermal cameras, you’re able to solve this problem.
“Together,” Harris continues, “SpotterRF’s radar technology and FLIR’s thermal imaging are able to locate a person in a 15- or 100-acre space, see hundreds of yards beyond the fence line, cue the camera, and alert the personnel all without the help of an operator.”
In the past, only military organizations could access this level of advanced technology. Now, the FLIR and Spotter-RF solution makes this security capability accessible and affordable for critical infrastructure, power distribution and commercial applications.
To maximize performance of the radar-thermal solution, VTI worked closely with support and develop-ment teams from SpotterRF and FLIR, as well as VMS provider Verint.
Happy Critical Infrastructure Camper
“Our client is very pleased with the ability of the technologies to provide security for their critical sites,” Klapak says.
One surprising benefit, Harris adds, was the ability to use both the thermal cameras and radars for additional security and production uses. The end user now uses the radars to activate security lighting based on motion within and outside the fences.
This provides not only a green approach to security by lowering energy costs, but also improves customer relations by reducing light pollution in residential neighborhoods.The entire team was also impressed by the solution’s cost-effectiveness and minimal installation time.
“By providing a solution that was lower cost than the initial technologies under consideration, which required a greater level of infrastructure, they were able to deploy security to a greater number of sites,” Klapak explains.
Unlike deploying fiber-optic cables on fence lines, which requires months for digging trenches, the FLIR and SpotterRF solution allows installers to mount the radars and cameras on control shacks and lattice poles. This process only requires a week for installation, Klapak says.
“The deployment occurred four times faster than was anticipated,” Harris says. “VTI installed the systems at 25-30 sites in just three months.”
VTI began installation in 2016 with plans to roll out the solution in a phased approach as part of a multiyear plan. On average, each substation has two FLIR PT-Series cameras and four SpotterRF radars (two per camera).
Some of VTI’s other clients are also expected to deploy the same solution over the next few years based on the success the integrator has proven in the utility environment. Between the current client and other utility clients now working with VTI to deploy systems, 60-90 additional sites may be deployed.
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