The Netwatch Communications Hub, built to the highest international standards, features multiple workstations.  All workstations are “blank” until there is a breach of security at a customer’s site.  Within seconds the workstation screen becomes active and the operators can view live footage from the site. Intervention specialists in the Communications Hub follow a strict pre-agreed protocol including issuing personalised audio warnings and notifying the authorities where appropriate.

Netwatch is passionate about utilising emerging technologies in order to maintain our competitive edge.

Netwatch’s R&D team discovered a small Israeli firm who had developed a software-driven detection system whereby objects moving in the field of view could be detected and tracked, originally designed for US sports television to track a ball in flight (e.g. golf) and keep the camera tracked exactly on the trajectory of the ball.

Netwatch licensed the algorithm and employed engineers to develop it. Fully committed to constantly improving our systems, we set about developing thousands of real-life test videos showing an intruder climbing a wall, scaling a fence, etc. and in conditions from rain to snow. Initially developed to detect a human shape, Netwatch discovered the software could be utilised in a diverse range of scenarios:

• Object Counting e.g. number of vehicles passing through a tunnel and segregate them by height, no. of axles, etc.
• Retail Statistics: movement of customers within a retail area e.g. 22% of entrants visit the bread counter first.
• Threat Detection: currently used in a major public transport hub in a highly specialised role involving public safety. The software can select when suspicious objects are left in a forbidden area e.g. car parked outside an airport entrance or detect objects left at a scene e.g. suspicious suitcase.

Netwatch are researching the use of the technology with a leading pest control company to detect the presence of pests in a building within a CCTV image and with a large property management company in London to detect Graffiti as it is being applied to a surface.

The R&D team also identified hardware involved in Transmission as an area for improvement. The engineers set-out a blueprint for a hardware unit that would combine reliability, usability and effectiveness.

The result is fully inclusive of capabilities such as wireless networking on 802 standard, polling software, UPS power capabilities, intelligent local polling and line checking to all edge devices and local digital recording with smart search.