Technology to lower price of mobile mass transit systems

Enhanced software applications and wireless technology are significantly lowering the cost of operating mobile DVRs in the market of mass transit.

Up till now, the authorities of public transit who are responsible for the administration and maintenance of video supervision systems on hundreds or thousands of buses, subway cars and light rail have had to earn the expense of dispatching workers to pull removable hard drives and check on the function of system elements.

Not to mention that some large transit systems utilize as many as fifteen to twenty field workers to perform these duties.

On the other hand, upon the deployment of  advanced software solutions and wireless communications, the administrators of transit are capable of scheduling video downloads, carry out programming and software enhancements, confirm camera positioning and verify the health status of system elements using wireless hot spots deployed at fueling depots and service departments.

Understanding the ways of operation

In order to conduct an investigation on an incident, security staff at transit headquarters program a download by choosing a vehicle and verifying a period of time for which video is needed. The system automatically executes the download and sends the administrator an e-mail with a link to the video as soon as the bus or rail car pulls into a hot spot. Not to mention that the Drivers can also tag video for downloading in the event of an incident on a bus or rail car.

Adding to that, the managers are capable of reviewing the health status reports transmitted when vehicles return to the depot for service in order to ensure the proper functioning of their systems. As an alternative to dispatching personnel to physically inspect hundreds of vehicles, transit workers are notified to the handful of systems with troubles, which results in immense savings in the expenses.

The diagnostic abilities integrated with increasingly sophisticated software offerings also enhance and automate the supervision of hard-drive functions. The various interfaces are created to practically look for defects and attempt to fix them and guarantee their normal working conditions. The system will immediately notify transit staff to schedule maintenance if they can't be fixed.

In order to validate proper camera positioning, some systems can be preset to take a ten second clip off each camera and place it in a smaller file, so as a substitute to inspecting cameras on every vehicle, transit workers are able to come to work in the morning and flick through the clips at their headquarters.

Moreover, a large transit system in California predicts that it can save close to five hundred thousand US dollars per year merely by utilizing wireless technology to administer and maintain its video surveillance devices.

On the other hand downloading video wirelessly isn't always as easy as it seems to be. Through utilizing the most proficient compression technology, a previously scheduled video download can be performed while the fare box is poured out and the vehicle is refueled and cleaned. There is a risk that the vehicle will have to be withdrawn from service if it takes too long to download video.

An hour's worth of video can be downloaded in less than ten minutes through using H.263 or MPEG-4 compression modes.

Furthermore, new developments in hardware design are also being launched to meet the needs of transit administrators for more storage and cameras.

Developing Enhancements

A number of mobile DVRs are now capable of supporting twelve conventional cameras and offer up to 1.5 TB of storage which is practically enough to accommodate ninety days of archived visual footage. Not to mention that support for high-resolution IP cameras, which can be used to record high-quality images at strategic locations, is also accessible.

In addition to that, wireless connectivity via cellular interfaces supplies transit authorities with the ability to view live video from a vehicle when an incident is spotted.

Although it is a lower bandwidth connection, it still offers sufficient video quality to offer security staff at transit headquarters with GPS data and live video to assess a situation and verify the location of a bus or rail car.

Adding on, wireless technology also enables transit authorities to influence the expertise of a third party to administer and monitor their video surveillance applications.

Transit authorities can also focus on their core business and do not have to worry about maintenance and performance issues after the outsourcing the monitoring and management of fleet-wide systems.

However, it doesn't matter where the managed services function is carried out after the deployment of wireless technology. A large bus fleet in California can be observed from an operations center across the continent or from a local vicinity.

special attention is required when designing, engineering and equipping buses, subways and rail cars with sophisticated electronic equipment which is going to have to operate in harsh, mobile operating conditions as well as extreme temperatures.

In order to guarantee the successful operations of these security systems in all types of extreme conditions, the Video surveillance systems in these settings must adhere to industry-leading design standards (IP65, J1455) for fortification against vibration, shock, dust, water and electro-magnetic disturbances.

Adding on on, hard drives in particular are very susceptible to vibration, temperature extremes and undependable power, so all of that has to be taken into consideration for in the system structure.

In order to guarantee proper operation of an MDVR on a bus or rail car that are stored outdoors in temperatures of minus thirty degrees Celsius or subject to extreme heat, a climate management system is highly suggested.

Another issue that transit authorities should be thinking about when evaluating video surveillance systems is the backup power.

Elevating the Power of the vehicles

Due to the fact that vehicle power can be transient, a built-in battery backup serves two main functions. To start with it supplies for fault tolerance in the event of an electrical disturbance, and secondly if there's a disastrous occurrence, the unit stays powered for a period of time and maintains the recording process before gracefully powering off.

The majority of transit administrators also want mobile DVR systems to sustain audio recording in order to record both video audio and evidence of confrontations with transit workers.

An audio record of the encounter adds vital data for investigators in case a customer complains to the transit authority about a driver's behavior.

Transit administrators are also provided with critical data for investigating accidents and other occurrences, through the use of, another popular option, GPS and speed tracking incorporation.

The vehicle is placed in the exact location where an incident occurred through the integration of a GPS system. This allows the investigators to not only know what happened and when it happened, but also the exact location that it happened and how fast the vehicle was traveling at the exact instant.

There is absolutely no doubt that transit administrators realize the value of video surveillance systems as a method of promoting employee and passenger security, preventing vandalism and investigating liability accusations, but they have been equally conscious of the costs and complexities of maintaining and operating these systems.

More and more transit authorities will be able to take advantage of the benefits offered by video surveillance without having to worry about cost of ownership due to the wireless technology and increasingly sophisticated software systems.

DVR Technology system hard drives video supervision downloads wireless software solutions advanced programming enhancements camera hot spots integrated clip file surveillance H.263 or MPEG-4 compression modes storage 1.5 TB high-resolution IP cameras images GPS data MDVR