GROWTH MARKETS<br>Mobile Video Has Innovative Uses - Kinks and Hints - SDM -- New Directions for Security Systems & Integration

Real-time video from a security camera, maps and other information can be accessed wirelessly on a laptop PC or any PDA in the field with Intelliviewer software from AirVisual Inc., New York.

Primary markets for mobile video include school and transit buses, police squad cars, trains, armored vehicles handling cash, and trucks carrying sensitive products, such as pharmaceuticals.

Jeff Brummett, president of American Sentry Guard, Greenwood, Ind., thinks the ability to keep tabs on a sensitive payload is key.

“You can put a camera in the payload, but you can also put a camera on the individual driver. Here’s the reality: people do more good and less bad when they think somebody’s watching,” he insists. “That’s just universal.”

Not only can some systems monitor on video what the driver sees out the windshield, they also receive information on other factors that become important in vehicle accidents, including gravitational (G) forces from sudden curves or stops, tire pressures and speed. The systems can record data similar to the way black boxes do in airplanes.

An armored car company that installed video in its trucks was not only able to safeguard the contents of its trucks but also provide evidence in accidents, points out Randy Covey, business development manager for SafetyVision L.P., Houston.

Every time an armored truck was in an accident, it cost the operator $30,000 in truck and labor costs training a new driver because the company had to fire the driver, Covey relates. But an onboard video system that costs $6,000 to $7,000 saved the operator the $30,000 when it verified a driver’s story that the vehicle he collided with had run a red light.

Video also is being used to monitor driving habits. Patrol, armored car and trucking companies record the way their vehicles are driven to provide instruction for drivers. Some systems have two-way audio communication so speeding drivers can be reined in by dispatchers.

Mobile video also is being combined with global positioning systems (GPS) so fleet owners know where their vehicles are and even can look in on them if they are in Wi-Fi areas or use cellular communications.

Covey thinks mobile video and GPS tracking should be used to lower insurance rates for vehicles incorporating it.

Unique applications are being developed all the time. A major retailer has had video surveillance equipment installed in several “sting” truck trailers that are parked in lots where trailers had been broken into, relates John White, national sales manager — transit systems, video intelligence solutions group, Verint Video Solutions, Denver. The goal with these is to catch the perpetrators on video when they attempt access to these specially outfitted trailers.

Another use to justify the expense of video surveillance equipment is to tie advertising messages in with the video system in a transit bus.

Municipalities are setting aside a small portion of the surveillance DVR’s hard drive to carry the messages on display screens throughout the bus, reports Mike Morper, director of product management at GE Security, Bradenton, Fla.

In many cases, the DVRs are tied in with a GPS system so the messages are displayed when the bus is approaching a location of the company that bought the ad. These systems are being used near theme parks and areas with a high number of tourists.

The cargo areas and cockpits of aircraft and even the areas in which food is stored are being monitored with video surveillance equipment, reports Mark Provinsal, vice president of marketing for Dedicated Micros Inc., Chantilly, Va.