Mexico’s second busiest airport, after Mexico City, but the biggest for international passengers, Cancun Airport is situated on the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. The airport serves a growing number of visitors coming from all over the world to visit Cancun’s Maya heritage or to enjoy the beautiful beaches.

The number of passengers has been growing quickly, from 7 million in 1999 to approximately 23 million annually today. To handle the growing number of passengers, a fourth terminal has been put into operation this year, making it Mexico’s only airport with four terminals. With the number of visitors increasing sharply, passenger safety and security has become more demanding and has required a comprehensive new security solution.  

That is why Airport Operator ASUR decided to redesign video security to have one system operating across all four terminals. Bosch was selected not only to equip the new Terminal 4 with video cameras but also to integrate the existing video security systems of Terminals 1, 2, and 3 into one comprehensive video surveillance solution that could be managed centrally from one unified platform.

In Terminal 4, nearly 600 cameras of different series and types have been installed to cover the specific needs of the different areas both inside and outside the terminal.      

The cameras are used for a wide range of applications: inside the building they monitor the security and baggage check, the waiting areas, the offices and flight tower as well as the convenience stores; outside the terminals they check the airport perimeter areas and all access points to the airport as well as the airfield and runway.

Fulfilling a key requirement set by Airport Operator ASUR, all new cameras in Terminal 4 are integrated into one video security solution that includes the existing cameras of Terminals 1 to 3. The Bosch Video Management System (BVMS) serves as the joint platform to centrally manage a total of almost 1,800 cameras across the four terminals, including their recordings. The video streams of all cameras are safely stored on multiple Bosch DIVAR IP network video recording units with a total of 92 Terabyte of available storage capacity.

For reliable and easy management of the large data volumes, the video security solution includes four Video Recording Managers (VRMs) from Bosch. The VRMs enable the cameras to stream relevant video data directly to the available DIVAR IP storage devices without the use of network servers. This saves costs and server maintenance while eliminating a possible single point of failure, thus increasing reliability. The available storage capacity increases efficiency because the VRMs automatically balance the video stream load to the free storage volumes. Less redundant storage is required and it is easier to respect retention times with a minimal risk of overwriting.

Cancun Airport uses a central monitoring center, manned with 10 security managers around the clock. Every security manager has a screen that shows video captured by up to 25 cameras. To monitor the video cameras, security personnel can select camera positions manually, or they are automatically notified by alarms in the event of predefined alarm rules being breached based on the cameras’ built-in video analytics or motion detection.