Government Security News

ROMANOWICH ON SURVEILLANCE John Romanowich, CEO, SightLogix, Inc.
Protecting key areas of critical assets with
wide area solutions
Securing outdoor assets is a challenging task,
and nowhere is that more true than in the protection
of critical infrastructure. Security managers
must understand and predict a wide range of possible
threats, ensure accurate detection, plan for
incident confirmation and response, and given
budget constraints, often try to do more with less.
and many critical assets are remotely located and
spread over huge areas – many miles, in some cases
- making it a greater challenge to deploy technologies
that deliver cost-effective and comprehensive
protection. However, a new way of thinking, supported
by new technology, transcends the concept
of perimeter protection and offers a solution that
focuses on the most important areas inside the perimeter,
reducing costs while increasing security
effectiveness.
The Challenge of Critical Assets
High-profile incidents at critical sites around the
country have raised the awareness that much of
our infrastructure remains vulnerable to vandalism,
theft, and sabotage. These critical assets include
airports, utility substations and transmission
lines, power plants and dams, communication
relay stations, rail lines and bridges, airports, and
pipelines, among others. together, these systems
support the everyday operation of our communities,
as well as general commerce and transportation.
a common thread among these systems
is that a single point of disruption can have farreaching
effects. a break-in at a substation can affect
an entire region. Rail incidents can cause huge
amounts of lost revenue. a single intruder can
put an entire airport at risk and cause a general
shutdown. and beyond the inconvenience, these
breaches expose serious vulnerabilities to national
security.
Security personnel are aware of this predicament,
and can identify specific locations where
the greatest security risks are located, such as gates
into fenced airports or equipment at a substation.
The challenge is to provide real-time intrusion
detection with enough wide-area coverage to adequately
protect the most important areas of the
perimeter, while also providing enough spot coverage
for sensitive locations within a reasonable
overall budget.
Thermal Cameras Match the Need
For protecting critical asset facilities, it is imperative
to know the nature and location of an intrusion
in real time to be able to mount an effective
response. traditionally, a range of approaches have
been used, from fiber-based or vibration-based
fence line sensors, to PtZ video cameras. today’s
smart thermal cameras offer a unique set of capabilities
and performance that often far exceed the
capabilities of traditional systems at a lower cost,
creating a compelling solution for critical infrastructure
protection.
Smart thermal cameras with on-board video
analytics surpass traditional approaches in a
number of ways. For one, they “see” heat, and are
a perfect human detector in fog, rain, snow, bright
sun or complete darkness. They are immune to
the false alerts generated by visible cameras from
headlights and reflections, while providing very
accurate size filters that ignore small animals,
blowing trash and other movement. Thermal
cameras combine two systems in one – an accurate
detection source with visual verification,
reducing complexity. and they cover very large
areas – a single smart thermal camera can detect
an intruder with accuracy over an area as large as
a football field. This can save construction costs
that would otherwise be spent on poles, power
and communication, costs which often exceed the
price of the detection system itself.
Wide-Area Coverage for Spot Protection
While perimeter protection is essential to critical
infrastructure security, it can be expensive to protect
the entire perimeter. as a result, many sites
which are unable to secure funding for reliable
perimeter detection systems will often stick with
whatever system they have in place, regardless of
how susceptible it may be to nuisance alarms or
how limited its ability to provide reliable detection.
given this reality, in situations where budgetary
limitations simply won’t allow for systems
that protect the entire perimeter, an emerging approach
focuses on securing the most vulnerable
areas within the perimeter using wide-area thermal
detection solutions.
Such a strategy limits detection to specific,
vulnerable areas. Rather than the entire perimeter,
often consisting of miles of fencing, you can start
with defined areas where the most critical incidents
may occur. For example, airports can focus
first on protecting fuel, planes and the main entry
and exit points, solving their most important outdoor
security problems quickly and affordably.
This is where recent innovations play a big
role. today, a single smart thermal camera can detect
intruders with great accuracy over huge areas
covering hundreds of square meters. in this way,
critical sites can immediately address their security
challenges with great effectiveness for the cost
of a few cameras. Such systems can easily be expanded
into a full-scale perimeter system at a later
date as budgets permit.
By using wider-area thermal systems, you
can leverage existing infrastructure where power
and mounting options are already available, while
still securing expansive areas at very low costs.
The result is a cost-effective, highly reliable system
that can be quickly deployed to protect the most
vulnerable assets now, while planning for the entire
perimeter system in the future.
John Romanowich is president/CEO and founder of
SightLogix. He is also chairman of SIA’s Perimeter
Security Workgroup.
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