Residential complex camera installation guidance required

[Phoenix_za]

Hello!
I hope I lay out the situation nicely here so as to make it easy for you guys to help me out.
I am a hobbyist of IP cameras for about 11 years, with experience in D-Link and Axis IP cameras and basic network infrastructure and installation skills and I live in South Africa. Now onto the problem:


Overview:
We would like to install 2 IP cameras in our complex, covering all pedestrian and vehicle traffic going through them. The vehicles will always be halted when going through due to the gate always being closed.
The cameras should be able to effectively ID people and vehicles (license plates) at night, including during a power blackout. Each gate has a 32W Spotlight that contributes approximately 2-5 lux to each gate, which might stay powered during a blackout (especially if necessary) depending on whether or not the camera comes with an adequate IR light (or a separate IR light that can be powered over Ethernet).
The total budget is up to R30000 ($2591,42), however R10000 of that is expected to be used for the network infrastructure and UPS system.
The cameras themselves and the network infrastructure will have power backup through a UPS system.
The camera is expected to be zoomed in to the gates themselves and a little bit extra to the sides ( about 1 to 2 meters extra). The cameras could be placed at several possible positions each. Further details on positions, distances, scene widths and FoVs are given at the West gate and East gate details sections.

The problem here that needs to be resolved, is picking the right IP camera, with the right zoom levels (possibly separate lenses), with the right supplementary IR or white lighting (if necessary and the existing 32W White spotlights can be used) and at the right positions in order meet all of the following requirements:


Essential Requirements:
* R20000 ($1727,62) budget for both cameras, their enclosures and IR lights if applicable
* Water resistant external enclosure. Temperature range is -5°C to 27°C (sunlight will cause maximum to rise)
* PoE
* On camera recording (such as Axis Edge)
* Color at night
* Identify faces at night and during a blackout (Keeping the 32W spotlights on via backup power is an option)
* Identify license plates at night and during a blackout (Keeping the 32W spotlights on via backup power is an option)


Would be nice (non essential\bonus requirements):
* Vandal resistant enclosure
* Identify faces inside vehicles at night
* Good enough image quality at night during blackout to allow LPR (License plate recognition) software
* 2 MP or more
* Still Identify faces and license plates at night during a blackout without any of the original lighting (even the 32W spotlights)
* Be able to centrally access all camera recordings at once from one client (such as AXIS Camera Companion)


Planned network infrastrucutre:
* TP-LINK TL-SF1008P 8 port 100Mbs switch (4 ports are PoE): 8-Port 10/100Mbps Desktop Switch with 4-Port PoE TL-SF1008P - Welcome to TP-LINK
* TP-LINK TL-WA7210N 2.4GHz 12dBi 150Mbps outdoor access point: 2.4GHz 150Mbps Outdoor Wireless Access Point TL-WA7210N - Welcome to TP-LINK
* APC ProtectNet standalone Ethernet PoE surge protector: Product Overview for APC ProtectNet standalone surge protector for 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet lines | APC
* ~140m Cat5e cabling (about 70m on average per camera)


Thoughts on a solution:
I was looking at the Axis Q1614, but with a high zoom lens and housing, I will most likely end up paying R16000 ($1351,72) per camera. I may be looking at competing companies that provide cheaper cameras with equal performance, but I am unfamiliar with any of Axis's competitors and what their cameras are like, so some assistance here would be nice. I am also leaning towards providing power backup to the existing 32W white lights to provide guaranteed lighting levels, though it would be nice if the camera has good enough night time performance to detect details in the surrounding darker areas. As for positions, I am leaning towards Position 2 for both West and East gates.


Area Map:

East Gate:

View from the gate itself showing the 2 positions.
Actual Gate length: 4.009m


Position 1:

View from position 1

Scene details:
* Distance to gate from position 1 is 22.66m
* Approximate width of scene: 6m
* Estimated FOV: 15.08 Deg


Position 2:

View from position 2

Scene details:
* Distance to gate from position 2 is 30.13m
* Approximate width of scene: 6m
* Estimated FOV: 11.37 Deg


Night time conditions:

A picture that closely approximates what a human would see in these conditions (taken from no particular position). The 32W spotlight on the left might be kept on in in a blackout, depending on the upcoming installation.

Conditions:
* Ambient lighting: Half Moon, clear sky with lighting
* Lighting level just in front of gate: 6 lux (lower during blackout, depending on if 32W spotlight is kept on)
* Color temperature just in front of gate: 3434K




West Gate:

View from the gate itself showing the 3 positions.
Actual Gate length: 4.504m


Position 1:

View from position 1

Scene details:
* Distance to gate from position 1 is 20.6m
* Approximate width of scene: 5m
* Estimated FOV: 13.84 Deg


Position 2:

View from position 2

Scene details:
* Distance to gate from position 2 is 16.66m
* Approximate width of scene: 5m
* Estimated FOV: 17.07 Deg


Position 3:

View from position 3

Scene details:
* Distance to gate from position 3 is 23.05m
* Approximate width of scene: 5m
* Estimated FOV: 12.38 Deg


Night time conditions:

A picture that closely approximates what a human would see in these conditions (taken from no particular position). The 32W spotlight on the right might be kept on in in a blackout, depending on the upcoming installation.

Conditions:
* Ambient lighting: Half Moon, clear sky with lighting
* Lighting level just in front of gate: 6 lux (lower during blackout, depending on if 32W spotlight is kept on)
* Color temperature just in front of gate: 3154K

 

[paarlberg]

No Eina Ivy?

If your budget would allow a little more, this would be a great place for the Bosch » Bosch Dinion Starlight 8000 MP 5MP Box Camera Review Network Camera Critic

Either Dahua or Hikvision would do the job quite well. Since you have both front and rear plates on the vehicles in SA you could easily capture plates entering or leaving. Also, with the cost of the Hikvision and Dahua option, you could do more than 2 cameras to get better coverage, maybe a wide lens for general coverage and a tight lens for details at the gate. I am sure you could add several IR lights that could be easily powered during blackouts.

You gotta love Eskom and the rolling blackouts.

Position 2 looks great, the only issue might be glare from headlights since it is directly in front.

 

[Phoenix_za]

I wasn't actually familiar with Einy Ivy

That is an impressive camera (the Bosch)! Normally if I consider spending that kind of cash I would only stick to Axis, but it doesn't look like Axis has anything like that last I checked!

As for the frontal headlights blurring, I was initially concerned about it, but many cameras seem to have some amazingly effective WDR (based on an Axis review by Network Camera Critic), so I was wondering if that could mitigate it enough. The reason why I would be interested in putting the camera in that position in the first place is because of an LPR article also written by Network Camera Critic, where he points out that the more head on the camera is the better for recognition despite the headlights if you use a good camera.

One thing to note, is that this is an evolving project. These are the first 2 cameras and we will be gradually adding more over time. So if we have cash left over, it will be rolled over for future additions and if I pick a camera that could be better, I could simply move it to a different part of the complex and replace it with a better camera, but I would rather not do that and risk having a camera not suitable for any of out needs.

I am leaning towards Hikvision cameras as I read that they have exceptionally good on board DVR functionality and that's important, although it would be nice to have an application that can merge all the cameras into one DVR 'feed' like Axis can and I'm not sure Hikvision cameras is compatible with any software like that. That and I like their camera choices.

So I'm thinking of getting a DS-2CD4012FWD, which I'm guessing should cost about R4500, coupled with an external housing without a heater which should be a lot cheaper than an Axis housing and a lens and I should be able to get this within R7500 each. I'll run two network cables to each destination just in case and consider adding an overview camera to each destination later.
As for the Lens, I don't know if I should go with a Hikvision one or one from another make, as lens quality seems to be quite important even for IP cams.

I am quite tempted by going with DS-2CD6026FHWD-(A) instead though, which seems to be a poor man's Bosch Dinion Starlight which should be R8500 just for the cameras, but if I'm lucky I may be only slightly over budget.

As for lighting, I'm assuming white light is preferable (in addition to being a deterrent) and that the existing 32W lights is enough on their own.

BTW, it's nice to see someone else in South Africa who is familiar with IP cams, assuming you are from here

 

[paarlberg]

I'm not from there (my wife is), I worked for one of the large ISPs in SA managing their network. I was just in SA for a few weeks in February, mostly in the Boland area of the Western Cape.

I am sure some of the other guys can give you some good feedback on the cams. I am not familiar with the ones in the links.

 

[Phoenix_za]

If anyone is interested, here is a car theft that occurred 2 years ago via the East gate, which was captured using my AXIS 215 PTZ (which can't be considered in the new camera system) in overview mode and from Position 1:

You will have to skip forward a bit as I left the video unedited as this was meant for legal purposes.

 

[Phoenix_za]

OK, so here is the first quotation I produced for the whole project. The prices on the actual Hikvision stuff is preliminary:


IP cameras:
Prices are preliminary or estimates, as it's hard to find a good public supplier or reseller for these cameras

* R8000 - (2x R4000) Hikvision S-2CD4012FWD 1.3MP WDR Box IP Camera with 0.01 lux min color luminosity.
* R396.56 - (2x R198.28) Hikvision DS-1292ZJ Bracket
* R1214.46 - (2x R607.23) Hikvision DS-1322HZ-C Outdoor Housing
* R3965.62 - (2x R1982.81) Hikvision TV0550D-MPIR 5-50mm Varifocal F1.7-C DC Auto Iris Varifocal CS Lens
* R967.9 - (2x 483.95) Kingston 64GB microSDXC Class 10 memory (10MB/s read/write)
Total: R14544.54


Networking:

* R1214.10 (Cablelink ) - 150m Outdoor Cat5e
* R689.95 (Nivo.co.za) - TP-LINK TL-SF1008P 8 port 100Mbs switch (4 ports are PoE)
* R999.95 (Nivo.co.za) - TP-LINK TL-WA7210N 2.4GHz 12dBi 150Mbps outdoor access point
* R1243.80 (Nivo.co.za) - (4 x R310.95) APC ProtectNet standalone Ethernet PoE surge protector
Total: R4147.80


Power Backup:
Endurance is calculated based on a 114W assumed load

* R8609.00 (Nivo.co.za) - APC SUA1000XLI UPS for 159 minutes (2 Hours and 36 minutes)
* R4479.00 (Nivo.co.za) - APC SUA24XLBP extra battery pack for 387 minutes (6 hours and 27 minutes) extra
* Gives a total of 546 minutes (9 hours and 6 minutes) endurance
Total: R13088


Grand Total: R31780.34 For all categories.
Or with only 2 Hours and 36 minutes of power: R27301.34

 

[paarlberg]

With the exchange rate, that might not be bad. Do they actually have them in stock or do the order from overseas?

 

[Phoenix_za]

I have not locating a good supplier to the public that has everything yet and in general and their stocks do indeed seem low. But I have plenty of shops I can still check.
I also need to do this by the end of April, so hopefully stocks can be replenished by then.