With the advent of 4G Advanced LTE connections, video streaming speeds have never been higher. This is exciting for law enforcement who like to view and control remote HD camera systems, like pole cameras. It offers fluid video steaming at the highest resolutions and lightning-fast retrieval of stored video. It is not unusual to consistently deliver 50-100Mbps of throughput through these type of cellular data connections.
With this much speed available, the temptation is to connect an HD Camera directly to your Central Video Management System and stream video 24/7. The problem with this approach is that at those speeds, one 4K HD camera can consume hundreds of GB of data per week. A typical data plan includes about 5GB of data a month, so one HD camera running 24/7 can result in thousands of dollars in overage charges.
Although overage charges are not an issue with unlimited data plans, most carriers will throttle connection speeds for a given device once it reaches 30GB a month. When this happens, the connection becomes virtually unusable for video. This could leave you without camera access or recordings for most of the month.
i2c Technologies has solved these problems by designing law enforcement pole camera systems that contain a ruggedized PC built into each unit. The PC includes i2c’s Advanced Video Management Software (i2c VMS) that runs locally, eliminating the drag on bandwidth. Video is able to be recorded 24/7 at full resolution and frame rates so nothing is missed. i2c VMS has an Archive Viewer that allows users to search an entire day’s worth of video in just seconds. Once the desired video is located, only the needed clips are downloaded from the unit over the cellular connection, utilizing very little bandwidth.
Since so little bandwidth is needed for recordings, live monitoring and control of the camera is not hampered. This allows law enforcement to control and capture key events in real-time and provide situational awareness for each operation. A typical i2c Technologies deployable camera system uses less than 5GB per month.
i2c Technologies is an AXIS Communications Solution Gold Partner based in North Canton, Ohio. They are a leading supplier of deployable video surveillance units for law enforcement, with hundreds of units in use throughout the country.
