Using Multiple Cameras to Monitor Effectively
Different environments
have different surveillance requirements. A large
facility like a parking lot, store, residence, or hall
cannot be monitored efficiently by a single camera.
Traditionally, CCTV (Closed Circuit TV) based
Surveillance Systems were used for multi camera
monitoring. This solution was expensive due to the
huge hardware costs.
Advances in PC based
surveillance software now allow anyone with a webcam to
setup a robust, effective and inexpensive surveillance
system.
Today, all you need for
securing your assets is a PC, a couple of webcams and
software like
WebCam Monitor.
Setting up your cameras
The first step is to
evaluate the objectives of your surveillance setup.
Start by answering the obvious, yet important question,
“Which is the most important thing to be monitored?”.
It could be anything: your front porch, a store, a
parking lot, your home, children, pets or even your
prize roses.
The next step would be
to identify the entry, exit and other vulnerable points
present around your subject. Once you identify
these points, you can determine the number of cameras
required to fill in the gaps. WebCam Monitor can
be used with either cameras directly connected to the
computer (using USB or FireWire ports), or networked
(IP) cameras. One PC with WebCam Monitor can
control 4 or more cameras in rotation. (
Security
Monitor Pro can monitor and record from multiple
cameras simultaneously.)
When a camera is
connected to the PC using USB or FireWire, WebCam
Monitor will detect it automatically. IP
(networked) cameras can be installed using WebCam
Monitor’s Add Camera Wizard. You can then use the
Preview window to position the cameras to cover the
vulnerable points you had identified. Spend some
time on this step: the effectiveness of your
surveillance will depend upon the camera positions.
To use your cameras efficiently, make sure the views
from two cameras do not overlap and cover the same area.
However, you should also try to minimize the number of
blind spots.
Cycling Through Multiple
Devices With WebCam Monitor
Once the physical setup
is complete, WebCam Monitor can be scheduled to cycle
through the feeds from different cameras automatically.
As it monitors the feeds, it can be configured to send
different types of alerts, either periodically or
whenever motion or noise is detected. These alerts
include: Audio & Video recordings, Snaps, E-mail
notifications and playing an audible sound alarm over
the PC’s speakers.
To schedule
multiple devices to monitor in a cycle:
- Start WebCam Monitor. From the camera
and microphone drop down lists on the main
screen, confirm that all the cameras have been
detected. If you don’t see a camera
listed, click on Refresh Device List on the File menu.
- Click on theSchedule Devices link underQuick
Settings.
- Check Enable
Scheduler
Click onSetup.
- In the Schedule Device Pairs in Cycle dialog, click Add.
- Use the Add Camera Wizard that will open to add a device pair in the schedule.
- To add more devices to the cycle,
repeat the steps 4 and 5.
- The complete list of device pairs you added to
the schedule will be displayed in the Schedule Device Pairs in Cycle dialog.
To change an entry, select it and click on Edit. To delete an entry, select it
and click on Remove. Use the Move Up andMove Down buttons to change the order of the device pairs
in the cycle.
Each device pair will keep running for 60
seconds before switching to the next device in
the cycle.
- ClickOK to save the
settings and return to the Scheduler dialog.
- Under Specify Scheduler Timings for
Monitoring, you can select: Once, Daily, Weekly or On
Application Start Up. Click OK.
Now that you know how to
schedule multiple devices to monitor in a cycle, you can
configure different alerts to be triggered periodically
or when motion or noise is detected. The article
on Setting up a PC video surveillance system discuses
the process of configuring periodic alerts or motion and
noise detected alerts.
When an event occurs, you
can be informed through different alerts like Video and
Audio Recordings, Take Snap, E-mail notification, PC
sound alarms and Launch Program. To specify the
different settings for these alerts, click on the
Configure link, which is present adjacent to each alert in the
Quick Settings panel in the main application
window.
Depending upon the Start Time you had specified, monitoring through the
various devices will start automatically. Whenever
an event occurs, alerts will be triggered.
Securing your assets was
never so simple, effective and inexpensive.