Videowall technology company Delta has commissioned a state-of-the-art DLP videowall, powered with ‘next-gen’ LEDs, for the first ever Safe City Project in India.
City-wide surveillance projects are becoming increasingly prevalent in large cities as law-enforcement agencies seek to ensure the safety of the public by monitoring each part of the city. Widely known as the Diamond City, and one of the major commercial hubs in India, Surat – in the north-western state of Gujarat – is to become the country’s first city to be covered under electronic surveillance. However, with its large population and concentration of key industries, such as diamonds, textiles, engineering, and oil and gas, providing comprehensive surveillance of traffic and public safety in the city is a major undertaking.
The Safe City Project – which is run in conjunction with Surat City Police department and Surat Traffic Education Trust – is being implemented in five phases. The first phase included installation of 104 CCTV cameras, a command and control centre, a data centre with 200TB storage, and an integrated physical security information management system.
After winning the project tender, Surat-based Innovative Telecom & Softwares and chose technologies from Verint System, IBM and Delta. To enable Surat Police to monitor the entire city, a 280sqft Delta videowall has been installed in the command and control room at police headquarters.
The videowall is driven by Delta’s Icon Pro controller and wall management software which will display the coverage of the CCTV cameras installed across the city. The display solution can handle data from various sources, including the display of city maps when required. This aims to provide reports on such matters as physical security, fire alarms, water levels and disaster recovery.
LED illumination offers an array of performance enhancements – both in image quality and cost of ownership. There is an increase in perceived brightness as LEDs deliver much more saturated colours. Delta’s LED-lit videowalls are said to be the brightest in the market.
Today Surat has 104 Verint Systems cameras at 23 locations, mainly at entry and exit points, at the airport, railway stations, bus stands, main markets, and at all main traffic junctions. HD CCTV footage is visible constantly on the videowall, and any incidents, including road accidents or crimes, are relayed real time to the control centre. The video surveillance system will help in the proactive addressing of any terror threats, effective traffic management and the improvement of safety in the city.
Eventually the project aim is to deploy a network of 5,000 surveillance cameras at 500 locations that will cover an area of 150sqkm.
The project was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Narendra Modi. In his address, the CM praised the initiative taken by Surat City Police and highlighted the benefits of the technology for betterment of people’s lives.
