Product profile: Zone Multi Sensor Control Platform (MSCP)

activation, video alarm windows will be displayed on any available alarm monitor. During periods of high alarm traffic, MSCP video alarms are cascaded to each subsequent alarm monitor connected to the MSCP network and video wall. Alarm data is also displayed in text form, including detector name; alarm time and date; action status; new alarm — actioned or viewed; and operator ID. Note that users can also replay alarm video by selecting the play alarm video option. Each device attached to the system can be shown on a map as an icon and would flash during an alarm activation, whereby video of the event is displayed on a series of video alarm monitors. Video alarm display can be shown as live or pre event video. The design of the system provides the user with ability to call pan tilt cameras to preset positions and allow multiple logic based alarm responses to be put in place. Note that the system’s pan tilt cameras are set to the alarm devices and are programmed to pan to the cause of the alarm in order to acquire the alarm video. The MSCP can thus track multiple intruders live in any protected area which is controlled with the built-in video analytics or by the built-in ground radar system. The cameras can be video or thermal.

All GUI windows are detachable, that is, they can be moved to different monitors or minimised should the user require it. For example, each MSCP PC may have three monitors attached (note that up to eight monitors may be connected to each operator’s workstation), with one monitor displaying the map, a second displaying any video, and the third displaying alarm database information. MSCP operators may choose to display their information in a different manner without affecting the performance of their peers. A system administrators may specify the manner in which the information monitors display the data.

Mapping is important to MSCP. Fact is, MSCP users vary in size, so the mapping-GUI component of MSCP has been designed to allow multiple levels of maps and more importantly provide scalability. Sites that cover large areas will typically require multiple maps to allow the user to zoom in on the map to provide greater detail. In addition to providing the ability to zoom in and out, a master map can be provided to act as home map with many daughter and sub-daughter maps sitting below the home map. Users can go to daughter maps by double clicking on an area of interest on a map. The mapping interface also allows any map to be rotated while always displaying north relative to map rotation.

We note other features which would make the system appealing to security managers and first responders — features, by the way, which were design requirements issued by the Australian counterterrorism agencies. The system can be rapidly deployable and man-portable as one-box, or enough to sensitize fifteen hectares (as was recently the case in a government project). The company says that the project involved a temporary site and that the system, with all of the sensors listed above, was a rapidly deployed in two days. Zone reports that the agency’s CT professionals said that in their experience, a traditional security provider, using more traditional technology, would take nearly two weeks to achieve similar deployment. First responders and emergency management agencies, especially, would appreciate the ability to deploy incident coverage system quickly: Just think of intelligence or tip off of a potential attack reaching the authorities: A rapidly deployable system would allow them quickly and reliably to bolster the security of potential targets.

Much more information and technical details are available on the company’s Web site.

Zone says that the MSCP is unique in the security industry. It is equally effective as an organization’s permanent security system, methodically deployed and controlling hundreds of peer-devices, or in a temporary, rapid-deployment mode rushed to the scene of potential attack. “It provides the security manager with a secure, redundant, and scaleable system that can be used for the largest and most demanding security management tasks. It offers the security systems integrator a single platform and interface for a wide range of devices and sensors.” From what we have seen available in the market, Zone is right. Rather than being controlled by the information the organization’s security systems collect and disseminate, the organization’s security manager may use MSCP better to control and focus that information, and in this way make better use of it during emergencies. This is an important step forward in allowing organizations to cope more effectively with crises and disruptions.