i

Wireless IP

Camera System

by James Tierney

2014

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Contents

Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................................. iii

1 Project Outline ..................................................................................................................................... 4

1.1Thesis Statement ........................................................................................................................... 4

1.2Thesis Plan ..................................................................................................................................... 4

1.3 Introduction to Research .............................................................................................................. 4

1.3 Items for Research ........................................................................................................................ 6

1.4 Reason to Change Research Method ............................................................................................ 6

1.5 Sub-task’s for Research ................................................................................................................. 7

1.5.1 Sturdiness of the system ............................................................................................................ 7

1.5.2 Networks .................................................................................................................................... 7

Thesis Structure ...................................................................................................................................... 9

Chapter 2 Literature Review ............................................................................................................... 9

Chapter 3 Implementation .................................................................................................................... 11

3.1 Equipment Installation Phase ..................................................................................................... 11

3.1.1 Initial Camera Configuration ................................................................................................ 11

3.1.2 Router Configurations for Cameras ..................................................................................... 11

3.1.3 System Installation ............................................................................................................... 12

3.1.4 Administration of the Cameras. ........................................................................................... 13

Chapter 4 Camera Software .................................................................................................................. 16

4.1 Set-Up and configure I-Spy Software ...................................................................................... 16

4.2 Vehicle Recognition Software ................................................................................................. 17

4.3 ALPR Research Information .................................................................................................... 17

Chapter 5 Evaluation and Reflection .................................................................................................... 20

Chapter 6 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 23

Chapter 6 Appendices ........................................................................................................................... 25

Project Plan ................................................................................................................................... 25

Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 27

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the lecturers Mark Frain and Seamus Dowling for all the help,

assistance and resources they provided throughout this project. Without their assistance this

project would not have progressed to the stage it was at.

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1 Project Outline

1.1Thesis Statement

Are low priced wireless IP cameras capable of providing similar security functionality as the

professionally priced camera systems. This project will investigate the possibilities of using

this type of system to provide methods of monitoring and providing additional security for

private properties that can be installed and implemented throughout the domestic and

agricultural sectors in rural Ireland.

1.2Thesis Plan

Develop a wireless security camera system with professional grade features such as vehicle

and facial recognition. This system will be designed to work on a budget and provide similar

levels of functionality and image quality to professional systems. The system will allow for

the capture of images and video of sufficient enough quality that they could be submitted in

court for prosecution purposes.

1.3 Introduction to Research

Over the last decade there has been an increase in the numbers of burglaries and thefts from

private and commercial properties, this rate of crime has increased since the economic

collapse of 2008. Reports of these crimes have become almost daily news in the regional and

local media. (Cusack, 2013) (Department of Justice, 2009) (Association, n.d.)

One of the major problems in preventing this type of crime is the lack of evidence

particularly with this crime in rural or isolated areas where even if the Gardaí had been

notified the criminals would have long made their escape before they arrived on the scene.

Short of every rural property hiring their own private security the most feasible way of

providing 24 hour security that is reliable and provides flexibility for the person monitoring

the system is to implement an Internet Protocol camera type surveillance system.

As a professional grade IP camera system can run into thousands of euro in cost this expense

puts this type of system out of the reach of many citizens. (pros, 2014)

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Although there are many of the more budget cameras available on the market but they can

suffer from poor image quality which renders them almost unusable in identifying the objects

been recorded.

Fig1 displaying the difference in image quality between budget priced cameras and the cameras that

are been used for this project

With the above in mind the author has undertaken to research, identify and implement an IP

security camera system that will provide a similar range of features as its professional

counterparts.

Those features will include

Automatic recording on motion detection, this feature will be useful for monitoring

the premises when the owner is gone from the property. If the owner suspects

something happened while they were gone they then can review the video logs to

confirm or deny any suspicions.

Vehicle licence plate recognition.

Licence plates checked against stored numbers which triggers an alert to the person

monitoring the system. This feature would be a very useful addition to the system as it

not only would provide a method of filtering and preventing unnecessary false alarms

via the storage of known vehicle registration numbers. Any unknown numbers would

be flagged and recorded by the camera followed by an alert been sent to the system

owner.

Remote logging into the cameras via the internet for administering the system.

The system will also have cameras that will automatically wake and record when

activated by the camera responsible for monitoring the entrance to the location.

These cameras will also work independently so that they can monitor their

surrounding area.

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Provide the system owner with recorded footage and images of sufficient quality that

they could be submitted in a court of law in the event of a procession.

As there is sensitive data been transmitted between these cameras and the person monitoring

them from outside the network the author has decided that it would be prudent to ensure this

data is as secure from unwanted access during transmission as possible. As this will be a very

important part of the project the author will research methods for implementing to secure this

traffic with particular attention be paid to security during transmission across the internet. In

order for the finished system to be within financial reach of the author has also set a budget of

€500 for all equipment required for this system which will be considerably less that the

equivalent commercial type system.

1.3 Items for Research

In relation to this project one of the most crucial elements in this project will be the

specifications and features of the cameras. Without these elements of the cameras been

suitable for the task all other components of the project will be irrelevant. Other sections

within the project such as the network communication requirements and hardware will

become evident as more information about the cameras comes to light. For the purposes of

this project the author had considered using the Content Analysis research method.

However upon further research the author has come across another research method that is far

more practical for this type of project. The reason for this is due to the practical nature of the

project and the eventual implementation of said project.

The author is of the opinion that it requires a more than an academic/sociological type of

research method. Based on the above explanation follow research the author came upon a

research method named Applied Research is far more appropriate, the following is a brief

description of this research method.

1.4 Reason to Change Research Method

The applied research method is used to investigate and gather new insight and knowledge in

relation to a specific problem. It is widely used in the commercial sector in areas such as

Marketing, Human Resources and Research and Development (R&D). (ELIZABETH, n.d.)

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This method involves the gathering of information related to the project and applying it to

find solutions to everyday problems or develop innovative technologies or even improved

versions of existing products. (wikieducator, 2013) (business directory, n.d.)

Within the area of applied research there is a subcategory named Action Research. This

method is commonly described as been a reflective process of progressive problem solving

and usually involves in the researcher collecting, analysing and interpreting the results, and

finally implementing the findings of the research as well as analysing the effectiveness of the

project against the research. (wikieducator, 2013)

Another method of research that the author could possibly use for researching this project is

the case study method. As there is a lot of information and research already carried out by

others who have implemented similar systems in the past which has been published the

author will be researching some of these papers and will use some of their findings to test

against the authors research during the project implementation. (Marchewka, 2010)

1.5 Sub-task’s for Research

1.5.1 Sturdiness of the system

Due to the environment that the system is going to be exposed to how does the author ensure

that the system will stand up to all that it will be exposed to considering it will be exposed to

both harsh weather and salt laden air coming in on Atlantic winds. (Service, 2013)

(CONKLIN, 2007)

The author will be using the action research methodology for the carrying out research related

to this topic.

1.5.2 Networks

The aim of the research carried out on the cameras will be to determine the range of

equipment such as routers, switches, antennas and general equipment such as cabling that

would be required for the project however because of the geographical location and that it

would not be feasible to run Cat5 network cabling from the location of the main router this

will require the system to be ran over a wireless connection. This brings into focus additional

issues such as,

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The data transfer rate required by the system.

Will the existing infrastructure be able to support the additional burden placed

upon it by the transferring of data between devices.

If the existing infrastructure cannot support this additional burden, how can this

be resolved?

Security of data traffic between the system and mobile devices located outside

the network that need to communicate with the cameras, how is this security

going to be implemented and how secure is it.

Because of the nature of the above topic the author intends on using both the case study

and action research methods for carrying out the required research.

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Thesis Structure

Chapter 2 Literature Review

Low Cost Network Camera Sensors for Traffic Monitoring

By Yan Huang & Bill P Buckles

Although there are numerous examples of IP camera systems that implement the

features that the author is attempting to, there are however little or no examples of this

implementation on the type of hardware that the author is attempting to implement it

upon. For this reason the author selected a project by Texas History portal who wrote a

paper named Low Cost Network Camera Sensors for Traffic Monitoring published July

2012 and authored by Yan Huang & Bill P Buckles. This paper was written for the Texas

Department of Transportation Research and Technology Implementation Office. This

paper was selected because it uses great detail in the research it carried out on all

aspects of their project including the various specifications of the cameras they were

considering for their final implementation. The author will begin by outlining the

differences between the system the author is implementing and the system

implemented by the Texas Department of Transportation Research and Technology

Implementation Office.

As the Texas project cameras were located high over traffic these cameras require the

ability to focus on vehicles at a distance in order to identify them cameras with fixed

focal length lens would not work in this situation, the same can be said for the cameras

located within the cities as these too had to be located at a distance that made them

difficult to be tampered with again this location would have had to be high up on the

walls of buildings or poles in that particular area.” Using the wireless and camera settings

introduced above, we can obtain smooth traffic videos in real time. With the AMC

component (a recommended ActiveX component used 144 to view videos and control

cameras) in IE, the PTZ response is so quick that we can change pan/tilt angle and zoom

in /out instantly. Figure 41 provides some snapshots of traffic monitoring video of the

deployed system. Even though we have to install the camera around 90 meters (300 feet)

away the road due to lack of better location, we can still have clear view of cars and traffic

signs. And once again these cameras are required to be able to work within a range of a

couple of feet from the camera to working many hundreds of feet away from the camera.

Because of this every camera they tested and reviewed featured variable-focus lens in the

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range from 3.2mm- 119mm in length with up to 36 times optical zoom. Page 162”

(Buckles, 2012)

Another important feature for their system was the ability to cover as large an area as

possible, for this reason they researched and used pan and tilt cameras for their system.

The price range for the cameras they researched was between $1500.00 up to $4845.00

and considering that virtually all the other specifications of their cameras compared

with what the author is using lead him to deduct that this price difference is mostly

taken up by the features outlined in the above paragraph. (Buckles, 2012)

The project that is been implemented by the author is going to carry some of the

features outlined during the Texas report but where the two projects very vastly is in

the way the cameras will be located for performing there functions. The following quote

establishes the authors on findings in regards to the type of lens that is going to be used

for this project.” The lens is one of most significant components of a camera. Focal length

is an important parameter for the lens. Focal length refers to the distance between the lens

and imager. If the focal length is great, the camera can take images with smaller angle of

view but provide more details of objects far away; if small, the images obtained have wider

angles of view.” (Buckles, 2012)

This project at its most basic level is about securing smaller locations than the Texas

project and as a result the cameras will be focused on one particular area i.e. the farm

entrance, negates the requirement for variable focus/ optical zoom lens rather than

using these very expensive methods for capturing the images the author will use

cameras featuring resolution up to 3 mega pixels to provide as clear an image possible

and WDR wide dynamic range to which assists in removing shadows surrounding

objects been recorded. “An IP camera has several pros: the output video is digitalized;

compression components are located in the camera; an in-camera web server provides

direct network access and makes web-based application easier; PTZ functions and video

transmission need just one Ethernet cable—some products even utilize PoE (power over

Ethernet) technology to provide power to the camera through the Ethernet cable; and

most megapixel cameras are IP cameras, which can be used in places requiring high

quality video such as casino and law enforcement sites. For an analog camera, the cost of

the camera itself may be lower and have better compatibility with the existing analog

camera systems.” (Buckles, 2012)

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Chapter 3 Implementation

Fig 4.1 image of the location where the system is been installed.

3.1 Equipment Installation Phase

3.1.1 Initial Camera Configuration

Out of the box the cameras came pre-configured with IP addresses both of these did not

match the network address of the project network. The author changed the addresses by

changing the network card configuration of the PC to match the cameras and then re-

configuring the IP addresses from there.

3.1.2 Router Configurations for Cameras

Each camera requires 4 separate ports for network communication and data transfer each of

these ports were configured and opened via the broadband router, the port numbers set

matched the manufacturer’s recommendations. Along with this the author assigned static

internal IP addresses to each of the cameras to increase the stability of communication

between the internal/exterior network and the cameras.

Due to location constraints it was not feasible for the author to use a directly cabled

connection between the cameras and the network router so a wireless link had to be

established and configured.

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3.1.3 System Installation

As the only part of the system that is weatherproof is the cameras and the wireless access

point all other components had to be installed inside a weatherproof enclosure. This was

located within an area that is central to the system and convenient to the power source.

Due to issues between the electrical system and the cameras transformers the socket carrying

the power to the cameras had to be redirected to a separate circuit breaker, this work was

carried out by a qualified electrician. With everything connected the author cabled the laptop

into the switch for testing the connectivity of the cameras this worked with both cameras

fully operational. However when a wireless connection was attempted nether of the cameras

could be connected too. As part of the troubleshooting process the author used a network

scanning application named NetScan, www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Net-Scan-

Download-49896.html this software ran a scan of the location and identifies all the available

wireless networks that are broadcasting and available, when this scan was completed the

network that the author was attempting to connect to via the access point was available with a

full signal strength broadcasting. This led the author to conclude that the problem rested with

the access point its configuration.

Following a number of unsuccessful reconfigurations without success the author decided that

reinstalling the device was the best course of action, this would allow for a completely new

configuration to be installed. This proved successful and the system to work and allowed for

the wireless communication between it and the network router.

The author’s conclusion for this failure is that the original configuration became corrupted

during the time spent testing the electrical equipment which caused all the devices connected

to be rebooted because of the electrical system tripping out. Another issue that could not be

foreseen relates to the stability of the wireless transmission between the two access points,

when installing these devices the user uses a panel of LED lights at the back of the panel

which tell the user the level of signal strength. Despite numerous attempts at establishing and

stabilisation of the signal it has not as of yet reached a state that allows for uninterrupted

communication but for the moment the signal is sufficient to allow the installation of the

hardware devices related to the project to progress but when time allows this matter will have

be investigated and resolved.

From the tests that have been ran so far the author has concluded that a stable signal of about

80% to 90% would be the ideal range for this system to work as intended. From research

carried out the author has formed the opinion that this issue is possibly been caused by

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environmental factors, the reason for this thinking is that both of the antennas are located

disruptive materials such as metal and television antennas, for the moment the author has

decided to continue with the project as is now and at a later phase in this project will relocate

both antennas and attempt fixing this issue so far the signal ranges between 30 and 97%.

Fig 4.3.1 Image displaying the variation in signal strength over the wireless link both of these images

were taken within a 2 minute timeframe.

3.1.4 Administration of the Cameras.

Due to the network having a dynamic external IP address a means of accessing the cameras

via the internet had to be established this meant that any newly assigned external address had

to be linked back to the previous address, there are a number of companies that provide this

service but following research the author decided to use the service provided by a company

called DYN.com, by signing up for an account with them it allows you create a hostname,

this hostname is linked to the camera which allows for access from outside the network.

In order for the dyndns application to work it requires installation on an always on device, to

facilitate this, the author configured a standard desktop computer in the location where all the

required software was installed and configured. As the network the system is been installed

into has only got a 5.2mb broadband speed and that as the cameras are 3mega pixel in

resolution it was recognised that would need to be optimised to work under the restrictions

that currently exist. With the above mentioned the author tested the system under a number of

different focal and image settings. These settings adjustments included the following,

reducing frame rates, reduction of the exposure times.

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The results of which can be seen from the image below, this image is a screenshot of a video

recording carried out by ISpy with the motion detection activated.

Fig 4.4 Image of vehicle passing through one of the motion alert zones

Although it may not be too clear from the image the registration plate of this vehicle can be

clearly read when viewed both through the website and via the installed software. The red

squares surrounding the vehicle are part of the motion detection indicating that it is working

and active. As can be seen from the time stamp on the image this image was recorded

approximately 20 minutes before dusk indicating the level of clarity achieved in the overall

recording.

Fig 4.5 The above image displays the activation zones

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Due to signal degradation caused by the instability in the wireless link this is causing the

motion detection on the cameras to mistakenly read the breakdown in live view footage as

motion detection alerts and therefore records and saves the footage. This degradation has to

be resolved in order to have the system operating as intended see fig 4.6.

Fig 4.6 Above image shows a recording during the signal breakdown this begins when the signal falls

below 70% availability.

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Chapter 4 Camera Software

4.1 Set-Up and configure I-Spy Software

When cameras were to be added to the I-SPY www.ispyconnect.com software it should be

just a matter of adding them via a provided wizard. Numerous attempts were made at this to

no success, the error been returned specified that the URL location could not be resolved.

Eventually this issue was resolved by installing a data packet sniffing software named

FIDDLER2, www.telerik.com/download/fiddler along with this software another program

was installed called Wireshark www.wireshark.org but while using this the author could not

find the location of the URL’s and by using the FIDDLER2 software it provided this

information clearly.

When ran, this program displayed a number of different URL addresses and it was then a

matter of going through the camera installation process and repeating it until the system

accepted the address. Once the camera was configured to the software and working it then

became a matter of integrating the cameras with the ALPR (automatic licence plate

recognition) software this software came as a plugin provided by I-Spy connect and was

provided for a trail period of 60 days. The author’s decided that because of the problems that

seem to exist between this software and this model of camera that it was advisable to use the

full time allowed for the trail period and only when the cameras and software worked without

further problems would the author consider purchasing the fully licenced version.

Without confirmation the author is of the thinking that because the cameras been used are

part of a new model range and as a result this the developers of I-Spy had not got the chance

to launch an update including this model and therefore when required the software reverted to

a default type of URL which did not work. The authors findings is based on the fact that

when the author ran network analysis software to identify suitable URL’s to link the cameras

to the software it was these URL’s that worked and not the default ones provided by the

software.

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4.2 Vehicle Recognition Software

The installation process for the APLR plugin is a matter of running the I-Spy software

selecting the provided link for it and then extracting the compressed file into a predefined

location within the root folder associated with the software. Following this it should be a

matter of selecting this plugin from a drop down menu within I-Spy and aligning it with the

camera that you want to use for vehicle recognition. This process was followed according to

the instructions provided via the website for installation.

4.3 ALPR Research Information

Automatic Licence Plate Recognition software was first developed by the Police Scientific

Development Branch, home office in the United Kingdom in 1976 and has been widely used

by them since the late 1970’s, at first it’s design intention has as an aid to the prevention of

terrorist attacks from the provisional IRA through the network of cctv cameras installed

throughout England. (Casanova, 2012)

Since then it has become increasingly more popular with police and security forces

throughout the world, this popularity has led to some criticisms and debate surrounding the

area of privacy rights, reports of police departments in the US using this technology for

monitoring and tracking everyone from news reporters to religious worshipers have become

common place which has led to the debate on this issue regarding the length of time the data

can be stored and to what use can be made of it. (Andrew, 2013) (Musgrave, 2013)

Despite its criticisms its uses as a very powerful tool in the prevention and detection of

crimes and traffic control/monitoring. ALPR software is currently been used in a variety of

applications such as traffic monitoring in car parks to track the number of spaces available,

automatic toll booths on motorways, and access control for private parking where the

software captures the licence plate and based on the approved numbers stored by the system

they are granted or denied access to parking. In the authors opinion one of the most useful

new features brought into this type of software in recent years has been the ability for the

software to read and make use of partial licence plate numbers, this new addition has allowed

police forces throughout the United States to use it in conjunction with their AMBER alert

system (amber alert is a public notification system alerting the public to child abductions)

before this witnesses to this type of crime would rarely manage to get or remember the full

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registration plate of the offending vehicle which in turn left the police only able to the partial

information, now as the cameras have the ability to work with these partial plate information

the cameras can track and provide real time information about all vehicles matching this

partial information. (Lpr, 2010)

Vehicle recognition software works by using the camera to capture the required image which

is then processed and converted to text format in order for it to work it utilises a number of

different algorithms during the capturing and processing phases the most commonly used

algorithms are as follows.

Fig 4.7 image visually depicting the process of plate localisation courtesy of

www.licenceplatesrecognition.com

Plate localisation is responsible for identifying the registration plate and separating it from

other similar geometric shapes on the vehicle, these similar shapes add complexity and can

include the windscreen, mirrors and the bumpers it has to be able to carry this out even when

the vehicle is not directly in line with the camera and sometimes moving at high speed.

Once the algorithm captures the image it identifies the similar shapes related to the shape of a

registration plate, then during processing it eliminates the similar shapes by the use of another

algorithm called Optical Character Recognition which searches for backgrounds or

identifying colours and characters associated with registration plates, unlike the early years of

this program nowadays this software is expected to be able to work across the globe and be

able to identify the registration plates associated with that locality meaning that the one

software has to be able to read plates such as European and those from the Asian continent

without rewriting of the underlying code. This variation can be seen from fig 4.7 where the

registration plates of Ireland and the United Kingdom/Northern Ireland have variations that

the software would have to be able to deal with on a regular basis with vehicles from both

jurisdictions regularly traveling between them. This issue becomes more complex when this

software is used in countries such as the United States of America where registration plates

depicting images and multiple lines of characters is common see fig 4.8. (Lpr, 2010)

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Fig 4.7 image depicting the differences between relatively close neighbouring countries, provided by

www.commons.wikimedia.org

Fig 4.8 some of the different registration plates in use in the United States of America, image courtesy

of http://www.123rf.com

Sometimes it is not possible for the cameras to be positioned directly in front of or square on

to the subject vehicle for this reason an algorithm called Plate Orientation was developed this

algorithm is primarily responsible for the compensation in pitch or angle that might exist

between the camera and the subject vehicle. Once the orientation of the plate has been

compensated for the captured image has to go through a process of Normalisation during this

process the brightness and contrast of the image is adjusted to its optimum to allow the

Character Segmentation algorithm to differentiate and isolate the individual characters within

the licence plate, while discarding the additional items such as country identifiers or images

within the licence plate. Following character segmentation the Character Recognition/

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) takes the processed image segments and converts these

images into a format that can be read by the software such as binary or hexadecimal values.

This then has to read by the software and compared against a set of Syntactical or

Geometrical Analysis rules that exist for that regions or countries registration plate.

(Casanova, 2012) (Lpr, 2010)

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Chapter 5 Evaluation and Reflection

As mentioned previously during this report one major issue’s affecting the project is the

instability residing in the wireless link between the base station and the location of the

cameras. As the location area of the cameras had a wireless camera system previously albeit a

lower quality and specification than the current system been installed.

The old system consisted of a home broadband router connected to a second router

configured as a access point connected to a panel antenna which transmitted the wireless

signal to the area where the cameras were located, the receiving end of the system consisted

of two budget IP cameras, the antennas for both of these cameras had an extension cable

connected into them and the antenna was then passed out through the steel sheeting that

covers the building. These antennas were the standard ones supplied, this system worked as it

was required to its main use was for the monitoring of livestock hence the budget quality of

them. The new system has different requirements to the old hence the upgrading of cameras

and infrastructure supporting them. All the upgrading has taken place on the camera end of

the project none has taken place on the transmitting side.

The upgrades are as follows.

(1) Old camera antennas which were between 5 and 7dbi replaced by a 14dbi flat panel

access point/transmitter capable of transmitting and receiving signals up to 15km

during installation it could provide me with details of Wi-Fi located up to ¾ of a

mile from the current location by line of sight.

(2) Access point cabled into a POE 8 port switch, this switch then provides the cameras

with both the data and power feeds required, all the power and data is been carried

over brand new cables made up by the author as required.

Fig 5.1 location layout showing the current device layout

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This problem has led to restricted access to the system both locally and remotely which in turn has

made the job of project completion impossible. Because of the way the wireless transmission has been

working since the project inception this has led the author to believe that the issues lay with the new

components.

So far as part of the resolution process the author has carried out the following. In order to see if any

problems exist from the antenna transmitting the wireless signal the author has attempted connecting

to it wirelessly via a smartphone which worked without any drop in signal strength and full internet

access was possible from distances well beyond the location of the cameras this location was behind

the target area and also had obstacles that should have an negative effect on the wireless signal as can

be seen from fig 5.2.

Fig 5.2 the larger of the circles indicates the wireless test area, the smaller circle displays the actual

access point receiving the Wi-Fi signal for the cameras, the red arrow indicates the location of the

actual ALPR camera.

This led the author to form the opinion that the problems are isolated to the access point or the

infrastructure connected to it.

As a result the author removed the access point and carried out a complete new configuration of the

device as would be done when it was first installed. Once this was carried out the device was

reconnected and the results of this were the same as before, the below images display the variation in

signal over a period of 5 minutes this repeats itself on a continuous basis. This instability makes it

almost impossible for the cameras to function as designed or intended.

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Fig 5.3 throughput of the access point over a period of 5 minutes both the transmission and reception

signal is displayed.

While the author was attempting to troubleshoot the system the author formed the opinion

that the data handling and transmission by such a number of devices might be causing some

or all of the issues, namely the amount of times that each data packet had to be encapsulated

and de-capsulated throughout transmission.

By means of testing and possibly eliminating any problems that might exist the author

decided to reconfigure the system by moving the second router up to the area where the

cameras are located and connecting an omni-directional antenna to the router controlling the

network this also removed the access point from the receiving end of the project, this had the

opposite effect with the transmission rate and stability of the system reducing to what visually

appeared to been worse than previous tests this resulted in the author in returning the system

to its original configuration.

As mentioned earlier during this report the author suspected that some environmental

interference may be affecting the signal stability of the system. As the author was the stage of

rebuilding the system it was decided to temporarily increase the height of each of the

antennas handling the wireless link, this has had a dramatic effect on the system particularly

with regards to the signal stability which now has stabilised at between 45 – 65%, although

still not at the required level it has led the author to believe that the introduction of a longer

mast for carrying the transmitting antenna should have the desired effect and allow the

project to progress at a later stage.

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Chapter 6 Conclusion

As described in the project statement the aim of this project was to investigate the

possibilities of using standard grade IP cameras for the provision of additional security for

rural communities this was one of the major questions posed from the beginning, from the

research, investigations and testing of this system the author has drawn the conclusion that

although this system has flaws, they are minor and resolvable, once this has been carried out

the author is of the belief that they would indeed provide the levels of additional security as

outlined previously. This is based on the fact that when the wireless signal remained stable at

the required bandwidth the features implemented were as follows. Image quality was

excellent with vehicle registration plates been clearly read from approximately 50 foot from

the camera.

Remote access to the cameras was achieved via a number of different methods those been via

the internet by using the DYNDNS hostname and internal port number of the camera this

allowed for full administration of each camera as required, remote access was also allowed

via a smartphone application which allowed for viewing of the cameras, internal viewing and

administration was carried out through the ISpy software which provided an easier method of

using features built into the cameras such as motion detection, automatic activation of

secondary cameras when event triggered.

As to the robustness of the cameras only time will tell how they are able for the weather

events that the Atlantic coast of Ireland will subject them to but after the cameras have been

exposed to the events of the Christmas and New Year period of 2013/2014, the author can

only surmise that they should be more that capable of withstanding this type of weather.

A number of issues arose during implementation that would need further research in order to

make the system be able to stand up with its professional counterparts, those issues are as

follows, when the cameras are monitoring during darkness when a vehicle enters the

detection zone its headlights temporarily blind the camera, this could be resolve by one of

two methods one been moving the location of the camera so that it is not in as direct a line of

sight with the vehicle for instance around 30 degrees off centre as the camera used for this

project had only a 12mm lens the author is of the opinion that the image quality would not be

of sufficient quality to allow this and therefore other cameras would have to be introduced

with lens sizes of between 16 – 20mm, however a second method would be to introduce a

24

second camera with identical specifications as the first, this camera could be located and

configured to detect the rear of the vehicle.

This the author feels would be of more benefit as it widens the area under surveillance and

still keeps the cost at a level acceptable.

The second area that would need to be improved is in relation to the wireless communication

within the network as can be seen from fig 5.1 each data packet been transmitted has to pass

through what seems an unnecessarily large number of devices, by simplifying and reducing

this it should have the beneficial effects on the required those been stabilizing the

communication link and reducing the time delay between the cameras and the monitoring

device, this is based on the evidence presented during the initial site survey where an old pair

of IP cameras were present but not functioning, these cameras worked up until recently and

worked only by using extension leads to carry the camera antennas outside the building, these

antennas were then mounted within line of sight and worked perfectly until 2013 when they

broke down.

Although the project did not work as described in the project thesis the author is led to

believe that when the problems that exist with the wireless transmission link between the two

locations is resolved it will allow the author to complete the project within budget and with

the range of features as described.

During implementation and testing when allowed the quality of image provided by the

system is of sufficient quality to allow the images to be used for both vehicle recognition and

submission in court proceedings if required, direct remote access to the cameras can be

achieved via both the software and by using the URL of the camera which allows for the

administration and access to the system.

During implementation and testing the author has formed the opinion that once the issues that

exist within the system are resolved it would provide users with a very useful and flexible

method of monitoring and protecting their property. These cameras themselves performed as

demanded and provided the user with image and recorded footage of exceptional quality all

of which would lead the author to be able to recommend these cameras to anybody wishing to

install this type of system.

25

Chapter 6 Appendices

Project Plan

Fig6.1 Time line of project for the research phase of the project.

26

Fig 3.4 Time line of project from January for the implementation phase of the project through till completion in May 2014

27

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