Bosch Sicherheitssysteme: video for Oslo airport. Air traffic in Europe, as with the rest of the world, is generally increasing, thus putting greater demand on safety and security measures in and around airports. Norway, with a population of about 4.7 million, and growing, is a relatively small country compared with others in Europe. It attracts many visitors, both business and tourist. The country’s main airport is Gardermoen, located about 47 km north-east of the capital, Oslo.

The airport was opened in 1998 and its monitoring and security precautions included one of the most comprehensive and modern CCTV systems available. Increasing passenger and cargo traffic in 2007 necessitated an expansion of the CCTV system. This article describes the original configuration from Bosch Security Systems at the airport and the expansion based on IP technology.

Award-winning Airport

When built in 1998 Gardermoen Airport was certainly an example of state-of-the-art air transport facility technology. It continues to be so, having been recognised in 2007 as Europe’s most efficient airport by the Air Transport Research Society (ATRS). The prize is based on productivity, efficiency and competitiveness, combined with strong growth in passenger traffic and convenience of air routes. Although only opened nine years ago, it was realised that the airport needed to be expanded to cope with the rising number of passengers – 1.7 million in July 2007, a 4.4 % increase from the previous year for the same month, and a projected 18 million for this year.

Serving 33 airlines, the airport accommodates arrivals and departures mostly within Europe, but also to/from the US, the Middle East and Northern Africa. It is also the fastest growing major airport among the Nordic countries. This growth has led to the need to expand facilities, both in services and in the number of arriving and departing flights. The expansion includes a major extension of the safety and security systems, which, among others, is the ever-important CCTV surveillance system.

Extending and Upgrading the System

The Bosch analogue CCTV system installed in 1998 comprises about 600 fixed and Autodome PTZ cameras. They are connected to an Allegiant 8900 modular video switcher/controller and monitored by 60 operators. This switcher functions as a master matrix and is connected to two satellite matrixes (Allegiant 880 and Allegiant 8600) in other buildings.

The decision to use IP technology to extend the CCTV system was logical, given that Bosch is a pioneer in introducing IP-based cameras, encoders, decoders and associated devices. IP cameras added, a total of 50, include Dinion, Flexidome and Autodome models, which could be easily connected without disturbing or switching off the network. 10 of the company’s VIP X1 compact IP encoders and 10 VIP XD IP decoders provide dual video streaming and monitor display in single or quad view.

The VASA hybrid software ensures smooth migration from analogue to IP with full end-user transparency. The producer’s IP cameras employ tri-streaming technology. Dual MPEG-4 and JPEG compression modes allow simultaneous video streaming at one frame rate for recording, and a different stream for live viewing, while JPEG images can be streamed to another device.

Moreover, an IP camera is also a hybrid solution where an Ethernet connection and an analogue BNC output enable the support of legacy analogue CCTV systems. Besides, this solution provides the additional flexibility and scalability afforded by IP. And this is the case with Gardermoen Airport. The entire, updated system is now managed through the company’s Video Management System (BVMS), an enterprise IP video security solution that provides seamless management of digital video, audio and data across any IP network.

Designed to work with Bosch CCTV products as part of a total video security solution, it allows Gardermoen Airport to integrate its existing components into one, easy-to-manage set-up. Because it enables live and recorded video images of any site to be viewed at any time, from location, the BVMS provides complete management and control of the airport’s CCTV installation.

A key advantage for operators, enabled by the BVMS, is that they can select any camera, whether analogue or IP, using either the conventional PC keyboard or the BVMS graphical user interface (GUI). When using the GUI, camera selection can be made from either mapbased graphics, or a camera tree where both analogue and IP cameras are displayed.

Looking to the Future

Gardermoen Airport is a perfect example of how a legacy analogue CCTV surveillance system can be easily and efficiently expanded using IP technology and existing Ethernet cabling. New control rooms have been provided to manage the extended system. There are plans, scheduled for completion in 2012, for increasing the airport building area by adding a new terminal to be situated 500 m to the north of the present terminal and connected by an underground passage.

Further expansion of the CCTV system may include the addition of Networked Video Recorders (NVRs).

Contact:

Bosch Sicherheitssysteme GmbH,
Ottobrunn, Germany
Tel.: +49 0800 7000 444
info@service@bosch.de
www.boschsecurity.de