Dragon Steel Company Deploys Megapixel Video in Harsh Environment

CUSTOMER:

Dragon Steel Corporation is a subsidiary of China Steel Corporation, the largest steel producer in Taiwan. Phase 1 of a new greenfield integrated iron and steel works was recently completed at Dragon Steel. The new furnace increases China Steel's capacity by 25 percent to meet rising domestic demand.

Challenge

Dragon Steel needed a video surveillance system to view entrances and exits, to monitor production processes, to ensure plant safety, to centralize management and boost effectiveness of plant supervisors. The company needed all-weather video cameras that could provide high resolution and low-light images, and operate in a harsh environment plagued by coal and gray iron dust, high temperatures and other factors. As a result, one of the additional selection criteria for the camera system was that they have IP66-rated environmental housings.

Megapixel Solution

Dragon Steel Company turned to Alpha Pricing, a leading network surveillance solutions provider in Taipei, Taiwan, that serves the government sector, institutions and businesses nationwide. An early adopter of IP-based video surveillance, Alpha Pricing has forged numerous partnerships with some of the industry's top companies, including Arecont Vision, manufacturer of the industry’s most extensive offering of megapixel IP network video cameras. Along with a local reseller, Alpha Pricing designed the video system for Dragon Steel Company and performed the installation during construction of the new facility.

Alpha Pricing created a centrally monitored system using Milestone's XProtect Professional video management software on a fiber optics network backbone. To capture high resolution images, Dragon Steel installed 1.3 megapixel and 2 megapixel cameras, AV1300 and AV2100, from Arecont Vision. IP66-rated housings protect cameras from environmental damage, and steel cabinets used in the installation are coated with three layers of paint to prevent corrosion.

Arecont Vision MegaVideo® model AV1300 provides 1280x1024-pixel (1.3 megapixel) images at 32 frames per second. Light sensitivity is 0.1 lux at F1.4. Also used is Arecont Vision MegaVideo® model AV2100, a 2 megapixel camera that provides 1600x1200-pixel images at 24 frames per second. Light sensitivity is also 0.1 lux at F1.4, and the camera has other features similar to the 1.3-megapixel model. Both cameras incorporate Arecont Vision's MegaVideo® image processing. Features include forensic zooming to zero-in and view the details of a recorded image, simultaneous region of interest (ROI) streams, motion detection and image cropping.

“An all-in-one megapixel solution for Dragon Steel Company with high resolution and full motion, crystal clear imagery allow the AV1300 to substitute for up to three analog cameras to reduce installation cost,” said Steve Chen, President of Alpha Pricing. “Since the power can be drawn from a low cost PoE switch, there’s no need to provide a separate power source. And most of all, real-time motion detection with size and sensitivity controls ensures safety in a hardship environment.”

 

Megapixel Benefits

The video quality and the prices of Arecont Vision cameras were very impressive to the customer. Arecont Vision cameras enable Dragon Steel's management to monitor entrances and exits and to record evidence, manage processes more effectively and to promote plant safety. The system enables supervisors to closely monitor their production processes, while providing mutual support, unified management and reducing the burden on the duty supervisor. Digital management of high-quality megapixel images helps to centralize management of the steel plant. The integrator also cites Arecont Vision's easy installation in addition to the superior video quality and reasonable prices as key attributes that influenced Dragon Steel’s purchase selection.

The picture quality and digital zoom capabilities of Arecont Vision cameras far exceed analog technology and allow Dragon Steel's managers to retrieve usable video. An attribute of the Arecont Vision cameras is the ability to install fewer cameras while capturing video of larger areas. Combined with recent cost reductions in NVR storage and network switches, the use of fewer cameras allows customers to deploy high-quality video surveillance with the highest levels of cost efficiency. Additionally, the use of megapixel cameras dramatically decreases costs related to other system elements, such as fewer software licenses, fewer lenses and a decrease in man-hours needed to bring it all together.

For Dragon Steel, the megapixel system provides superior screen displays, remote transmission and convenience of operation. Operators within the corporate network have direct system control via remote workstations anywhere an Internet connection is available.

About Arecont Vision

Arecont Vision is the leading manufacturer of high-performance megapixel IP cameras and associated software. Arecont Vision products are made in the USA and feature low-cost massively parallel image processing architectures MegaVideo® and SurroundVideo® that represent a drastic departure from traditional analog and network camera designs. All-in-one products such as the MegaDome®, MegaView™ and D4F/D4S series provide installer friendly solutions. Compact JPEG and H.264 series of cameras address cost sensitive applications. These innovative technologies enable Arecont Vision to deliver multi-megapixel digital video at IP VGA camera price points.