Device Setup

Three kinds of device types can be added to AIRA Server.

  1. Network (IP) cameras or video servers

  2. Analog cameras (connected using a capture card)

  3. External I/O Modules

 

Visit http://www.aimetis.com/aira/video_hardware.aspx for a list of supported devices.

 

To add or modify devices, click Server > Configuration. The Configuration dialog appears. Select the Devices pane. Adding and modifying cameras (and configuring their respective video analytic engines) is configured here, as well as adding I/O Modules to AIRA.  

 

 

1. To add a new network camera, click New. The device configuration interface opens.  

 

 

On the Network tab, enter the IP Address, Port, Username and Password and click Auto-detect to detect the camera type and settings. The model, resolution, Record FPS and Video Format will be auto-detected. If you wish to manually add the camera, do not click Auto-detect and manually select the Manufacturer, Camera Type and set the Resolution, Record FPS and Video Format appropriately.

 

2. Next, click on the Video tab to configure advanced features of the camera.

 

 

The Quality section allows you to increase or decrease the quality of the video by modifying the kilobit/sec value (increasing this value will increase video quality, but will also increase bandwidth and storage requirements). By increasing the key frame interval you can also increase video quality. For high quality settings, use a key frame interval value or 10.

 

The Recording section is where video recording is configured and where the AIRA Codec can be enabled. Enabling the AIRA Codec could be useful in cases where the network camera only records MJPEG video and AIRA is to recompress the video as MPEG-4.  The Record Video combo box allows users to specify when AIRA should record video on the specific camera. Options available are:

 

Always:

AIRA will also record video for this specific camera

Schedule:

will record video on the schedule specified by the user

Pixel Changes:

video is recorded whenever pixel changes are detected (a tree moving in heavy wind could cause pixel changes and therefore cause AIRA to record video)

Tracked Motion:

video is recorded if objects are tracked through the scene (normally a person or vehicle moving through the scene is tracked as motion, but moving tree branches should not be tracked and therefore video would not be recorded)

Motion on Camera:

video is recorded using motion detection capabilities inside network camera itself, not using a video analytic engine from AIRA (quality of motion detection similar to Pixel Changes)

On Policy Breaks:

video is recorded whenever a Policy is broken.

 

In the Misc section, the picture can be rotated by modifying the Rotate Degrees combo box, as well as defining how long a PTZ camera should remain in its current position before it returns to its Home Position after a user moves it by modifying the Maximum Locked Minutes value. The Maximum Locked Minutes value therefore only pertains to PTZ cameras, not fixed cameras.

 

Finally, the Panoramic Settings section allows users to configure settings related to 360-degree camera lenses. Currently Immervision and IPIX 360-degree camera lens technology is supported. By enabling panoramic technology and selecting the appropriate camera type, users can de-warp 360-degree video in AIRA Explorer.

 

3. By selecting the Analytic tab, the type of analysis performed against the camera can be defined.

 

 

Select which video analytic engine you wish to run on the camera. Different analytic engines detect different events. When configuring Policies, the type of analysis or "Trigger" is determined by which algorithm you select here. Not all analytic engines can be run in parallel. By selecting the VE250 above, it disables other analytic engines.

 

Adding and configuring analog cameras

 

Analog cameras can be connected to AIRA two ways. The simplest way is to use a video server (a network device that converts analog video to digital video, normally MPEG-4). In this scenario, AIRA connects to the video server the same way it connects to a network camera, therefore follow the steps above. To add an analog camera directly to AIRA, a capture card must be installed in the server itself (make sure the capture card is supported by AIRA). Next, click on the Devices tab to load the devices window (shown above) and select the down arrow by the New button to select Add An Analog Camera.

 

 

 

On the Analog tab, you can modify basic configuration for the camera.

 

Device

This combo box allows you to select the available channel on the capture card.

Name

Enter the name of the camera here (for example, Lobby Camera)

Resolution

Configure the resolution of the camera

FPS

Configure the frames per second to record video

Video Format

Configure the video format, such as MJPEG or MPEG-4

PTZ Camera

Select this if the channel selected in the Device field is connected to an analog PTZ camera. If a PTZ camera is connected to this channel, additional information such as the Type (which denotes the type of analog PTZ camera), Camera Address (which denotes which address the PTZ camera is configured), and Control Port (which denotes which COM port the serial adapter used to send and receive control signals to camera is connected) must also be configured.

 

Next, configure the Video pane and Analytics pane as described in step 2 and 3 above.

 

Adding and configuring I/O Devices

 

Click the arrow beside the New button and select Add a Hardware Device.

 

In the Name field, enter a name you wish to use for this device. In the Type field, select the device that is to be configured. If it is a I/O device that is connected to the serial connection of the server, the COM Port address and Baud Rate must be properly configured. If an IP based I/O device is configured, enter the IP address of the device and other required information.