Video analysis using Axis IP cameras supports heavy passenger flow
and ensures transport security in St. Petersburg metro.
Mission
The Saint Petersburg Metro is the main city traffic
artery. It carries over 2 million passengers between
67 stations each day and among the European subways
it ranks 4th for its passenger flow and 8th for its line
length. The Metro needed an intelligent video surveil
-lance system to ensure the transport security in
challenging traffic conditions at all the subway areas
open to the public – halls, underground stations, escala
-tors. With the intelligent video surveillance system the
subway security would have a better situation aware
-ness and would quickly respond to any incident, run
post-event analysis using video records from archive
and automatically detect unauthorized passenger
actions for further investigation.
Solution
The appropriate transport security system require to be
formed on IP basis as backbone of the intelligent video
surveillance.
The Axis network video surveillance system demon
-strated the best reliability and functionality during the
pilot testing and was selected for deployment of the
video surveillance system, creation of a video archive
and video analysis systems. The task for the system
integrator Aspekt Severo-Zapad JSC was to create an
archive and two continuous video streams for online
monitoring, ensure video transition to several end users
simultaneously (multicast mode) and ability of technol
-ogy Power over Ethernet.
Result
The large-scale project was launched in 2014 and is still
ongoing. For three years, the intelligent video surveil
-lance system covered 24 subway stations with more
that 3200 Axis network cameras installed. And there is
more to come – 7 or 8 more stations are planned to be
equipped in 2017. The system successfully completes its
mission: video surveillance, video archive storage for
minimum 30 days, automatic detection of abandoned
objects.
“It is impossible to imagine an intelligent video surveillance for such
a large transport system as the Saint Petersburg Metro without a
remote access to online videos and video records from archive,
remote monitoring and configuration of system components, as well
as quick troubleshooting. Axis network cameras offer the full range of
functionalities and allow for efficient system scaling.”
Fedorov Mikhail Romanovic, St. Petersburg Metro SUE.
Application of Axis IP cameras
The Saint Petersburg Metro service staff gained a great
experience in using the video surveillance systems
providing the transportation and transport infrastruc
-ture security. For example, analog-digital systems were
used for quite a while to monitor the passengers getting
on and off the carriages and escalators, etc. However,
the current intelligent video surveillance project only
involves IP cameras. It is motivated both by undeniable
advantages of IP cameras over analog ones as for image
quality and functionality as well as the requirements of
regulatory authorities.
The customer selected IP cameras as they perfectly
accomplish requested tasks. The reliable AXIS P13
Series Network Cameras with housings were installed at
the subway entrances, in halls and along escalators.
With digital PTZ control, multiple streams transmitted
from several view angles and remote back focus control
the Subway situation center staff can monitor all the
critical objects from a single point using minimum
displays. A perfect balance between sharpness and lens
resolution offered by P-Iris, as well as the ability to
adapt to challenging light conditions, ensure the precise
video analysis results.
Vandal-resistant AXIS P33 Series Dome Network
Cameras offering high resolution and light sensitivity
were installed in passages between stations and other
places where a compact solution is necessary.
Multiple vendor software support
The intelligent video surveillance system for the Saint
Petersburg Metro is built on the Milestone Xprotect®
platform. “The biggest challenge in the project was and
still remains the video analysis in the context of heavy
passenger traffic at the stations. The traffic capacity at
some of the stations is over 100 thousand passengers
per 24 hours. Our experience shows that not many soft
-ware versions are suitable for such conditions. The video
surveillance platform has to support the integration
(also simultaneous) with various video analysis
programs from different vendors,” – Dmitry Gaevsky,
the Director General of Aspekt Severo-Zapad JSC.
Since Axis cameras can be integrated with software
by most Russian and global developers, technical staff
can easily complete the system with any software
component.
Future evolution
The intelligent video surveillance system for St. Peters
-burg underground will continue to deploy gradually.
By the end of the project the system will cover all the
stations.
Apart from solving the daily tasks the new security
system will play a significant role in 2018 when among
other Russian cities, Saint Petersburg will host the FIFA
World Cup and the subway will be flooded with tourists.
It is interesting to note that Axis already had a similar
case study: Axis network cameras were installed in São
Paulo subway stations in Brazil for the official opening
of the FIFA World Cup in 2014.