NIAR uses IP video as a powerful monitoring tool in aviation testing - saving time, night staffing needs, and physical risks to personnel.
"I appreciate the Milestone-Axis IP video surveillance solution because it is a 300% improvement on the visual monitoring capabilities in our work. The off-shift test monitoring is the number one usage for us. It can also be dangerous for the operators when they are looking at windshields or fuselage under pressure. So instead of risking injury to people in such situations, we now can safely look at it on the video system." - Larry Braden, Manager/Senior Research Engineer in the Full Scale Structural Test Facility, National Institute for Aviation Research
Test challenges
NIAR's Aircraft Structural Testing and Evaluation Center located in the Hawker Beechcraft plant is a huge site - the size of football field. It is time consuming to run around the entire location to keep track of the tests in progress, and costly to keep staff working during the night to monitor the tests. There are also safety issues with large equipment, high structures and dangerous pressure testing of windshields, etc.
"The primary purpose of the IP video surveillance at NIAR is to monitor the aviation tests. The secondary goal is to make the surveillance remotely available to customers worldwide. This saves them the expense of sending people over to see the tests," says Braden.
IP Video solution
Milestone XProtect™ Enterprise IP video management software is controlling Axis 213 network Pan/Tilt/Zoom cameras and Axis 210A fixed network cameras strategically installed throughout the hangar.
With this solution, both time and money are saved while visual access is improved. It is much faster to check on test activities and progress without having to run throughout the big building. Reliable remote access from home removes the need for night-shifts and saves travel time to the site during off-hours. The solution also allows system viewing for NIAR staff across town or eventually for customers in other cities worldwide (customers include companies like Airbus, Boeing and Cessna).
"One of the nice things about the Milestone system is I can log in from home to make sure the tests are still running in the off-hours. If something's going wrong, I can shut down the testing remotely. This means we don't need to have people physically present," says Braden. "Virtual tours of the facility are also an option for educational purposes, making the surveillance a very useful tool so people don't have to come all the way out here."
The solution also provides increased safety for the test operators. They no longer have to risk unsafe test situations to monitor their work, as the camera views provide it to them in visually improved zoom views from the software user interface on monitors in the office nearby. 
The images can also be exported for test reporting purposes. For instance, if they find something is going wrong in the test, they can show the customer by sending them a video of it.
The institute had tried other IT system alerts in the past to let them know if a test went down, but they were not reliable. The off-shift monitoring is the number one usage for NIAR, although they are also using the system as pure security to ensure no one trespasses the property. With the IP video system from Milestone, they now have a powerful system that is easy to manage and proven in operation.
