Avigilon HD surveillance system secures Saudi Arabia's third largest airport

A total of 274 Avigilon HD cameras provide complete coverage of the airport

King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) is Saudi Arabia's third largest airport and occupies an area of 105 square kilometers. Because of its proximity to the cities of Mecca and Medina, the airport is the gateway to Saudi Arabia for a large number of visitors from around the world. In 2010 alone, KAIA serviced more than 17 million passengers. Over the past several years, the airport has undergone a series of renovations to enhance passenger service and ensure their safety. Most recently, KAIA deployed the Avigilon HD Surveillance System in its 13 parking lots and all duty free shops and restaurants to more effectively secure travelers and protect airport assets.   Avigilon for Quick Resolution 

Avigilon for quick resolution

Tasked with selecting a new surveillance system for the airport's parking lots, terminals' lobbies and duty free shops, Al Musbah, a local provider of security solutions, had one goal in mind. "We wanted a high-performance, reliable, and easy-to-use solution to capture irrefutable evidence for quick and successful investigations," said Adel Safadi, manager of CCTV & Video Analytics Systems at Al Musbah. The ability to take quick action when an incident occurs- whether it's an accident or theft-is a critical factor in reducing disturbances and maintaining high customer service levels. "The Avigilon HD Surveillance System gives us the tools to review and take appropriate action as quickly and effectively as possible."   

A total of 274 Avigilon HD cameras ranging from 1 MP to 16 MP provide complete coverage of the airport's parking lots, terminal lobbies, and duty free shops. Eleven Avigilon HD 16 MP cameras, three Avigilon HD 11 MP, 29 Avigilon HD 5 MP, 43 Avigilon HD 2 MP, and 31 Avigilon HD 1 MP cameras monitor the 2,000 vehicles that enter and exit the parking lots daily. In the airport's lobbies and all market shops area, 24 Avigilon HD 5 MP cameras, 44 Avigilon HD 2 MP cameras, and 87 Avigilon HD 1 MP cameras deliver complete coverage. All Avigilon HD cameras are streamed and monitored around the clock in the airport's state-of-the-art control room. Security personnel manage the Avigilon HD Surveillance System using Avigilon Control Center Enterprise Network Video Management Software (NVMS) with High Definition Stream Management, which was built from the ground up to manage HD surveillance video.  

Avigilon quality advantage

The Avigilon system aids reading of licence plates and detection of facial details

The primary goal of the new surveillance system is to capture clear, irrefutable evidence for the prompt resolution of incidents and issues in the airport's parking lots, terminals' lobbies and all internal market areas. "We are mandated to provide the most accurate evidence possible to local law enforcement to assist in their investigations," explained Safadi. The system is also used by the airport director to provide higher efficiencies for KAIA management, as well as airport police, who now have another connection to secure passengers and identify suspicious objects or banned vehicles. "The two parties and other agencies are so impressed with the image quality that they have requested direct access to the Avigilon HD Surveillance System to expedite their efforts."

Since HD video delivers far greater detail, security personnel can make rapid and accurate decisions. With the Avigilon HD Surveillance System in place in the parking lots, security personnel can read license plates and capture facial details any time of the day or night, no matter how congested an area. "We can even capture license plate numbers when the car's headlights are facing the cameras," added Safadi. Delivering such high quality images, the Avigilon HD Surveillance System has also proven useful as a management tool in the duty free shops, where it is used not only for customer protection and crime prevention, but also as a tool to monitor inventory levels and ensure best practices. "We can keep track of stock levels and monitor customer service to deliver the best retail experience possible."

High quality, low bandwidth

While very impressed with Avigilon's image quality, the airport was initially concerned that bandwidth requirements would be too high. Al Musbah wanted to ensure that the system installed could efficiently manage the transmission and display of high definitionvideo, so the benefit of the additional detail would not be lost. By leveraging Avigilon Control Center's High Definition Stream Management (HDSM) technology and grouping the cameras to form a sub-network that connects to the high bandwidth fibre network, Safadi was able to easily overcome any concerns. Using HDSM, the Avigilon HD Surveillance System only sends the requested pixels, so the workstation does not become overwhelmed with processing unnecessary data. "Thanks to Avigilon Control Center and High Definition Stream Management, security officers are able to navigate through the 274 cameras easily on very little bandwidth," said Safadi. "The use of JPEG2000 compression gave us the ability to view multiple cameras on very little processing power at the viewing station, while still maintaining unbeatable image quality."    

The power of Avigilon Control Center 

Leveraging Avigilon Control Center software, security staff can  view live footage and playback video at the same time, while  managing multiple megapixel cameras seamlessly in fast forward  and review mode. "Using Avigilon Control Center, we can retrieve  superior evidence at a phenomenal speed - the search capabilities  are truly unrivaled," noted Safadi. The ability to zoom into points  of interest while maintaining a full live view of the overall scene has  also proven to be a great advantage. "We have four local and six  remote operators, all of whom can zoom into a different scene within  the same 16MP camera - something that is impossible with  a mechanical PTZ." 

Security officers can view live footage and playback video simultaneously

Airport security personnel have improved the success of their  investigations since installing the Avigilon HD Surveillance System.  In one case, Safadi was able to easily and quickly retrieve  multiple clips from a range of cameras to provide local police  with a video of an alleged thief as he entered the airport,  committed the theft, and left. "With the Avigilon HD Surveillance  System, we were able to provide police with the complete story,  which quickly led to the suspect's arrest," commented Safadi. "The  police were very impressed with the video quality and speed with  which they received it."

Performance gains and cost savings 

Al Musbah selected the Avigilon High Definition Surveillance System  to monitor the parking lots and duty free shops for multiple reasons,  but largely for its ability to capture, review, and store high quality  footage to facilitate investigations. Convinced by the system's  performance, ease-of-use, and reliability, and impressed by Avigilon's  support, the airport is hoping to expand the Avigilon HD Surveillance  System to cover other key areas. "The Avigilon HD Surveillance  System has not only surpassed our performance expectations, it  has also proven to be a very cost-effective way to secure our site,"  concluded Safadi. "By installing the Avigilon HD Surveillance System,  we were able to reduce the number of cameras required from 2300  analog-based cameras to just 274 Avigilon HD cameras, saving us a  lot in installation and labor costs."