PureTech Systems PureActiv video surveillance systems installed throughout the City of Palo Alto

The system utilises IP cameras and is integrated with several types of volumetric sensors

PureTech Systems announced recently the recent installation of its PureActiv wide area video surveillance system at several critical water facilities for the City of Palo Alto. The recent installation marks the fifth remote site which has been secured with PureTech's geospatial video analytics.

The City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU), which is responsible for the water sites, is the only municipality in the state of California that operates a full suite of City-owned utility services, including water, electric, gas, sewer, refuse, storm drain and a dark fibre loop. The CPAU began over one hundred years ago and serves a population of over 65,000 people. The recent installations are part of an on-going effort to insure the security of the city's key assets.

Like most utilities, Palo Alto has many facilities distributed throughout a large physical area.  The ability to manage the perimeter surveillance of these types of remote sites from a central monitoring location is one of the key reasons the PureActiv video management system was selected. The system utilises IP cameras and is integrated with several types of volumetric sensors. In addition to intrusion detection utilising PureActiv's video analytics, "slew-to-cue" functionality is also utilised, whereby the system automatically steers a PTZ camera to an exact latitude, longitude and elevation point to further assess a situation. The system, which interfaces with the legacy PLC architecture of the sites, also includes a dynamic map-based user interface, allowing for real time camera control and event tracking directly from the map.  

Priax Corporation provided the water security system design and consulting services for the City of Palo Alto projects, with West Corp providing the installation services.  Jimmy Pachikara, Electric Project Engineer for the City of Palo Alto Utilities, explained "The installation of the PureActiv perimeter surveillance system provides a much desired level of situational awareness and efficiency with its geospatial GUI, alarm management and advanced PTZ control. Similarly, its open architecture allows for integration with a vast array of other perimeter systems and sensors, which will provide a solid growth platform for the city's future water security needs."