September-October 2022 - 28

COVER STORY
it's a secure way of expediting boarding.
So, it's a win, win situation. "
360 Coverage
Sankey said one of the things he's
excited about regarding the upgrade
from analog to digital cameras is the
fidelity.
" The biggest thing that has me
excited for this is just, what you'll be
able to see with this stuff. We, as a
security team, look at video all the
time in case there's a security issue, "
Sankey said. " If there's something that
happens in a terminal, and sometimes,
if the stuff is blurry, it's hard to see.
And the way that our old cameras were,
we had some pan tilt zoom cameras,
which they're great because you can
move them around, but they're not
good if they're not pointed at a certain
spot at a certain time. So, one of the
big things that we're doing is having
360 coverage in certain spots, too. So,
it'll capture all those areas for 30 days,
which will help not only security-wise,
but if there are slip and falls, we'll have
a video of that. If there's an auto accident,
we'll have the stuff for that. "
Deputy Director Operations &
Security for the City of Philadelphia
Division of Aviation Chris Dougherty
said the 360 coverage will be useful in
NTSB investigations as well.
" Now, you can focus in almost
like in the movies, in a corner of a
section and zoom in on that part of
your screen and it will automatically
focus and go down to almost pin size
of what a person has on, " Dougherty
said. " We also have the runways and
taxiways - we can actually zoom in
and we can help with investigations
with the NTSB and others for any
kind of information they're looking
for, let's say a spark in an engine or
anything like that, that they can help
investigate stuff. "
Sustainability
Trivedi pointed out that another great
feature of the new cameras is that they
consume less energy to operate.
" Some of the old cameras we have,
needed a rail power, 120 outlet near
New Customs and Border Protection
control room.
the camera to power the camera along
with coax cable, to bring the data to
it. With these new IP-based cameras,
there's no power requirement, " Trivedi
said. " All of the power is over ethernet.
So, these are cameras that are driven
from network switch. So very low on
energy. And not only at the camera
level, as you go through the network
equipment, and the storage equipment,
and the servers for video management
system, all of that over the years have
become very energy-friendly and sustainable,
which uses overall less power. "
Appulingam added that sustainability
is a major focus for PHL.
" The city of Philadelphia has a
carbon neutrality goal of 2050, which
is what we are signed up to do as well, "
Appulingam said. " Over the course of
the last year, [we] updated our design
standards to incorporate sustainability
in any way, shape or form, that we can
into our infrastructure. "
Considerations for
Upgrading Security
Camera Systems
" Some of the top things to consider
when you're making these upgrades,
is make sure that you plan effectively, "
Sankey said. " Make sure that you know
exactly what you're doing because poor
planning will not make a good time
when you're actually putting this stuff
out there. Also, make sure that you're
future proofing your installations in a
way so that it won't be obsolete within
a year or two. You definitely don't
want to put in equipment already past
28 \ AIRPORT BUSINESS / SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022
its prime. Also, for the end user itself,
make this pick a system that's easy for
them to understand and use and then
come up with a program to train them
because you could have some of the
best equipment in the world, but if
the end users don't know how to use
it, it's useless. "
Trivedi
said from a technical
approach, if you are looking to deploy
or undertake a major program, having
a good understanding of what type of
infrastructure you already have at hand
is important.
" A lot of times, if that's not surveyed
and studied properly, you may run
into these additional needs that you
did not plan for budget-wise, " Trivedi
said. " So, having a good understanding
of what the infrastructure is at the
airport and can it handle what you're
about to implement. "
Appulingam added that piloting
the technology before going full scale
will help both operationally and with
budgeting.
" Before you go full scale, pilot
the technology, and there's a lot of
vendors that are out there that would
be happy to do it because they want
the business, " Appulingam said.
" Oftentimes, we walk away after construction
thinking we're done, but the
other half needs to also understand
what they're taking on in terms of
maintenance and making sure the
system is running. ...Start small, do
a pilot and then from the pilot, if that
makes sense for your airport, then
take into consideration your utilities,
your existing infrastructure, what
modifications need to happen and
budget accordingly. "
September-October 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September-October 2022
