Colombia. New technologies for improvements in image resolution and data compression capability were discussed during the event that Axis is holding in Comandatuba
Axis Communications presented two technologies that will influence the video surveillance projects of the future: the Ultra High-Definition and the H.265 compression standard. Petra Bennermark, product manager for fixed domes at Axis, made the presentation "Technology Trends" during the Axis Channels Conference for South America, which began on Monday on Comandatuba Island, in Bahia, Brazil.
Ultra High-Definition, or 4K, is a technology already available on monitors, capable of displaying four simultaneous videos in Full HD. That represents an area of 3840 × 2160 pixels, or 8.3MP. Created with a focus on the home TV and cinema display markets, the Ultra High-Definition will be adopted by the electronic security market as an improvement in camera resolution, according to Bennermark.
Its application in video surveillance projects, however, depends on an adequate infrastructure for such a high quality, such as data traffic through fiber optics (technology already adopted by the security market), better sensors (currently under development) and, for even better performance, a more efficient image compression standard than the current H.264.
The evolution of image quality is the main reason for the development of better compression media. In 1992, the JPEG image compression format was created, followed by MPEG-2 (in 1996) and MPEG-4 (1998), until H.264 in 2001. Twelve years later, its evolution has already been created, the H.265, ratified in the last month of April as a standard by the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T). "The goal of H.265 is to reduce bandwidth by 50%, but it's a goal that will take time to reach," Bennermark said.
"It's possible for a retailer to see the details of a person's face who is stealing inside a store and, at the same time, have a global view of the environment, for example," Bennermark explained. The specialist highlighted, on the other hand, that the technologies currently available already allow a fairly satisfactory monitoring quality. "The current H.264 still has a lot to offer and will continue to be adopted by the market for many years to come. But the H.265 will be available for the consumer market in two or three years," he said.
With more than 500 engineers on its team, Axis invests approximately 15% of its profits in Research and Development. The company has historically pioneered product development, having launched the world's first thermal IP camera and smallest PTZ IP camera with HDTV image quality.
