Stuttgart Invests in IP Video for Football World Cup

June 16, 2006
IP-based system allows 25fps video to be delivered from stadium to several control centers

The city of Stuttgart has installed an IndigoVision integrated IP Video solution as part of its security system for the 2006 Football World Cup being held in Germany.

The new system has upgraded and extended the existing analog CCTV infrastructure to provide monitoring for the city’s transport network in a 16M/30Km radius around the stadium. The CCTV surveillance inside the stadium has also been updated to IP Video to provide a totally integrated solution that delivers continuous high-quality, 25fps video to several control centers around the city.

The overall system is divided into three rings of surveillance covering specific areas. Each ring is monitored by different officials in separate control rooms, for example ring 1 monitors the inside of the main train station and is controlled by the police. Ring 2 is the FIFA area and constitutes the stadium and surrounding area; this is controlled by the event organizer from the stadium and is mainly concerned with crowd control. Ring 3 provides surveillance for the city’s roads, tunnels, airport, tram and rail network and is controlled by the police’s traffic operation. Even though each ring has its own focus and infrastructure, the IP video network allows any camera to be viewed by any ring - a truly flexible integrated system.

‘Control Center’, IndigoVision’s enterprise alarm and video management software, is at the heart of the system and provides the city’s control rooms with the ability to manage the viewing of live and recorded video over the network, from any of the cameras. Video recording is achieved using IndigoVision’s Windows based Networked Video Recorders (NVRs). The flexibility of the system and the power of ‘Control Center’ software were the key determinants for selecting the IndigoVision solution. Extensive user access controls can be configured in ‘Control Center’ to ensure video from sensitive areas controlled by the police is not available to the event organizer, for example.

The existing analog CCTV subsystems around the city and the individual cameras within the stadium are all connected to the network using over 60 IndigoVision 8000 transmitter/receiver units. These convert the analog camera signal to MPEG-4 high-quality digital video for transmission over the network and receive PTZ control data for local camera control.

This project shows how easily an existing analog CCTV system can be migrated to a networked IP solution. The system was installed in less than 2 weeks by the local system integrator, PKE Germany, a far shorter timeframe than required for a traditional CCTV installation. After the World Cup, Stuttgart City will expand the system further by adding additional cameras to the network for the monitoring of tunnels, roads and pedestrian areas.

IndigoVision is headquartered in Edinburgh UK, with local sales & support offices across the world. The company is online at www.indigovision.com.