Video system survives London-style bombing

A new video surveillance system which is capable of surviving blasts such as those that took place in the terrorist attacks in London on July 7 last year has been designed for buses and other forms of public transport systems.

In a recreation of the event the new system, developed by ShiftWatch, was able to protect the video images after a blast using ten pounds of explosive material.

The test was devised to demonstrate that the system – designed with two types of storage, including a Sony Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) drive – could withstand such a catastrophic incident and continue to provide video of the event.

Michael Siemens, president of A4S Security, Inc which develops and markets the ShiftWatch product line, said: “The vast majority of public transit systems in the US and around the world are not equipped with video surveillance systems.

“The few transit systems that do use video surveillance are not able to recover the video in catastrophic incidents, such as crashes and explosions. The dual redundant video recording to the internal hard drive and Sony’s AIT digital tape is what sets A4S apart from the offerings currently in the marketplace.

“This test showed us the value the Sony AIT tape has brought in the way of data survivability, no matter when or how the recording was interrupted. Our technicians were able to retrieve the tape, place it in the video command centre and recover video, including the placement of the explosives just moments before the detonation,” added Siemens.

ShiftWatch’s range of products includes mobile digital video surveillance solutions for public transportation, law enforcement and general security applications. The company’s full motion, high resolution video system utilises video streaming technology and GPS data to provide agencies with data security and reliability.