Technical FAQ's
Q.) What kind of technology is being used for recognition?
A.) Each GEN 2 system contains a processor adapted from a rugged conduction-cooled SBC (Single Board Computer) with an AltiVec™ vector engine 800MHz PowerPC™ processor. The software and algorithms are proprietary and VxWorks is used as the real-time operating system.
Q.) What speeds or processing power are needed and what kind of software does it employ?
A.) Each GEN 2 system contains a processor adapted from a rugged conduction-cooled SBC (Single Board Computer) with an AltiVec™ vector engine 800MHz PowerPC™ processor. The software and algorithms are proprietary and VxWorks is used as the real-time operating system.
Q.) What effects do environmental conditions, such as rain, fog, and electrical activity have on the system's functionality?
A.) Very heavy, low rain-cloud coverage, like that immediately preceding a heavy thunderstorm, will impede the performance of the GEN 2 system. The system meets or exceeds operating parameters up to 280˚ Kelvin. Any time the sky millimeter-wave (MMW) temperature is over 280˚ Kelvin (measured by a MMW radiometer), performance will be reduced. Inversely, fog will not interfere with the performance of the GEN 2 system.
Q.) What considerations about the environmental factors or deployment location should be made with the GEN 2 system when dealing with indoor versus outdoor?
A.) The GEN 2 system detects, whether it is deployed indoors or outdoors, in as little as 0.5 seconds. Outdoor environmental conditions such as fog and light to moderate rain do not affect the performance of the GEN 2 system. However, the system should be deployed so that both the system and the target being imaged are underneath a canopy or cover. This is to minimize any rain getting between the imaged object and the system since heavy rain would cause the system to see the water rather than the target. Also, the system is not affected by electrical weather activity and is designed to meet IEC surge and transient specifications.
Q.) What considerations about the environmental factors should be made with the GEN 2 system when dealing rain or fog?
A.) The GEN 2 system detects, whether it is deployed indoors or outdoors, in as little as 0.5 seconds. Outdoor environmental conditions such as fog and light to moderate rain do not affect the performance of the GEN 2 system. However, the system should be deployed so that both the system and the target being imaged are underneath a canopy or cover. This is to minimize any rain getting between the imaged object and the system since heavy rain would cause the system to see the water rather than the target..
Q.) What considerations about the environmental factors should be made with the GEN 2 system when dealing with outdoor electrical activity like lightning?
A.) The system is not affected by electrical weather activity and is designed to meet IEC surge and transient specifications.
Q.) Can unit be continuously powered and scanning for days or months without reset, calibration, etc.?
A.) The unit is designed to be powered continuously without reset or calibration. The unit may be configured to power up in scanning or idle mode, and can be instructed under secure logon authorization to start or stop scanning mode remotely.
Q.) Are there any common devices that would interfere with the radiometer?
A.) No, there are no common devices that would interfere with the radiometer.
Q.) Could one person or one device disrupt multiple scanners or disable the radiometer?
A.) There is no device that could disrupt or disable multiple systems via the radiometer. Any type of “jammer” would have to be a “point illuminator” and would only be able to disrupt one system at a time. This point illuminator would be detected and generate an event trap. There is no way to jam the entire GEN 2 system.
Q.)Does the system have an automatic calibration?
A.)The GEN 2 system is physically calibrated at the factory.
Q.) What determines when the system needs to be calibrated?
A.) The system needs no scheduled or maintenance field calibration.
Q.) Can additions to the suspicious items database only be done by vendor?
A.) The GEN 2 system utilizes sophisticated algorithms for suspicious items that it detects and such algorithms are included with each system. Custom applications can be accommodated on a project basis.
Q.) How critical is the angle of the radiometer to the target for object recognition?
A.) It is required that the angle of the target to the radiometer for 1/10 second outdoor detection or 3/10 second indoor detection is defined as:
- X-axis: +/- 30˚
- Y-axis: +/- 30˚
- Z-axis: Any rotation
Q.) Does a change in video or through beam sensor triggers the recognition process of the system?
A.) GEN 2 is always on, always detecting using real-time algorithms (unless placed by operator or service personnel in the idle mode or powered down).
Q.) Is the graphic depicting the threat location a static frame or live video?
A.) The GEN 2 system uses live video with superimposed graphics. In addition the system captures detection events with event traps.
Q.) How is video image calibrated to radiometer image?
A.) CCD and radiometer overlay are software calibrated at the factory. The GEN 2 system uses parallax convergence at the focal distance. Spatial calibration occurs at the focal distance.
Q.) What cables are needed for the GEN 2 system?
A.) Choices of connectivity for the GEN 2 system are NTSC/Pal for analog video or 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet or USB 1.1 for digital video, or a combination for both analog and digital. The digital video throughput can be varied from 150 Kbps to 2 Mbps (MPEG 2000). Therefore, end-users can use WAN or any other Ethernet compatible transport medium to monitor data from the system.
Q.) Can GEN 2 systems be used wirelessly?
A.) An end-user could plug the GEN 2 system’s Ethernet output cable into a wireless Ethernet adapter. However, Brijot does not recommend this deployment methodology due to the failure rate of wireless and the possibility that someone intent on doing harm might attempt purposely to disrupt a wireless signal.
Q.) Can GEN 2 systems connected wirelessly?
A.) An end-user could plug the GEN 2 system’s Ethernet output cable into a wireless Ethernet adapter. However, Brijot does not recommend this deployment methodology due to the failure rate of wireless and the possibility that someone intent on doing harm might attempt purposely to disrupt a wireless signal.
Q.) Can GEN 2 systems be networked wirelessly?
A.) An end-user could plug the GEN 2 system’s Ethernet output cable into a wireless Ethernet adapter. However, Brijot does not recommend this deployment methodology due to the failure rate of wireless and the possibility that someone intent on doing harm might attempt purposely to disrupt a wireless signal.
Q.) Can the GEN 2 system be vehicle mounted to monitor objects in the streets?
A.) The system has been designed for permanent mounting in either an indoor or an outdoor environment. While we see no reason why you could not develop a special vehicle mounting and power arrangement (120 watts), at this point we can only provide operating parameters for the system in a static physical position. We do not have performance parameters with the system deployed on a moving vehicle.
Q.) How much time is needed to relocate the GEN 2 system from one place to another and begin monitoring?
A.) For multi-location deployment of a single system, an end-user might choose to mount systems on rolling carts. Consideration would have to be given to the pre-planning of system positioning to ensure proper imaging of targets being searched at each location.
Q.) Does the WDS system conduct self-examinations and provide an alarm?
A.) Yes, the GEN 2 runs system diagnostics on Power Up initialization. Currently, operator notification of an error is displayed on the user display output, NTSC/PAL – CCTV monitor or VGA monitor connected to the WDS.
Q.) What are the Operating System requirements for connectivity?
A.) The Control application runs on a Windows 2000 or Windows XP platform.
Q.) Does the WDS unit run on a MAC or IBM/PC base computer?
A.) The processor within the GEN 2 unit is an embedded system on a Single Board Computer. The specific processor type is proprietary.
Q.) What is the WDS Operating System?
A.) The GEN 2 runs an embedded operating system, VxWorks.
Q.) Is there a bracket designed to mount this unit on an interior wall?
- The bracket listed in the Price Sheet may be used indoors as well as outdoors and may be mounted on a wall or a pole.
- The indoor bracket must be used indoors only and is a more cost effective solution for indoor use only.
Q.) How much bandwidth is needed to carry the video over the IP network?
A.) Because the bandwidth consumed as with all IP video systems is a function of user selected frame rate, image size and quality (amount of compression). This allows the user to throttle the bandwidth and balance this with their viewing requirements. Also, most IP system installations are configured to run on their own subnet. In this way, a user’s data infrastructure is not impacted. Given this, the bandwidth requirement for a single system can be as little as 5 Kbytes (single image size) up to a maximum of 84 Kbytes (single image size).
Q.) Does the unit have its own internal security (like a firewall)?
A.) The architecture of the system does not have an internal firewall. However, the embedded operating system is generally not vulnerable to hackers. In addition, the software within the system is tamper-proofed using a nation-state level of protection.
Q.) What security is used to protect access (i.e. passwords, etc.)?
A.) To access the system via the Control program, users are required to enter User Name and Password pairs and for the higher maintenance level functions a secure authorization code is required.
Q.) What is the procedure to access the System remotely to update the Operating System?
- The system Operating System will be updated rarely, however, the executables running on the embedded platform will be updated as required to address issues and or add features.
- A user will log into the system using the Control application and must have Maintenance level access. A system update feature is then accessed to upload the tamper-proofed binary file specific to that system.
- Physical connection is via TCPIP on an Ethernet connection. This can be done directly to a single WDS point to point or if the WDS is on a network, from within the network. A user would need to have log on access to the subnet to connect to a WDS that is not on their subnet.
Q.) Does the system conduct its own diagnosis and produce a Notification when it's not functioning?
A.) The GEN 2 monitors key areas within and currently notifies the operator of a system fault via an on screen notification.
Q.) How does Brijot suggest we install an 80 pound system on a wall of studs and drywall since the proposed indoor bracket doesn't span 2 studs?
- The actual system weight as delivered in the first hardware release is approximately 115 lbs. The indoor/outdoor bracket is approximately 25 lbs, wall plate and mounting bracket.
- The 4 holes, two in the top and two in the bottom, on the wall plate are located 16 inches apart, the standard distance between wall studs.
- WDS OUTDOOR BRACKET Installation Guide that “The façade construction should be examined to determine the best method of securing the wall plate, keeping in mind the weight of the bracket assembly and the weight of the GEN 2 unit that will be supported.”
- Some options for consideration are the adding of support by applying a ¾” sheet of plywood to the wall. Much as is done in equipment rooms when Telco equipment and switches are mounted.
- Another option is the addition of a support plates of plywood inside the drywall that transverses the studs.
- The indoor bracket will when released weigh substantially less than the indoor bracket.
- Brijot Imaging Systems is also studying ways to reduce the weight of the units and these measures will be incorporated into the production design as quickly as possible.
Q.) Is there more detail on how the system identifies and tracks multiple threat items?
A.) The radiometer image undergoes several steps before targets are identified. Firstly, image enhancement removes any sensor artifacts such as gains and level corrections. Secondly the image is processed by a ‘Multi-Element Novelty Detector’ which identifies points of interest and compares isotropic regions that are dissimilar to neighboring regions. Target and background mean intensities and contrasts are analyzed by the Multi-Element Novelty Detector. When it identifies a candidate location, this region is passed to the classifier. The classifier extracts salient information from candidate detection, and features are extracted and compared to known statistical models.
Q.) If the system identifies and tracks multiple threat items is there an impact on system speed?
A.) The system utilizes a Real Time Operating System with multi-threaded, multi-tasking capabilities and is specifically designed to be ‘under-burdened’ by processing tasks to provide reliability typical of military type systems. Multiple targets are processed in parallel.
Q.) Could zone lights be used instead of video monitor to display threat location?
A.) Zone lights: If a “portal” is used to pace guests, is it possible to configure a system with rows of red and green indicators along each side of portal columns? This would provide an operator with a rough position of a threat without requiring the operator to look away from the scanned area.
Q.) It is possible to provide zone lights on a portal as described?
A.) There are several possible ways to control zone lights on portal columns. The recommended method would be to use the existing threat event messaging that is sent via secured network IP messaging to a computer platform. That system could then control the portal zone light system directly.
Alternatively, other options, such as direct control from the system to the portal zone light system via USB, may be preferred. Further discussions would be required to determine the preferred approach to providing a reliable solution.
Q.) Could the system provide digital outputs for gates, indicators, etc.?
A.) Digital outputs: Could relay or discrete digital outputs be used to drive lamps or drive logic controller inputs? There might be status lights to indicate that the system is operational/idle; that a threat was found (maybe light a red light); that an unknown item was found (yellow light); etc. These might be used to alert others who cannot see the video screen, or lights may be used to pace traffic.
Provided by the system are four optically isolated digital outputs and four optically isolated digital inputs. The digital outputs are configurable by the end user and are preset to:
- System Status (Operating/Idle)
- System Self Test Status (OK/Not OK)
- Threat Detected (unknown item found)
- Threat Classified (threat found).
Q.) Can the system be configured to send alert messages across a network?
A.) The system sends network messages and can be remotely monitored for status. The Brijot Digital Video Management Software (DVMS) allows setup and control of individual systems, logging and display of alert messages, and display of IP streaming video images. Network messages are only available by secured user level and password access via the DVMS system; however integration with existing security and monitoring systems may be possible if required.
Q.) Can the system be configured so that a remote computer can check system status?
A.) The system sends network messages and can be remotely monitored for status. The Brijot Digital Video Management Software (DVMS) allows setup and control of individual systems, logging and display of alert messages, and display of IP streaming video images. Network messages are only available by secured user level and password access via the DVMS system; however integration with existing security and monitoring systems may be possible if required.
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