Fourteen Wisenet cameras have been deployed in carefully chosen locations throughout a wooded area, in the Slovakian National Park of Veľká Fatra. The area is known to be a migration trail for large beasts, such as bears, boars, foxes and birds. Some of the cameras have been permanently sited, but others have been regularly moved around to reflect the changing seasons and when, for example, storks leave their nests.
“Not everyone has the opportunity to spend long periods of time in a beautiful environment such as the National Park of Veľká Fatra in order to watch animals in a natural environment,” said Ivan Darani, a Network Engineer at Spoločnosť Profi-Net,s.r.o and one of the founders of the Kukaj.sk project. “The high definition quality of the images captured by the Wisenet cameras means we have been able to record videos of the animals as they go about their daily lives, which people can enjoy from the comfort of their homes.”
“An added benefit is that the cameras have an audio support feature which enhances the visitors’ experience by enabling them to hear background bird sounds.” The cameras were installed by Spoločnosť Profi-Net,s.r.o, one of Slovakia’s fastest-growing network and infrastructure specialists. “For a number of reasons, including the remote location, this was a technically demanding project,” said Ivan Darani of Spoločnosť Profi-Net,s.r.o. “However, with the close cooperation of everyone involved in the project and with excellent support from the National Park’s administrators, we were able to deliver a robust video monitoring solution.
“We tested cameras from a number of different manufacturers in terms of their ability to capture the required quality images in varying light and weather conditions. The Wisenet cameras stood head and shoulders above the others and our decision to recommend them to Kukaj.sk was more than justified by their ongoing reliable performance.”
Ivan Darani and his colleagues at Spoločnosť Profi-Net s.r.o worked closely with Hanwha Techwin Europe’s locally-based technical team for Czech Republic and Slovakia, in order to specify the ideal Wisenet cameras for the projects. Among the models installed are a number of Wisenet PNO-9080R 4K bullet cameras which are able to capture 12 megapixel images. These cameras have built-in IR illumination as well as a digital auto tracking feature, which during times of low activity such as night time, can be used to detect moving animals. They are also equipped with defocus detection which recognises when a camera is out of focus, as well as lens distortion correction (LDC) to deliver optimised images in every situation.
To minimise network bandwidth requirements, the H.265 Wisenet PNO-9080R cameras feature WiseStream, a complementary compression technology which is uniquely available with Wisenet cameras. When WiseStream is combined with H.265 compression, bandwidth efficiency can be improved by up to 75% compared to current H.264 technology.
Other cameras installed include the 2 megapixel IP network Wisenet XNB-6000’s. These true day/night cameras are able to capture full HD colour images even when lighting is as low as 0.01Lux@F1.2 and feature best-in-breed wide dynamic range (WDR), which performs at up to 150dB to accurately produce images in scenes that simultaneously contain very bright and very dark areas. They are also equipped with a ‘defogging’ feature which makes corrections to blurry images which are captured in foggy conditions and have built-in Gyro sensors to offer accurate stabilisation which comes into effect when a camera is disturbed by wind or vibrations, resulting in more stable images.
“We have been delighted with the quality of the images captured by the Wisenet cameras and particularly so as they have helped us save the life of a man who got lost whilst wandering around the Park,” said Ivo Darani of the Kukaj.sk project “He had injured himself after falling over several times and was hypothermic. It would normally be very difficult to find someone within such a large wooded area, but fortunately one of our operators spotted him with the help of one of the Wisenet cameras. The man was exceptionally lucky as another camera captured images of a bear just 30 metres away!”
