Radar for surveillance purposes is perfect for wide-open, outdoor areas with moderate activity. For example, for big retail stores that keep stock outside in a fenced-off area or for industrial sites, storage facilities and critical infrastructure with enclosed outdoor areas.
“It’s particularly useful for detecting trespassers who’ve breached your perimeter and for detecting façade climbers and preventing intrusion from the roof. Radar detects moving objects and individuals and establishes their precise position, angle of movement, and speed completely accurately without relying on visibility,” says Clifton Greeff, National Surveillance Business Manager at Duxbury Networking, distributor of Axis surveillance technology.
Radar uses electromagnetic waves to detect movement. “It stands out because it is not sensitive to the things that normally trigger false alarms like moving shadows or light beams, small animals, raindrops or insects, wind, and bad weather. It is accurate 24-hours a day, so it minimises the issues associated with false alarms,” says Greeff.
Radar provides crucial information about detected objects that video cameras cannot – such as their exact position, and the speed, and direction of their movement. Being blind to visual impressions, a radar device is not affected by visibility-impairing weather phenomena, for example, fog. Radar also works well in difficult or low light conditions, such as intense backlight or even complete darkness. Under such conditions, radar can be a very valuable complement to video surveillance. While thermal cameras with analytics would also do the job, radar provides more object information and enables detection in a wider area.
Compared to radar used in air traffic control and weather forecasting, Axis security radars are short-range devices. The detection range differs depending on the type of object to be detected, but also on the scene topography and the device’s mounting height and tilt. For coverage of a larger area than the specified detection range, it’s possible to use multiple radars.
Security radar provides surveillance based on a completely different technology to, for example, visual cameras. It can be integrated into a security system with visual cameras, thermal cameras, horn speakers, and PIR (passive infrared) motion detectors, or be used standalone. Standalone use, or when complemented with audio devices, allows a non-visual type of surveillance that may cause less privacy issues than traditional video surveillance.
“A typical scenario might look like this: a radar device detects a trespasser on your premises and embedded analytics send a signal to the network. This sets off a pre-recorded announcement from an Axis network horn speaker, turns on floodlights to warn the intruder away, or triggers a camera to start recording so you can visually verify the threat. Or possibly all three,” Greeff points out.
“At the same time, information is delivered to an Axis PTZ camera about the exact coordinates, size and speed of the object, and the direction it’s travelling. The PTZ camera automatically zooms in on the object and tracks it. Your security personnel can make fast, informed decisions about what to do next. Alternatively, you can choose to only trigger events or track an intruder that crosses a previously defined line or enters a predefined zone,” he continues.
With Axis security radars, there’s no need for additional analytics. The detection, tracking, and classification of objects are all integrated in the radar device. While not designed for traffic surveillance, standalone radar devices can be used to detect speeding vehicles in a low-speed area. Users can also set the detector to react only to objects of a certain size.
“Designed as a complement to your video surveillance system, the new Axis D2110-VE Radar Detector uses advanced radar technology and built-in analytics developed using machine learning and deep learning, to detect trespassers who may have breached the first line of defence to enter one’s premises. With 180° horizontal coverage and up to a 60-metre range, the Axis D2110-VE offers accurate detection of a wider area at a lower cost per square metre” says Greeff.