The Scenario Series of videos addresses setup configurations for specific use cases.
In this video our scenario is that of a user that wants to use Event Monitoring to bring attention to an ExacqVision operator when someone parks in specific parking spaces. This could be used to prevent people from parking in forbidden areas, to alert someone to customers in curb-side pickup spots, and more.
We walk through setting up AI Object Classfication within an Illustra IQ camera and configuring Event Monitoring in ExacqVision to change our displayed camera views when triggered.
H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC) and H.265 (MPEG-4 HEVC) are MPEG video standards. H.265 is the newer of these standards.<br><br>
What is Motion JPEG?
Motion JPEG is a compression format that is older than H.264/H.265 and was created as a version of the still image JPEG format for video use. It is often shortened to just JPEG in video applications.<br><br>
Why choose H.264/H.265 over Motion JPEG?
Motion JPEG ignores frame-to-frame data redundancy. When using Motion JPEG, each video frame is compressed using JPEG. The Motion JPEG video stream is then presented by displaying each frame in order.
H.264/H.265 improved upon this by using compression algorithms that compare frame-to-frame data to help eliminate the transmission of redundant data.
Both provide video compression far greater than Motion JPEG without sacrificing image quality.
Greater compression means big savings in terms of your network’s bandwidth consumption and the amount of space required to store recorded video on an NVR over Motion JPEG. Decreasing the amount of storage space needed will lead to longer retention times without increasing storage capacity. This aspect is even more important when considering use cases that require high numbers of cameras, high frame rates, and long retention times.
The following graph shows a comparison of three identical model 2MP cameras set to 15 frames per second, running the same firmware version. However, each camera is set to a different recording format. The camera set to Motion JPEG is shown at the top, in red. Below, the H.264 stream is shown in blue, and the H.265 stream just under that in green. The changes in data correspond with a person walking through the scene.
ExacqVision records files in 5 minute increments. Examining the files created from these 2MP cameras recording continuously for 5 minutes and then extrapolating their file sizes over the course of 24 hours, and 1 year, the amount of storage space saved is considerable.
5 minutes (KB)
24 hours (GB)
1 year (TB)
Motion JPEG
705,453
203.17
74.2
H.264
32,132
9.25
3.4
H.265
21,966
6.3
2.3
<br><br>
How does H.264 work?
As mentioned Motion JPEG compresses each frame individually and all frames are essentially equal. H.264 and provides for multiple types of frames.
I-frames are somewhat similar to a Motion JPEG frame. An I-frame contains all the data needed and can be decoded without reference to any other frames. H.264 always begins with an I-frame, and you’ll learn why in a moment. These I-frames occur at regular intervals in the video. A camera’s GOV, or GOP, rate sets the distance between each I-frame.<br><br>
P-frames lie between the I-frames. P-frames reference the previous I-frames and are smaller because they only include the regions which have changed. This provides a huge benefit over Motion JPEG because you are not retransmitting data that hasn’t changed.
Imagine a scene in which a building is in the background and a person enters the field of view. The camera is not moving, nor is the building, so the pixels making up the part of the image where the building stands do not need to be sent again. Instead, only those pixels representing the person that entered the scene are sent and these replace the pixels in the image displayed to you.<br><br>
B-frames are not provided by all applications or video devices. B-frames occur in between I-frames and P-frames, or between multiple P-frames. B-frames are predictive in nature. They refer not only to previous frames but to future frames as well. For this reason implementing B-frames is not always used in live video applications since there is a slight delay introduced due to the need to wait for additional frames to arrive before the B-frame can be created. When only I-frames and P-frames are used, it is referred to as an H.264 baseline stream.
H.264 compression is performed by processing and compressing the frames in regularly sized ‘macroblocks’ of 4 to 16 pixels, which are further broken down into smaller blocks for compression. The main takeaway is that the image frame is divided up in very regularly sizes areas.<br><br>
How does H.265 work?
H.265 includes the same types of frames as mentioned above, but it improves over H.264 by providing the ability to dynamically size the regions the frame is broken up into. Rather than the macroblocks, transform blocks, and prediction blocks of H.264, these dynamically sized areas are named Coding Tree Units (CTUs). This usually translates into more efficient compression than H.264 because the frame can be compressed more heavily in some areas than others when needed.
Illustrated below, H.264 on the left breaks up the image into equal blocks for compression. Whereas, on the right, H.265 divides the image into dynamically sized regions to better compress those regions based on what is in them.
We have found that event links based on triggers from AI Object Classification events flood the eventPI database resulting in the OS drive being filled in a short amount of time. Periodic unexpected crashes, system reboots and increased memory usage have resulted. This happens when the amount of AI metadata captured in the eventPI database in a single day exceeds the available free space on the drive.
The following exacqVision Server log entries confirm when this issue is occurring.
Product
AXIS Object Analytics
Hanwha AI-based object detection
Illustra AI Object Classification
exacqVision Server [All versions]
Solution
Update the exacqVision Server and Client to version 23.09 or higher.
After logging into your Illustra camera for the first time, accepting the End User License Agreement, and creating a Host ID, you will be asked to select a security mode.
Enhanced is selected by default. As the message indicates, Enhanced will automatically select several advanced security options, such as enabling additional authentication needs, like forcing the creation of a non-default username, and requiring HTTPS. Regardless of the selection chosen on initial setup, individual settings can always be changed later by navigating to Security Status, under the Security menu.
Selecting ‘Enhanced’ Security performs the following:
Requires authentication to the RTSP video stream
Changes Authentication from Basic to Digest
Disables HTTP, requiring HTTPS connections for the camera GUI and Video
Disables uPnP, which hides the device from device discovery.
Security settings, as automatically selected by Enhanced Mode. Individual settings may still be changed manually.
Changing any of the security settings only requires you to click the Edit link beside the listed option. Some settings offer the ability to change port numbers and some offer additional setting fields to configure.
Notice that Onvif Discovery may be individually disabled on this page as well. Clicking the Edit link for Onvif Discovery redirects to the Remote Access options page. This permits you to disable Onvif Discovery, or require Onvif User Authentication.
The Users configuration page permits additional user accounts to be created, in which a user role is assigned. Enabling Onvif User Authentication directs the camera to only accept commands from authenticated users.
Preparing Illustra cameras for Network Loss Recording with exacqVision server.
Configuration steps for Network Loss Recording recording:
Go to the camera’s web page. Under “Event Actions”, check the “Record” option for at least one of the fault action Names.
Under Analytics, Client the “Action” dropdown and select the Name you just enabled above.
Ensure a Micro SD card is installed to the camera, then go to the Edge recording section. Format the SD card with vfat from the “SD Card Management” tab. NOTE: Don’t check the “Encrypt entire contents of the SDcard”
In “Record Settings”, Check the box for “Enable Event Record” and select the “Record Source” that exacqVision is currently recording. Set the Pre and Post to 10 seconds.
Under “Offline Record Settings”, set the NVR IP address to which the camera is connected, then set the pre and post-seconds.
Disconnect and re-connect to the camera in in exacqVision on the “Add IP Cameras” page
To confirm that the camera is now storing recordings for exacqVision to request, (back in the camera’s web GUI) go to the Event Download tab. Confirm that there is a new file with the appropriate time stamps..
Note: There must be motion during the downtime to have the camera record to the SD card. The resulting file will be requested by exacqVision after re-connection.
Note:Network loss recording will not be triggered on a Server restart only motion can be triggered for this event.
Illustra Motion stops reporting from within the Exacq Software.
This has been seen on the Illustra IPS03-D12-OI03 and IPS05-D12-OI03
There is a combination of updates that need to be performed.
First, upgrade the Exacq Server Software to 22.03.4 or higher
Second, download Illustra Firmware version Illustra.Pro3.02.09.00.0003 and upload it to the individual cameras demonstrating the issue.
After it has been successfully uploaded to the camera and the device has rebooted. Disable/Re-enable the camera under Add IP Cameras and verify the camera is displaying video.
Illustra cameras may be showing a status of “Motion not Supported” or motion is not being detected.
As part of cyber security compliance Illustra camera firmware is now defaulting to ‘Enhanced’ vs ‘Standard’ security resulting in the camera sending out metadata over HTTPS instead of HTTP.
Resolution
Select one of the following options:
Update the Server version to 22.12.5 or higher. Exacq’s ability to accept metadata over HTTPS was enhanced in version 22.12.5. If your SSA does not permit you to update the ExacqVision Server version to 22.12.5 or higher, you will need to choose from the remaining options below.<br><br>
Factory default the camera and choose Standard instead of Enhanced security. See Article 14441 on the differences between Standard and Enhanced security modes.
Or if the camera is using Enhanced Security, then enable ‘Video over HTTP’ in the camera’s GUI
To change this setting, navigate to the Security page in the Illustra camera web interface.
Click the ‘Edit’ link beside ‘Video over HTTP’.
Place a check mark in the box adjacent to ‘Video over HTTP’.
Return to the ‘Add IP Cameras’ page in the ExacqVision Client.
Disable then re-enable the camera to pull the new camera settings.
Temperature Scale: Exacq defaults to Fahrenheit. Go into the Client Settings page and check the box for displaying the temps in Celsius
Client Temperature Display:
Client / Server 21.06 or later is needed
In live mode right-click on the thermal camera and select ‘View Analytics’
The temperature will only be displayed when someone is above the high temperature threshold. It doesn’t work quite like the camera’s web GUI where it displays temps of everyone all the time. When a high temp is detected, the camera API then sends the face coordinates to Exacq allowing it to draw the bounding box, along with the temperature. It won’t display a “good” temp.
Enhancement planned in future: In the coming firmware update the API will add a low temp threshold for VMS to see, plus change some streaming temperatures so that the client should be able to display temps more closely to what’s seen in the camera web GUI.
