With its state of the art technical infrastructure, perfect access to international transit
routes and its proximity to key suppliers and financial markets, it is no wonder that
many of the world’s leading chemical and pharmaceutical companies have set up
facilities in Industriepark Höchst, near Frankfurt. The industrial park facilitates more than
90 companies within an area of over four square kilometers.
Within the premises of Industriepark Höchst there are over 800 rental properties,
120 production plants and over 80 laboratory and office buildings that accommodate the
in total 22,000 employees that work there. The compound stretches over 460 hectares of
which 50 are still available for relocating or expanding companies. There are three means
of transportation in and out of the park: by car, by train and by boat.
Security: a major priority
Given the importance and in some cases sensitivity of the chemical and pharmaceutical production facilities and
related process industries located at Industriepark Höchst, security is a major priority. Securing such a large area with so
many access paths isn’t an easy task. As the service company of the industrial park it is Infraserv Höchst that has the responsibility
to make sure the park is safe and secure. Infraserv supplies the companies that inhabit the industrial park with energy,
disposes of waste, and provides access to business space and infrastructure. Its service portfolio ranges from environmental,
security and safety services all the way to health products, communications and IT. To be able to effectively secure the entire
perimeter of this large industrial complex, even during the night, Infraserv uses thermal imaging cameras from FLIR.
“We have installed security cameras of several different types to cover the entire perimeter of the industrial park, including several thermal
imaging cameras”, explains Thomas Krüger, head of the control center at Infraserv. “The thermal imaging cameras we use are the FLIR
SR-313, with a 35 mm lens and the FLIR SR-324 with a 19 mm lens. We chose these cameras because they were an effective and affordable
solution for the challenges that we had to face with securing this dynamic industrial park.”
Perfect night vision Thermal imaging cameras provide perfect night vision in even the darkest of nights.
Intruders show up very clearly in a crisp thermal image due to the contrast in temperature between a person and his
surroundings. But that’s not all; thermal imaging cameras can also see through
obscurants like smoke, dust, foliage and fog better than a CCTV camera.
Krüger is very happy with his FLIR thermal imaging cameras. “Sometimes I wish that I
had this technology at my disposal when we started installing our security network. I
probably would have installed many more
thermal imaging cameras than we have
now, for in most situations they’re much
better than CCTV cameras.”
Krüger purchased the FLIR thermal imaging
cameras from FLIR products distributer
VIDEOR. As one of the leading European
distributors of professional video technology
VIDEOR has a market experience of over
thirty years. The wide product range of
the near Frankfurt based company covers
components and integrated systems in the
security, networking, imaging and broadcast
sectors, based on strict quality standards.
Bird’s eye view
Due to his positive experience with thermal
imaging, Krüger is now contemplating to
install a new thermal imaging camera in a
high location. The best solution for such an
location is probably the FLIR PTZ-35x140
MS thermal imaging camera. With its two
thermal imaging cameras and one low light
camera it provides perfect vision, even in
total darkness. The two thermal imaging
cameras provide a continuous optical
zoom, with a wide angle thermal imager for
situational awareness and a narrow fieldof-
view imager that has been designed for
mid-range target recognition.
If Krüger would choose to opt for the
FLIR PTZ-35x140 MS, it would be able to
utilize its long range performance to its full
potential from its high vantage point and
with its full 360° viewing capability it would
be able to observe the entire park. “That
would be quite useful”, explains Krüger. “Not
only could we use that to spot intruders, we
could also put it to good use in case of fire
or spillage, monitoring and directing the
firefighting or salvage operation.”
No lights needed
The thermal imaging cameras that are
already operational have proved their use.
“We’ve put them in locations where it’s
difficult for CCTV cameras to be effective”,
explains Krüger. “In certain areas it is difficult
due to the infrastructure to put up proper
lighting, for instance. With a thermal
imaging camera you don’t need lights.”
Thermal imaging cameras are incredibly
useful to see at night, but according to
Krüger that’s not their only advantage.
“Both the FLIR SR-313 and the FLIR SR-324
have an excellent range performance.”
Depending on the conditions these two
thermal imaging cameras can detect
trespassers at a range of up to respectively
450 and 780 meters.
Better range with thermal imaging
cameras
Thermal imaging cameras in general have
a better range performance than CCTV
cameras, explains Krüger. “With a CCTV
camera you have to depend on visual
contrast to be able to see a person that’s
trespassing, but that can be quite difficult,
especially when lighting conditions aren’t
perfect, such as on a cloudy day for
instance. The contrast on a thermal image
is much bigger, due to the difference
in temperature and thermal radiation
between a person and his surroundings.
Due to that fact you can detect a person
with a thermal imaging camera at a larger
distance than with a CCTV camera. And
because you can see farther with one
camera, you need fewer cameras to cover
the same area.”
‘Very good return on investment’
According to Krüger this makes thermal
imaging cameras very cost-effective. “Not
only because you need fewer cameras.
Installing a complete security solution
involves a lot more than just the camera
itself. There’s an entire infrastructure you
have to take into account. For every
camera you install you need a power
supply line, a mast for the camera to be
mounted on and with a CCTV camera
you also have to install several streetlights
to make it effective at night. A thermal
imaging camera needs only one mast and
no lighting. The total cost of ownership
for a thermal imaging camera is extremely
low so even though the price of one
thermal imaging camera is higher, in the
end it is cheaper to install a thermal
imaging camera than to install several
CCTV cameras. In my opinion thermal
imaging cameras really offer a very good
return on investment.”
Monitoring inaccessible areas
The better range of a thermal imaging
camera isn’t just important for costeffectiveness
explains Krüger: “Due to
the longer range you can use thermal
cameras to monitor inaccessible areas that
are difficult to cover with CCTV cameras.
Here at Infraserv Höchst we have the
problem that some parts of the perimeter
we monitor are under constant danger
of flooding, because we’re located on the
banks of the river Main. That situation
makes it very challenging to secure those
areas. Ground sensors or fences are not an
option due to the floods and CCTV cameras
combined with lighting also proved to be
an ineffective solution, for the floods would
damage the power supply of both the
cameras and the lights. But with thermal
imaging cameras we can put a camera
outside the flood-threatened area, looking
in, and thus secure that entire area without
risking flood-related damage.”
Fewer unwanted alarms with thermal
imaging cameras
In Krüger’s experience, there is also a
significant difference between thermal
imaging cameras
and CCTV cameras
in the amount of
unwanted alarms.
“We have about one
unwanted alarm a
week with our CCTV
cameras. With our
thermal imaging
cameras we have
about one a year, if
we have any at all.”
“Our video-analysis
software, Aimetis
Symphony, uses complicated
algorithms
to detect and analyze movement”,
explains
Krüger. “The software then compares the
perceived movement to previously defined
parameters and if the movement is not
within those parameters, an alarm goes off.
But not every unauthorized movement is
a trespasser. The cause of such unwanted
alarms can be a spider crawling across the
camera’s lens, braches of a tree moving in
the wind or even graffiti on a moving train.”
Thermal imaging cameras trigger fewer
unwanted alarms, according to Krüger.
“The difference between thermal imaging
cameras and CCTV cameras is the contrast.
CCTV cameras rely on visual contrast
where thermal imaging cameras rely on
thermal contrast and that difference is very
important, because the thermal contrast is
much bigger than the visual contrast. The
branch of a tree moving in the winds does
not show up as distinctly in the thermal
image as a person does. That means that it
is easier for the video-analysis software to
separate actual intruders from other types
of movement on footage from a thermal
imaging camera. This reduces the amount
of unwanted alarms and that in turn saves
us a lot of time and money.”
Spider webs and sun glare
The unwanted alarm problem isn’t the
only issue where thermal imaging cameras
defeat CCTV cameras, even during the day:
there’s also the issue of sun-glare. “When
the sun shines directly into the lens of a
CCTV camera it is rendered completely
useless” explains Krüger. But this problem
doesn’t just occur with the sun directly
shining into the lens, it can also shine
into the lens indirectly due to reflection.
According to Krüger this happens quite
often with spider webs. “Sometimes there’s
a piece of spider web in front of the camera
that’s so small that you hardly even notice
it. But when the sunlight hits the web in
a certain angle it is reflected into the lens,
blinding the CCTV camera exactly like when
the sun shines directly on it. In such cases
one of our staff must go and remove the
spider web if we want to be able to use the
camera effectively.”
Identifying trespassers
According to Krüger thermal imaging
cameras are superior to CCTV cameras on
all fronts. “In fact, the only reason I still
use CCTV cameras is that they can be
more effectively used to identify trespassers.
That’s important information, because we
can better assess the situation if we know
what type of intruder we’re dealing with
and if we decide to prosecute the trespasser
we give the footage to the police. If we
could use the thermal imaging cameras to
do that than normal CCTV cameras would
be obsolete.”
