Auto-Tracking PTZ Camera with Object Detection AI Software
Watch this video to see our new Viewtron auto tracking PTZ camera detect human objects and automatically track them when they are within the camera’s video view.
This is the Viewtron IP-PTZ-425 that I used in this system.
To setup the system, I connected the IP-PTZ-425 camera that is installed on the front of CCTV Camera Pros office to our Viewtron IP camera NVR.
25x Zoom PTZ Camera
In addition to the above video, I also captured these video surveillance snapshots to test the 25x zoom capability of this camera. Please note that you can click on these images to see the original full HD surveillance snapshots. Please also note that I saved these as JPEG files. This compresses the image and degrades the quality. The original video surveillance captured is more clear than these images
This is the view from the camera with the motorized zoom lens at the widest angle (zoomed all the way out). It provides a really nice, ultra wide angle view the our parking lot in front of our building.
In the distance, there is a woman on the phone leaning her car. She is standing 200 feet away from where the aut0-tracking PTZ camera is installed.
This surveillance snapshot was captured with the PTZ’s lens zoomed all the way in at 25x optical zoom. When I double-checked the measurement afterwards, the car that she is leaning on is actually about 215 feet away from where the security camera is mounted.
AI Software Functions
The Viewtron IP-PTZ-425 supports the following AI (artificial intelligence software) functions: Auto-Tracking Technology, Facial Recognition, Face Match Database, People / Human Object Detection, Vehicle Object Detection, Face Detection, Perimeter Protection, Target Counting, and Intrusion Zone Detection.
We highly recommend using it with a Viewtron IP camera NVR.
You can learn more about the IP-PTZ-425 auto-tracking PTZ camera here.
Video Transcript
Hey everyone. Mike from CCTV Camera Pros here. In this video, I’m going to demonstrate our new auto-tracking PTZ camera. It’s that dome pan-tilt-zoom camera that you see behind me on the left. That’s a Viewtron IP camera, and it has built-in artificial intelligence for object detection, and it also has auto-tracking software built in. What I’m going to do is I’m going to set up an intrusion zone out here in our parking lot, so that when the camera detects a human, it’ll track them as long as they’re in that intrusion zone. The auto-tracking PTZ camera is connected to one of our Viewtron IP camera NVRs. This is the live view on the Viewtron NVR.
To set up the auto-tracking, I’m going to select Settings from the main menu and then go into Camera, PTZ. On the PTZ screen, I’m going to select Smart Tracking over here on the left. I only have one auto-tracking PTZ so it’s the only one listed under Camera. And then, Tracking mode, you want to set PTZ Auto Tracking as a priority, then click Apply. Next, I need to go into the AI/Event section. The auto-tracking PTZ is already selected. And I’m going to set an intrusion zone, so I select Intrusion for the type of detection that I want to do, and then check this Enable Detection by IP Camera checkbox.
Next, I’m going to draw my perimeter, and I do that just by clicking on points on the camera view basically to create a square, in this case, around our entire parking lot that is in the view of the camera. And then, you want to set this to Lock, the PTZ control is unavailable when the camera is in auto-tracking mode. And I only want to detect humans for this test, so in the Target Detection, I just select humans, and then I’m going to have it grab a snapshot and then I’m also going to have the NVR record on the PTZ camera whenever there’s intrusion. I click OK there. If I wanted to, I could also set up a push notification, a buzzer, video pop-up, and email notifications, but I’m not going to do that for this test. I then click on Apply, and then I can close out that window and return to the live view of the camera.
Next, we’re going to actually do the demo of a human object detection and the auto-tracking. I’m going to click on the full screen view of the PTZ camera, and then I’m going to select Target Detection. What this does is this shows our intrusion zone that we drew. You could see the square there around the parking lot, and then it opens up that object detection window on the right. Whenever an object is detected, it’ll show a snapshot there. One of our neighbors just came out, detected her getting into the truck there, and you could see the event was documented on the right.
There’s a couple better examples than that. She was kind of far away and didn’t get a chance to move in close to her, but give this a minute. It gets better. There’s going to be another human object detection right here, but again, he’s too far out there and gets into the truck right away. The camera doesn’t have a chance to zoom in and track him much. Just give this a second. One of the yard maintenance people are going to come around the corner and within a perfect view of the camera, and it does a really nice job of tracking them. Just give this a second. They’ll be coming around the corner here any second. Here she comes with the lawn blower there, and watch as she comes into view, how the camera starts tracking her. She stays within the intrusion zone so now it begins tracking by zooming in, it’s panning, it’s tilting, it’s zooming, it’s doing all the functions, and it’s going to track her across the entire intrusion zone. Now, that tree gets in the way and blocks her. She’s now out of view, out of the intrusion zone, and she’s gone.
There’s going to be one more example here in a minute. I’m going to pull up in my car. Just give me a second to allow that truck to get out of the way, and I’ll be coming in within view within a few seconds here. I’m going to just speed up the video here for a couple seconds. Here I come. Now, if I would’ve also set it to tracking cars, the camera would’ve been zooming in and tracking my car, but remember, we set it only to human detection. When I get out of the vehicle, it’ll identify me as a human. It’s going to zoom in on me here and begin tracking. And I’m going to stay within view much longer than the other subjects there so this will be the best example. Notice because I entered the intrusion zone, actually, it tracks me beyond the intrusions zone to keep an eye on me the whole time I’m in view, not just in the intrusion zone. Once I’m detected, it’ll track me as far and as much as it can. I’ll just walk around to a couple more points here. And you could see it’s doing a really good job of tracking me everywhere I go. That’s the end of that auto-tracking demo.
Next, I want to show you how easy it is to play back these recorded events. You could see the thumbnails over here on the right of all the events that were detected. And if you hover over it with the mouse, there’ll be a play button that appears. When I click on that play button, the recorded video surveillance footage on the NVR begins playing at the time the event was detected.
Here’s the video playback of when I was detected by the camera and when the PTZ was auto-tracking me. And I’m not going to run through the whole thing. I just wanted to show you how easy it was to jump to these events and play them back. Play back the recorded video, that is. Let me mention a couple other things about this camera before we wrap up. The model number is IP-PTZ-425, and it’s a 360 degree pan-tilt-zoom camera. This is an IP camera so it uses CAT5 cable, and it works great with our Viewtron NVRs. That’s a Viewtron camera. It has built-in infrared IR night vision that’s effective up to a 100 meters or 300 feet. The auto-tracking and the object detection can detect faces, it can detect humans, and it can detect vehicles.
If you have any questions about any of this, please feel free to reach out to me anytime. I could be reached directly at mike@cctvcamerapros.net. If you want to learn more about this auto-tracking AI pan-tilt-zoom camera, please visit www.cctvcamerapros.com/auto-tracking-PTZ-camera-p/ip-ptz-425.htm.
Thank you for watching.
