An innovative German-made camera particularly suited for production monitoring and remote maintenance as well as video surveillance had its launch at the recent Petrotech 2003 exhibition in Bahrain.

The Mobotix camera releases images of very high resolution without light hindrance or need for additional software. Introducing it to the public was Alaa Industrial Equipment Factory (AFI), one of the Middle East’s leading industrial groups.

“Mobotix is an all in one camera,” said AFI sales and marketing manager Jolly Joseph. “It is an IP network camera, a recorder and a player and has audio, motion sensor ISDN and video management features.”

Mobotix is pioneering IP video surveillance and is renowned for its high-image quality and high-resolution images. There was great interest at Petrotech when AFI gave a live demonstration.

“The Mobotix camera has a unique new design and features a variety of innovations without the need to install any software application. It is also unique in its unmatched high-resolution image quality (640 x 480) with minimal network load (1 Mbps) at high frame rates,” said Joseph.

“As opposed to most competing products, Mobotix cameras do not display motion artifacts in high-resolution images and direct artificial light or sun light does not result in lower image quality.”

The Mobotix camera’s weatherproof fiberglass housing with IP65-certified outdoor design (-20 to + 60 degrees Celsius) has been designed for robust industrial use,” AFI reported.

“The camera can be connected to the Internet via ISDN or via a network and router. If you know the IP of the camera, you can directly connect to it using a web browser. The camera can also update images on a home page. The camera can use an ISDN line to dial directly into the Internet and to upload the images to the appropriate server via FTP,” the company said.

“Once the camera is connected to the network (for example LAN and WAN) the live images can be viewed from every computer with a standard web browser (Netscape, Explorer). No specific software is required. In order to avoid compatibility issues, the camera does not use any plug-ins, ActiveX objects or Java.

“Using its integrated recorder and image storage, the camera can record image sequences triggered by events. Recording is possible before and after triggering the signal input by a PLC. The freely definable motion detector window also enables the camera to trigger an alarm and send an email if a conveyor belt stops and parts no longer move though the image, for example.

“Using its internal image storage for up to 2,400 images and the freely definable detector windows, the camera can independently capture events. An off-the-shelf computer with a browser can be used to monitor, for example, the entrance of a park deck or a warehouse. No additional hardware or software is required. Every PC with an ISDN adapter can dial into the camera via ISDN using the PC’s RAS functionality and browser. Password protection and various access levels are given. The network connection allows for an almost unlimited number of cameras and puts virtually no limits on distances between them.

“The camera can save the recorded image sequences on any standard file server within the network.  Linux and Windows server are supported. The camera itself handles the management of all image data. Using a browser you can play images forward and backward just like on a VCR or you can search for images by date and time. The camera uses size and time limits for storing event images. The Multi View display of the camera enables you to view multiple cameras in one browser window.”

The camera is provided with advanced CMOS image sensors for resistance against sunlight and prevention of anti-blooming. Sophisticated hardware and software are installed with low power consumption (2.5 Watt) 

It has a digital Mobotix image optimiser for brilliant color images and increased sharpness. It yields the highest quality images through automatic toggling between daylight and infrared lens (M1M-Night)