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Camera Placement and Detection Guide

Follow this guide to learn how to position and configure IP cameras for the solutions provided by IRIS+ Essential.

General requirements for object detection

Each use case described below works by detecting people or vehicles. IRIS+ Essential can accurately detect objects when the following conditions are met:

  • At least half of the object is visible. In some cases even less might be enough if there is rich context information (e.g. the body of a person).
  • The object’s vertical size is in the 32-1000 pixel range. For optimal performance, at least 50 pixel size is suggested. More complex use cases require larger objects.
  • Objects can be detected from any horizontal position: facing, back, side.
  • Objects may cover each other in crowded areas observed from certain camera angles, affecting the detection performance. Objects positioned in line may also block the view. On-site survey is crucial for “imagining” every possible position as well as choosing the camera positions carefully to minimize occlusion.
  • Angle of view should not be close to vertical. Objects can be detected from any horizontal angle: front, back, side. Vertical height must be less than ¼ of the horizontal distance to the closest object.
camera placement Objects are blocked from view.
camera placement2 Objects are blocked from view.
camera placement3 Camera is placed at the right height and angle, all objects are visible.

For objects at 8 metres or above, camera placement can be calculated using the following formula: 

Distance to object / 4 (in metres)

If objects are within 8 metres, cameras should be placed at a height of 2 metres.

Object Position

The position of an object is important for determining whether it is inside an area or recently entered or exited it. The position is determined by the reference point at the bottom centre of the object’s bounding box. In practise this means the feet of a person or the front/rear of a vehicle. Certain angles can lead to inaccuracy in determining the positions. In most cases, this does not cause any issues, nevertheless this factor should be considered for each use case. Whenever the position accuracy is very important, the camera position should be chosen accordingly.
Object position Person objects' bounding boxes form a rectangle. Note the reference point, denoted by a red dot.
Object position2 Truck objects' bounding boxes form a rectangle even when viewed from an angle.
Since its reference point would be covered, drawing a negative ROI on the striped road would exclude the object from detection.

Camera configuration

Using a web browser, login to the camera’s management page and configure the cameras as follows:

  • Cameras should use DHCP and the router should assign fixed IP addresses based on MAC addresses. IP addresses should be defined before installing cameras.

Technical settings

  • Codec: H.264

  • Resolution (Maximum): 1920 x 1080 px

  • Frame rate: 1-10, depending on the Solution

  • Recommended intra-frame (also known as i-frame or keyframe) period: 3 times the frame rate value. For instance: 3 for 1 FPS, 18 for 6 FPS, 30 for 10 FPS, etc.

  • Target bit rate: 1536 kbps

  • Policy: Frame rate priority

Image quality

  • Adjust image properties as needed.
  • When the background is too bright, try to turn on WDR.
  • It is recommended to put the timestamp and video title on the image.
  • Time zone.
  • Turn on time syncing, if the camera supports it.

Settings depending on Solution

Frame rate and minimum detection size varies by Solution:

Intrusion / Multi-object detection / Crowd detection / Hazardous Area / Fall detection / Multi object Counting:

  • Min. FPS: 1
  • Min. object height: 32 px

PPE detection / Loitering / Zone Crossing / Traffic Counting:

  • Min. FPS: 4
  • Min. object height: 110 px (192 px for PPE)

Stopped:

  • Min. FPS: 6
  • Min. object height: 60 px

Wrong direction:

  • Min. FPS: 10
  • Min. object height: 60 px

Detection range in meters

The following measurements are calculated with vertical FOV assuming 16:9 aspect ratio.

Use case Min. camera FPS* Max. camera FPS Min. object height (px) Camera resolution Max range (metres) by vertical FOV (°)
width height 75 60 40 25 10 5
Intrusion
Hazardous Area
Multi Object detection
Crowd detection
Fall detection
Multi Object Counting		 1 10 32 320 240 8.4 11.2 17.7 29.1 73.7 147.7
480 320 11.2 14.9 23.6 38.8 98.3 197.0
640 480 16.8 22.3 35.4 58.2 147.4 295.5
800 600 21.0 27.9 44.3 72.7 184.3 369.3
1280 720 25.2 33.5 53.2 87.3 221.2 443.2
1920 1080 37.8 50.3 79.8 131.0 331.8 664.9
Loitering
Zone Crossing
Traffic Counting
 4 10 110 320 240 2.4 3.2 5.2 8.5 21.4 43.0
480 320 3.3 4.3 6.9 11.3 28.6 57.3
640 480 4.9 6.5 10.3 16.9 42.9 86.0
800 600 6.1 8.1 12.9 21.2 53.7 107.6
1280 720 7.3 9.8 15.5 25.4 64.4 129.0
1920 1080 11.0 14.6 23.2 38.1 96.6 193.5
Stopped

Wrong direction		 4

10		 10 60 320 240 4.5 6.0 9.5 15.5 39.3 78.8
480 320 6.0 7.9 12.6 20.7 52.4 105.1
640 480 9.0 11.9 18.9 31.0 78.6 157.6
800 600 11.2 14.9 23.6 38.8 98.3 197.0
1280 720 13.4 17.9 28.4 46.6 118.0 236.4
1920 1080 20.2 26.8 42.5 69.8 176.9 354.6
PPE detection 4 10 192 320 240 1.4 1.9 3.0 4.8 12.3 24.6
480 320 1.9 2.5 3.9 6.5 16.4 32.8
640 480 2.8 3.7 5.9 9.7 24.6 49.2
800 600 3.5 4.7 7.4 12.1 30.7 61.6
1280 720 4.2 5.6 8.9 14.5 36.9 73.9
1920 1080 6.3 8.4 13.3 21.8 55.3 110.8

*Recommended values.

Note

Digitally magnified images (e.g. by digital zoom) are not suitable for reaching the minimum object size, as the magnified image will not contain more data than the original.

For thermal cameras, it is the thermal sensor resolution that matters, rather than the displayed image.

Troubleshooting

If you experience trouble registering your camera in IRIS+ Essential:

  • If you have configured your network to use static IP; IRIS+ Essential supports both static IP and DHCP, however in some rare cases, static IP may result in network issues. In that case, it is recommended to switch to DHCP and try again.