Video surveillance design

Video surveillance design decides what each camera must show, where it goes, how its video travels and how long it is kept, before anyone buys equipment. We design IP camera systems for commercial, institutional, industrial and multi-unit buildings, and settle the network, power, storage and privacy questions that come with them.

Disappointing camera systems tend to fail for the same handful of reasons. Cameras go where cable was easy to run rather than where incidents happen. Images are too coarse to identify anyone. Recordings roll over before anyone asks for them. The network was never sized for video that streams all day and all night. Each of these is a design decision, and each is far cheaper to settle on paper than after the cameras are on the wall.

What we design and build

• Camera layouts based on purpose: identifying people at entrances, observing activity in parking areas and corridors, detecting movement along a perimeter.
• Camera selection: fixed, pan-tilt-zoom, multi-sensor and fisheye cameras, and thermal cameras where darkness or distance calls for them.
• Field of view and pixel density for each camera, checked against what that camera has to show.
• Video management software, recording servers and storage sized to the retention period you set.
• The network behind the cameras: Power over Ethernet switching, VLANs, bandwidth and uplinks, coordinated with the structured cabling design.
• Power: PoE budgets, UPS for recorders and switches, and power for exterior housings and heaters in cold climates.
• Lighting for cameras, including infrared illumination and how existing site lighting affects images at night.
• Integration with access control, intrusion alarms, duress alarms and perimeter detection, so an alarm can bring up the right camera.
• Monitoring workstations, video walls and secure remote viewing.

A modern camera system is a small network in its own right. Each camera sends a continuous stream of video, usually drawing its power from the same cable, to a switch in a telecom room. From there the video travels to recording servers, to the people watching live and, where it is allowed, to remote viewers. The diagram shows the main parts and what flows between them.

Designing around purpose

Every camera on a good design has a written job. A camera at the main entrance is there to identify the people who walk through it, so it is placed close, at a shallow angle, with enough pixels across the doorway to show a face. A camera over a parking lot is there to observe what happened and when, so it can cover a wider area with less detail. A camera on a loading dock might need to read a truck's licence plate or simply show who opened a door. Writing the job down first stops the common mistake of buying one camera model for every location.

How it works

1. We start with why. Theft at the loading dock, after-hours break-ins, staff safety at a reception counter, liability claims in a parking garage and an insurer's requirement each lead to a different design. We also ask who will use the video: someone watching live, or someone reviewing footage after an incident. That decides placement, image detail and how long recordings are kept.
2. Site survey. We walk the site in daylight and, where it matters, after dark. We note lighting, mounting surfaces, sight lines, cable routes, telecom room space and existing cameras or recorders worth keeping. We also note what else would be in view, such as a neighbour's windows or a public sidewalk.
3. Design. Cameras go on the drawings with their fields of view and pixel density targets. We size the network, PoE and storage, write the specifications and show how video, alarms and access control tie together.
4. Tender and permit. Drawings for permit are sealed by a licensed professional engineer where required. Electrical work is done by licensed electrical contractors under permit, and low-voltage installation by qualified installers. We help you compare bids on a like-for-like basis.
5. Build and verify. We review the installation and check each camera's actual view against the design, in daylight and at night. We confirm that recording works, retention settings match the plan, clocks are synchronised and footage can be exported.
6. Handover. You receive the as-built camera plan, configuration records and a short session for the people who will use the system.

What to have ready

• A site plan and floor plans, even rough ones.
• A list of the incidents or risks that prompted the project.
• Details of any existing cameras, recorders and software you want to keep.
• Your IT contact, so the network and security requirements are agreed early.
• Any retention or privacy policy your organization already follows.

What you get

A camera plan that shows every camera, what it is for and what it sees; equipment schedules; network, power and storage calculations; riser diagrams; and specifications a contractor can price and build from. Where the system will be used for evidence, we document how footage is exported and how the system clock is kept accurate. At handover you have drawings that match what was installed, which makes the next addition or replacement straightforward.

A typical case

A multi-tenant industrial property has a mix of old analog cameras and a few newer IP cameras added by tenants. After a series of thefts from the yard, the owner finds that the recorder kept only a few days of video and that none of the images showed a face or a plate. In a case like this the design usually keeps the cable routes and replaces the cameras in stages, starting with the yard gate and dock doors. The gate gets a camera placed for plate capture and another for identifying drivers, the yard gets wide observation cameras with lighting that suits them, and storage is sized for the retention period the owner and tenants agree on. The cameras move onto their own VLAN, and remote viewing goes through a secure connection rather than an open port on the internet.

Who it's for

• Building owners and property managers replacing ageing systems.
• Facility and security managers adding cameras to a site that has outgrown its system.
• Developers and architects who need surveillance designed with the rest of the building.
• Healthcare, education and public-facing organizations where staff safety and privacy both matter.
• Industrial sites with yards, gates and perimeters to cover.

For background, read our guides on IP camera system design, camera placement and pixel density, video storage and retention and video surveillance and privacy in Canada.

Common questions