If you live in a private house, have you ever asked yourself questions about your own safety? Would you like to keep an eye on your home while you’re at work or on vacation? A video surveillance system can help you with that. With it, you can easily check what your cat or dog is up to, how your kids are playing, or even where the mailman tossed your newspaper.
According to statistics, criminals tend to avoid places with visible video surveillance. They are afraid that footage of their crimes could end up in the hands of the police if they’re caught on camera. This awareness changes their risk assessment when choosing a target. Numerous interviews, surveys, and studies confirm this effect.
To design the system, we will use the IP Video System Design Tool by JVSG (https://www.jvsg.com/camera-placement-tool/). This software offers a 30-day free trial with a wide range of features, including 3D modeling. We will follow a simple algorithm for designing a video surveillance system:
This algorithm provides a simple explanation of the basic principles of camera placement for most typical scenarios. It takes into account coverage zones and camera specifications, but it does not consider the economic factor.The algorithm is optimized to maximize the coverage area, which is absolutely correct from a security standpoint, but may not always be the most economical approach
To begin, let’s design the house: we’ll upload the floor plan as a background, place the walls, and add chairs, tables, a tree, a cat, a man, a woman, and two children playing with a dog.
Next, we’ll place the surveillance cameras.
First, cameras should be installed at the entrances and exits of the house. This is essential for identifying people entering — in other words, for capturing clear images of their faces.
Then, additional cameras can be positioned to monitor the windows, the area surrounding the house, and the hallway. After adding the local network cabling, we get the following result:
And there we have it — the video surveillance system is now designed.
Next, you can specify your preferred manufacturer in the Manufacturer field, select the camera model, and fill in the pricing details for all used equipment in the Bill of Materials tab. This allows you to generate a purchase list and analyze the overall costs. If you’d like to learn more about CCTV system design, there are free CCTV courses available on the JVSG website, as well as thematic videos on YouTube that explain more advanced aspects in detail.