Over the years Matlock Bath has grown into a popular tourism destination and today is well known for its cavern tours and cable cars. During peak season it can attract up to 10,000 visitors a day. With demand in the town growing since it first installed its CCTV network Derbyshire Dales District Council found themselves adding new cameras as hot spot areas were identified. When TrellisWorks was approached the original system had nearly trebled and the council was facing repeated call outs for maintenance with unreliable connectivity and constant breakdowns.
Case Study
Optimising CCTV
in tourism beauty spot
Derbyshire Dales District Council turned to TrellisWorks to help reconfigure a failing CCTV network which had more than trebled in size since it was first installed.
The Successes
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Reliable connectivity - eliminating call outs
By optimising the network TrellisWorks was able to eliminate repeated faults on the system
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Cost effective
No need to update the whole system, created a solution which worked with the existing network
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Futureproofing ongoing maintenance
Created a centralised, up to date plan for the whole system to make maintenance easier in the future
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Providing best practice
Following the success of the project Derbyshire Dales District Council is looking to replicate the solution into neighbouring towns
“Getting the system working efficiently has meant it is now fully operational and there is improved coverage across the whole area.”
Background
The historic town of Matlock Bath is within Derbyshire Dales District Council. It is a popular tourist destination due to its hillside theme park Gulliver’s Kingdom, famous cable cars, Heights of Abraham, soaring up over the Derwent Valley, cavern tours and heritage mining and mills in the heart of the beautiful Derbyshire Dales. At peak times over 10,000 tourists a day flood the historic streets. The council has a network of security cameras located across the village which are all linked to a record and review system but needed updating due to regular faults being recorded and unreliable coverage across the system.
Challenges
Derbyshire Dales District Council originally introduced a small system of just 2 or 3 cameras to Matlock Bath many years ago. As the small village became increasingly popular different locations were identified as in need of monitoring. This meant that additional cameras were continually added to the system as a series of one-off projects rather than the system being configured as a whole.
Different contractors were hired and there was no singular maintenance documentation for the system.
Located in Derbyshire Dales, Matlock Bath is also set amongst very hilly terrain with the need for several links at the top of the historic Heights of Abraham cable cars which are over 1000 feet above sea level.
Derbyshire Dales District Council was faced with an unreliable system that suffered from:
- Constant breakdowns with regular faults being reported
- Difficulties with maintenance as there was no up to date documentation for the system
- Unreliable connections and service
Solution
TrellisWorks carried out a full audit of the CCTV system to plot each of the camera and radio locations. Each network device was reconfigured and provided with a unique IP address making them easier to locate and reduce interference.
Two new radio links were added to boost bandwidth using 60Ghz. This sped up the wireless links and reduced interference providing a more reliable network.
Key successes
- The need for frequent call outs was eliminated as the newly configured system continues to work without interference
- The issues were resolved without the need to replace the whole system. Only two additional radios were installed with the rest being resolved through optimising the existing network
- TrellisWorks has been asked to review several neighbouring Derbyshire Dales District Council towns struggling with similar issues
View Case Study
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