Combating theft of goods in transit

South Africa is plagued with high crime rates that significantly affect the transport sector. And, with security loopholes giving criminals opportunities to highjack vehicles carrying valuable goods, something needs to be done.

Although closed-circuit television (CCTV) solutions, capable of monitoring footage remotely, offer some respite, transport operators are still faced with some challenges when monitoring their vehicles while they’re on the move … Often the bandwidth required to stream video is insufficient and unstable at best.  

Thus, operators are turning to technology that will deliver live proactive monitoring, even in low-bandwidth areas, enabling swift and preventative action – should an incident occur. Enter SerVision’s Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) – the latest monitoring system from Graphic Image Technologies (GIT).

This system makes use of cellular and wireless technologies to stream high-quality (live or recorded) video footage to mobile devices or centralised control rooms.

Equipped with four cameras and sensors on the vehicles doors, the anti-shock, vibration-resistant DVR chassis ensures complete reliability while on the move, and tracks vehicles with full GPS support.

Says managing director at GIT, Mark Chertkow: “Swift and immediate action is essential when vehicles are hijacked and stock is stolen. It is crucial to be able to actively monitor the location and nature of a crime, as and when it happens, to ensure the capture and conviction of perpetrators.”

USB modems are used to steam the videos, which use any mobile data – from GPRS to 3G. And the DVR compressed technology transmits videos at four frames per second, at data rates as low as one kilobyte per second. “The high compression rate allows for video footage to be streamed using less bandwidth and offers real-time image capture and streaming,” explains Chertkow.

This also ensures recording and streaming of video even when outside of 3G areas, where only Edge or GPRS signal is available – making it ideal for the South African market, as 3G coverage is restricted to mostly metropolitan hubs.

And the built-in Wi-Fi, which backs up the stored videos to a storage server, ensures that the cost of monitoring footage will not incur data costs when viewed over the Wi-Fi link.

Chertkow adds: “It is essential that a more proactive approach to security monitoring is taken and, furthermore, to ensure evidence is available to law enforcement during and after an event. Live streaming and surveillance that is delivered outside of 3G coverage areas enables logistics companies to offer a comprehensive approach to protection as well as improved control to further protect trucks, goods-in-transit, as well as people.”