New Search
August 16, 2006 <br />90% complete. Below is a summary by location of what has been accomplished to date and what is <br />left to do. <br />Meadowlark Prairie Overlook <br />Two surveillance cameras have been mounted on two poles, one at the north end and one at the <br />south end of the parking lot. In addition, an NVR has been installed on the north pole that is <br />recording images from both cameras. When the Checkermallow Access camera is fully functional, <br />the images from it will be sent wirelessly.to the Meadowlark Prairie NVR, which will record them. <br />Real-time images are accessible remotely via a secure URL on the Internet, using the existing high- <br />speed Comcast account. Recorded images can be downloaded at high speed on site using a local <br />wireless connection. The Meadowlark Prairie system is essentially complete and functioning. <br />Checkermallow Access <br />A camera and wireless equipment has been installed on a pole overlooking the parking lot. <br />Unfortunately the power to that pole is on a flat-rate EWEB circuit that powers the lighting along <br />the adjoining bike path. The camera and wireless equipment draw about 13 watts of power under <br />normal conditions. When the temperature drops below about 20° F, a heater turns on that draws 50 <br />watts of power. Because this is technically a variable load, EWEB would not allow the City to <br />simply add a load factor to the existing flat-rate circuit, even a load factor equal to the maximum <br />load (63 watts) that the system would draw. This decision was upheld even after much discussion <br />at EWEB, both internally and between EWEB staff and the City electrician, the City traffic <br />maintenance supervisor who is responsible for the path lights, and the vendor of the surveillance <br />systems. <br />As a result, EWEB is requiring the City to establish a separate metered electrical circuit for the <br />camera system, which will cost approximately $8,000 to install, and will have a .monthly service <br />charge associated with it which will far exceed the cost of the electricity. This expense was not <br />anticipated when the project was originally scoped. We have explored other options, including <br />installing a solar power system. Because of our location, a solar system capable of powering the <br />equipment during the winter months would be very large physically, and would cost around <br />$10,000, making it an unattractive option. As soon as we can obtain power to the location, we will <br />be able to complete the testing of the camera and wireless equipment that will transmit the images <br />to the NVR at Meadowlark Prairie. <br />Spencer Butte <br />Three surveillance cameras have been installed on two new poles. The pole at the north end of the <br />parking lot has one camera, and the pole at the south end has two cameras. Originally one camera <br />was planned for each location, but the parking area at the south end of the lot proved to be too wide <br />for a single camera to cover and still provide the level of detail needed for high-quality video <br />evidence. In addition, an NVR has been installed which will record the images from all three <br />cameras, just like the one at Meadowlark Prairie. Images are accessible remotely via a secure URL <br />on the Internet, using a new Clearwire wireless account. Recorded images can be downloaded at <br />high speed on site using a local wireless connection. Except for some tweaking of the field of view <br />of the three cameras, the system is essentially complete and functioning. <br />2 <br />