Hospitality

Mysore Palace installs Axis network cameras for integrated and intelligent crowd management.

Organization: Mysore Palace Board

Location: Mysore, Karnataka, India

Customer need: Property and asset protection, Intrusion Protection, Occupancy

Mysore, Karnataka, India, 2021

Cutting edge surveillance helps the heritage site with automated crowd management.

Mission

Mysore Palace is one of the world’s most famous and busiest heritage sites in Karnataka and occupies an area of 72 acres with an annual footfall of up to 3.5 million visitors per year and on summer/festival/Dussehra holidays, it goes up to 25,000-30,000 visitors per day. It has sprawling gardens and huge parking areas which had many blind spots. The need of the hour was an IP surveillance solution that would be able to handle the busy activity of the site particularly during the holidays, peak tourist season and Dussehra when it receives the highest footfall during the year. In order to have a complete security cover over the palace grounds and the adjoining areas, the management was looking for a modern IP solution that could reduce human intervention and the bandwidth of stored videos.

Solution

There was a basic surveillance system in place to start with but it was not regularly updated or upgraded. When BDC was contacted, they did a survey of the existing solution to be able to design the upgraded solution with Axis Communications to meet the updated security requirements. The solution comprised of 125+ Axis network cameras consisting of different models to provide excellent image quality which are all powered over the Ethernet. The outdoor cameras chosen were vandal-resistant and enabled with Axis Lightfinder technology, giving them extreme low light visibility. The indoor cameras installed were discreet to easily blend in with the aesthetics of Mysore Palace.

The implementation included covering the area with Axis cameras from every point – entry and parking lots, and to enable these areas with remote monitoring functions. The command control room was designed to give an overview to monitor the interior and its immediate surroundings. Alarm indicators were installed to alert security in case of trespassing in the restricted zones. This in turn could facilitate quick intervention from the guards.

Result

Mysore Palace has achieved remote monitoring successfully and the Axis cameras allow fast responses for any potential security breaches. It also provides perfect vision even during the evenings when the light and sound show takes place and the surrounding is dark, and it becomes difficult to detect miscreants. There is also testing going on with an Axis audio system, with network mini speakers and horn speakers as an added security feature to the palace, and analytics such as people counting, body temperature of visitors coming inside, face mask on/off, AXIS Perimeter Defender, etc. The clarity received in terms of color precision is high from the Axis cameras leading to only 0.5 error, and helping to make sure that the right person can be identified in a crowd.

We needed to upgrade to IP camera technology and high-quality cameras with a strong product support to ensure greater peace of mind. Axis Communications has provided us with a sturdy solution and ongoing support from a wide reseller network.

Deputy Director

Mysore Palace Board-Mysuru.

Implementation

The installation by Bangalore Datacom team was done while the palace was fully functional with minimum disruption including cabling and trenching work. The installed cameras watch over the main part of the palace including the museum, gift shop, garden, kitchen, and more with video management software to record it. In addition, Axis’ ARTPEC chip can do the processing inside the cameras and there is no thirdparty involved, thereby making it more trustworthy. Unlike the old analog system, Axis network cameras are fully scalable for future system upgrades. The deployment was easy since Axis offers different types of cameras for different locations.

Axis partner Bangalore Datacom played a pivotal role in this implementation. With a heritage of providing top quality network solutions, BDC designed and implemented a holistic system as per customer’s requirements. Their flexible and customized services encompassed a large range of IP-based products which integrated multiple Axis cameras with remote monitoring capabilities and alarm indicators to manage huge crowds.

Smart monitoring

“Security is topmost priority in this sector considering the number of artifacts and the rich heritage associated with the Palace. Our priority is to provide safety to our visitors and patrons. We needed to upgrade to IP camera technology and high-quality cameras with a strong product support to ensure greater peace of mind. Axis Communications has provided us with a sturdy solution and ongoing support from a wide reseller network,” added the Deputy Director, Mysore Palace Board-Mysuru.

“Our primary concern was to protect the Mysore Palace and its intricate architecture from vandalism. We wanted to devise a surveillance solution that provides continuous monitoring, automatic security and the highest safety standards.”

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