In this article we explain how to configure a SAFIRE 2nd GENERATION counting camera.
Please note that all values to be modified will depend on the installation itself. Specifically, we are talking about light exposure, heights and angles, which are data that should not be overlooked, since they create important conditions for the system to work correctly and perform a satisfactory people counting function.
First we enter the configuration menu of the camera from its own web component.
Then we enter the light exposure menu. This value will vary depending on the physical position of the camera, that means, if there are windows where sunlight enters, we must take into account that we will not have the same light at 9:00 in the morning as at 17:30 in the afternoon.
In the following example of configuration we will see an approximate average that will have to change depending on the scene where the camera is mounted and the light received.
If the device is located in an area without windows and with artificial light, 1/250 can be maintained as the average value.
Next, we will enter the VCA section and enable the people counting to start configuring the counting area.
Once people counting is enabled, go to the people counting section and activate the people counting filter, and set the height calibration to manual.
In the calibration section, the height of the camera measured from the ground to the camera lens will be manually entered; at that moment, a red measurement box will appear, which cannot be moved, and that section will be where the people will be counted.
IMPORTANT: If we need to have a bigger area to cover (because a specific door is bigger or the step is bigger than the area to be monitored), we cannot falsify heights in the calibration to have a bigger red measurement box opening, because the camera would not count correctly. The only solution for these cases would be to install the camera higher (for real!) and calibrate it again with the new height measured from the floor to the lens; if there were no means to perform this step, we would have to put two counting cameras or anyway a sufficient number to cover the whole area.
We must take into account in those cases that we will have to help the cameras by providing means for the passage to be controlled and not to cross- count people from one camera to another, since we would not have a proper count, and we could have false counts in the cameras.
Once we have calibrated the camera according to the height, we will go on to draw the counting areas.
First we delimit the blue area inside the red one. We have to take into account that the two areas will NOT be able to touch each other, since the web component would give us parameter errors when saving the changes.
Once the counting area is drawn, we will adjust the areas A and B according to the direction of the people going, so that one of them (for example area A) is the entrance area while the other is the exit area. That is, people crossing from A to B are considered as entering while those moving from B to A are considered as exiting.
As shown in the example in the image below, it is ideal to try to leave spaces between the areas and not to join the lines, since the team has to analyze the passage of people between areas.
Once everything is finished, we would have the camera ready to count people, additionally we could get into advanced configuration and modify measurements to try to avoid counting animals and filter them by size of people or children. It should be noted that according to the example shown in the image, people measuring less than 120 cm will not be counted (value certified by the manufacturer).
Finally, if we need to set the counters to zero for testing, we can go to the overlay and capture section and press the manual reset button in thereset OSD menu, and the inputs and outputs will be set to zero.
We can also program a schedule that would be linked to the establishment's schedule so that the counters are set to zero once no one is in the establishment.
