Video trickling: an innovative edge storage solution

As like the Genetec Federation™ feature concept, we have developed another great innovation, pushing edge recording to the next level with video trickling. Most edge recording or edge storage solutions only focus on uninterrupted recording but do not necessarily offer new innovative ways to deploy IP video solutions.

Diagram showing video trickling concept

Video trickling is a new concept we have created which enables the security manager to define when, how, and how much recorded video will be transferred from the cameras or DVR to the Security Center Omnicast™ server. Administrators have the flexibility to decide which video should be transferred and how and when the transfer will occur. This flexibility offers a bunch of new video surveillance scenarios that were not possible before.

Multiple locations / Cloud computing

It's not easy to deploy an IP-based system with only a few IP cameras per locations. Most of the time, the WAN is widely used during business hours. IT doesn't want to stream the cameras over the WAN to a remote server and it's expensive to install and maintain a VMS server in each location for only 10 cameras.

With video trickling in Omnicast, a single server, installed centrally, can be configured to automatically move video from the IP cameras or DVR only at night. This architecture prevents video lost due to network congestion without impacting the business. Security managers can even filter the recorded video which can be used to limit the amount data transferred at night. Eg:

Transfer only video with motion activity or analytics events.
Transfer any video clips that have been reviewed by an investigator.
Transfer only video recorded between 9am to 5pm

Video trickling over a WAN/VPN

Unreliable networks

The system can be configured to retransmit video as soon as you reconnect to the IP camera or DVR. This configuration is very useful for unreliable networks (3G, wireless) but also to transfer the video recordings if the Omnicast server is not running for a short or long period of time.

For most cameras manufacturers, the video trickling feature is using TCP which reduce the risk of video transmission artifacts due to packet loss.

Video trickling over a wireless/3G network

Multi-tier storage

Video trickling is flexible enough to provide a complete multi-staged recording system by leveraging edge storage.

The system can be designed to keep high-quality videos at the edge and only transfer video related to an event, such as motion, playback review, bookmark, analytic event, alarm, or input pin. And of course, it's possible to configure the amount of video transferred before and after the event.

Video trickling diagram showing prioritized recording

Using Omnicast Auxiliary Archiver and multi-streaming capabilities from the camera, the system can record on a server 24/7 at a lower resolution and only transfer high-quality recordings tied to an event.

Serverless in-car recording system

System integrators can use Omnicast in mobile applications by only installing IP cameras inside a vehicle (bus, train, metro...) The solution can then be configured to transfer video as soon as the Omnicast Archiver can communicate with the cameras. So, the video transfer will automatically occur only when the vehicle arrives back at the depot.

Because the transfer can be initiated through a dry contact, a macro, event to action... it's possible to configure the system such that live streaming over 3G is possible for emergencies, but recorded video is always transferred when the vehicle is back at the depot.

Video Trickling in vehicles

This reduces the amount of hardware required in a vehicle and simplifies this installation. This solution competes well with DVR-based solutions in public transit applications.