Mobile Control Room
Perseus Wireless Enables Security Video Access over Cellular Networks
By Khali Henderson

Perseus VideoServer and PerseusPhone

Marshall Merrifield is president and CEO of Clark Security Products, one of the largest wholesale distributors of security products for more than 50 years. In the last nine months, however, he has turned his attention to the possibilities of wireless video. His startup venture, Perseus Wireless, focuses on providing mobile access to security video — in essence breaking the boundaries of the centralized control room and making it possible for patrolling guards, off-campus execs or others to monitor critical cameras and take swift and appropriate action.

The system, which debuted in late March at ISC West, includes a VideoServer to transmit high quality, real-time security video over a cellular network to a specially modified PerseusPhone.

“Until now, wireless security has been tethered by distance, price and browserbased restrictions,” said Merrifield, the company’s CEO and co-founder in a press statement released at the spring trade show. “Our proprietary technology represents a leap forward in security, buffering and data compression that enables commercial and residential customers to have high quality, realtime video transmitted directly to their cellular phone at an inexpensive price point.”

In an interview with Public Venue Security following the event, Merrifield explains baked into the Perseus VideoServer and PerseusPhone is technology from PacketVideo Corp., a provider of standards-based software for the creation and distribution of one- and two-way video and audio over wireless networks to mobile phones and converged devices including PDAs. It also is infused with security features that allow partitioning of camera views so users only can see views within their network, based on clearance level. The player within the phone will not be activated if the user is not authorized, he says.

The PerseusPhone provides mobile access enhanced with secure authentication, intelligent buffering and advanced MPEG-4 compression to produce real-time, full-motion video. Customers may choose the Sony Ericsson P900 priced at about $800 or Nokia 3620 phones for about $300.

The Perseus VideoServer comes in wired and wireless versions — costing around $900 and $1,000, respectively — and can be connected to existing security cameras, CCTV systems and DVRs over standard cellular networks for display on the PerseusPhone. Merrifield says the wireless version is the “pièce de résistance” of the system since it highlights its mobility, offering facilities the ability to move the server and its attendant cameras at will.

Either way, the server has one input that could be a single camera or a DVR, which supports up to 16 cameras.

In one configuration (see diagram), the VideoServer can stream video to PerseusPhones via the Internet through a LAN or Wi-Fi connection, or it can bypass the Internet and connect directly to the cellular network. The video images are compatible with existing 2G, 2.5G and 3G wireless networks and presently run over the AT&T Wireless/Cingular network under an exclusive arrangement. “Seeing is believing,” says Merrifield, noting images are delivered at an average of 15 frames per second.

He says the real value of the system is overcoming the boundaries of the control room. In a large campus environment such as an amusement park, there are multiple control rooms, but usually they are not interconnected because of the overwhelming and expensive cabling requirements. To call a local camera, you must be linked into that control room or a fixed monitoring station.

With Perseus’ Wireless system, roving guards or even executives can see certain live or recorded video. This can be particularly important if an incident — theft or injury — involves an employee, and the human resources director who is not in the control room and, for liability reasons, needs to be involved in creating a response plan. It also can cut down on responses to false alarms, he says.