CCTV effectiveness study

The field of CCTV surveillance is topical and widely used in many different applications. The fundamental part of the CCTV system is a reliable image evaluation by a human observer, whose effectiveness is influenced by many variables. Optimization of the effectiveness is a multidimensional problem related to both technical and human characteristics. In many applied systems, the overall performance is affected by a real performance of technical system (image compression, channel transmission, etc.). On the other hand these technical systems have different optimization criteria than a typical video system. TNO Defence, Security and Safety (formerly the TNO Physics and Electronics Laboratory) initiated a project in which the influence of several technical variables on the operator's effectiveness was studied. The whole project was carried out in close co-operation with the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU). The paper demonstrates and summarizes selected experimental results and evaluated dependencies.