Introduction

This section explains the utility of Camera Areas, their various purposes, and how to create/configure them.

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Overview

Radar sensors and cameras are also often located separately and so the former may be able to ‘see’ regions that the latter cannot. In addition, there may be trees, fences, walls forming visual obstacles through which one or more cameras cannot view. For these reasons, you can create a Camera Areas in which you define the regions that any cameras can operate within.

Similarly to Detection and Exclusion Areas for the Radar Sensors, Camera Areas have Public and Private Areas. Private Areas are areas excluded from the Camera's focus, whereas Public Areas specify where the Camera can only focus.

Camera Areas are not like other Areas, however, in that they are created around/within a specific entity - an individual camera.

Areas are usually created, and then assigned to an entity or purpose. Therefore, Camera Areas cannot be created through the Areas | Creating an Area process.

Creating a Camera Specific Area

To assign a Camera Area to a particular Camera, the Area needs to be created in that Camera's settings.

1. Enable the Config Function. Select the Areas folder in the Configuration Tree, then select New in the configuration panel.
   
   

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2. In the configuration panel, select New Area.
   
   

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3. This will open the New Area Wizard window. Name the area, and select Camera for Area Type. Select Finish.
   
   

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4. The new Camera Area will appear on the PPI.
   
   

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5. Use Creating and Editing Entities to configure the Camera Area shape, the select Save.
   
   

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6. The new Camera Area will also be listed in the Configuration Tree.
   
   

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7. Next, enable the Config Function, then select the desired Camera in the Configuration Tree (or on the PPI Display).
   
   

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8. In the Configuration Panel, the Camera Settings will appear. Maximise the Areas section.

9. The Area will appear as a grey row in the Areas table. Select Edit, then check Selected to assign the new Camera Area to the Camera.
   
   

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10. Select Private if you wish to create a Private Area. By default, Areas are created Public. Fill colours are only visible on Public Areas - Private Areas have a grey cross-hatching fill.
    
    

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11. Select Save when finished. Your new Area will only be visible on the PPI when the Camera is selected. The second image is a graphic translation of the first image, as used in Camera Area diagrams below.
    
    

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Camera Viewer and Private Areas

If the Camera Area is selected as Private, the Camera’s view will not ‘look’ into the area enclosed by the Camera Area.

Below is an example of the 'journey' a viewer will display when it goes through a Private Area.

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In reality, the Camera Viewer will stop panning when it reaches a Private Area. The Camera will pause until a target moves out of the Private Area, and then it will swiftly pan to start tracking it again. Thus the Private Area is visible but briefly, as a blurred pan.

Public versus Private

Below are some examples of how Public and Private Areas can be used, including potential mistakes that can be made when employing Camera Areas. The graphics are to simplify the examples - compare an actual PPI to its graphic version.

1. Public Areas: designate the only zones that the Camera can focus on. Ergo, anywhere else within the Camera's scope, or within the detection area, is incidentally made private. In the example below, a track is in one of the Public Areas, and so the Camera can focus on and follow the track. Due to the Camera view, this means the Camera does incidentally view the area between the Camera and the Public Area, even though it isn't specified public. In the 'real life' AdvanceGuard® example, the Public Area is represented as a magenta dashed perimeter. Note that the Camera no longer follows the track in the second image, despite the track still being within the Detection Area.
   
   

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2. Private Areas: designate zones in which the Camera cannot focus or follow tracks. Therefore, anywhere else within the Camera's scope, or within the detection area, is incidentally made public. In the first example below, a track is passing through an incidentally public area, and so the Camera follows it. However, the Camera's line of sight infringes on a Private Area. If you desire the Private Area to be completely invisible, it must instead be drawn to encompass all of the Camera's angle of sight. This is illustrated below in the second example.
   
   

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3. Public and Private Areas: are rarely necessary given how the introduction of one incidentally creates the other, and vice versa. However, there are some examples where both Public and Private Areas may be employed. In the example below, a Public Area has been drawn within the detection area, and encompasses about 135° of the Camera's range of vision. However, within the Public Area is a building that requires privacy e.g. Lavatories. Therefore, a Private Area has been drawn within the Public Area to encompass the angle of the Camera.
   
   

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