Lighting Considerations for Security and Safety

With the recent daylight saving time clock change, it's easier to appreciate the impact of lighting when coming and going from work, parking, or when reviewing security camera footage...it's dark much earlier now!

No better time to consider the impact of lighting, or lack of it, at facilities where security and safety is a consideration. When the Theseus team thinks about lighting options, we consider visible light and infrared (invisible) light in our system designs as well as appropriate camera technical capabilities.

Visible light provides safety for pedestrians when walking around a campus or to and from parking areas. At the same time, it acts as a deterrent to criminal behavior. However, architectural design, light pollution, energy consumption, and cost are also considerations for organizations of all sizes.

Infrared light is often used in conjunction with security cameras where visible light is low or non-existent, yet security images must be captured. Yet another, less often considered option is thermal imaging. Thermal cameras can create an image regardless of any visible or infrared light, however they have limitations as far as image content and are used most often as advanced detectors. DORI must be considered when making decisions about lighting. DORI is an acronym that reminds us of what information we need to capture in a security camera: detection, observation, recognition, or identification. As you move farther along the DORI scale, more scene information is required such as increased pixels on target and even color.

Often, visible light sources will be activated on-demand based on one or more video analytics rule violations. For example, as a person approaches a fence line in an area where pedestrians are not welcome, the security camera, enabled with video analytics capabilities, senses a behavior violation like line crossing or loitering and automatically triggers other actions to occur through the integrated systems, like increasing or activating visible illumination, playing a pre-recorded audio message, and other actions. 

Contact our design team to discuss lighting considerations for your security program >>