Near-infrared camera for night surveillance applications

Abstract

Mostly today, illegal activities occur in the darkness of night. So how does one observe an area looking for lawbreakers at night when no means of visual sight is available? Using spotlights to see what is happening modifies the very behaviour that is being witnessed. Infrared cameras allow surveillance personnel to set back at a safe and unnoticeable distance and record the activity as it occurs, with minimal or no artificial lighting. The most popular and well known method of performing night surveillance is based on the use of night vision technique. In particular, near-infrared (NIR) cameras operate well in low light environments because the system provide their own NIR light sources. Consequently, this research was carried out to determine the suitability of NIR camera for night surveillance applications. The paper provides a discussion on the laboratory testing, data analysis and results of the use of NIR camera for 3D spatial data capture in low light conditions. Various NIR filter are used in this research. The result shows that the measurement accuracy is different for each NIR filter (715 nm, 780 nm, 830 nm and 850 nm) and similar for NIR filter-850nm and colour photographs. Consequently, the research suggests that the NIR camera and filter could be used as an alternative to colour photographs for night surveillance applications.