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Japanese International School Düsseldorf
With vandalism and violent crime on the rise, safety in schools has become a hotly debated topic around the country. Parents’ associations and police departments are actively pursuing better entry controls and stronger security measures. Joining forces with Mitsubishi Electric, the Japanese International School, located in the Niederkassel district of Düsseldorf since 1971, has developed and implemented a comprehensive security solution offering schoolchildren optimal protection from trespassers.
All students at the day school in Niederkassel are Japanese – for the most part children of Japanese parents who work in Germany for a limited period. Most of them attend the Japanese School until they are 14, and then either return to Japan or transfer to the International School in the neighboring district of Kaiserswerth.
Only a few years ago, the school’s gates used to be open during the day. The grounds were accessible to anyone. Unfortunately, this led to unwelcome visitors on the school grounds, a security risk which was no longer deemed acceptable. In contrast to many German schools, the school management’s prime concern was not internal vandalism or violence between students – the Japanese pupils show an impressive level of discipline. A much greater issue was the strong need for protection and security felt by teachers, parents and students alike – an attitude fueled by reports of violent intruders in schools around Asia.
To address these concerns, the school first installed an access control system consisting of an intercom and a black-and-white camera installed at the main entrance, which transmitted images to a monitor in the gatehouse.
However, with approximately 400 students and an additional 50 teaching and administrative staff members passing through the gates daily, the procedure proved too time-consuming and basically inadequate.
Then Peter Langhein, Product Manager Security at Mitsubishi Electric, personally took on the design of a new solution. He describes the project’s parameters: “The school wanted a system which could be easily integrated into the existing security installation. The new products and the existing system had to be compatible, and a gate camera had to be included in the new installation.” Together with the school administration, the decision was made to develop a new, more efficient method of entry control.
The team turned first to the most pressing problem: speed. The solution: a combination of key rings featuring contactless swipe cards and a revamped video surveillance system. All legitimate visitors – students, teachers, office and administrative staff, day visitors – were issued with key rings which provide access to the school when swiped across a contactless reading device. (The developers opted for the IF-231 by Interflex Datensysteme GmbH & Co. KG.) The system checks the data stored on the card’s chip to determine whether the carrier is allowed access, in which case an automatic door opener is activated. All usage information is transmitted to a PC to allow for rapid and easy tracking of suspicious persons.
The electronic key cards are colour-coded and immediately identifiable as belonging to students, school employees or visitors. Each card is imprinted with a number ID, allowing school personnel to determine the owner by consulting a database. Lost or stolen cards can be blocked to prevent misuse. Thanks to the new installation, the school gates no longer need constant visual monitoring. Visitors without entry cards continue to use the old intercom system.
The legacy system’s second weakness: surveillance was limited to the front gate.
Other access points required staffed supervision to ensure that unwanted visitors were kept out. The system did not record surveillance images for later identification of trespassers. To close this security loophole, three dome cameras of Mitsubishi’s BDC 4803VFD colour series were installed at the school’s main entrances, supplementing the existing camera located outside the main gate. These high-performance CCD cameras allow 360° surveillance of the area. The inconspicuous devices blend in perfectly with their environment, avoiding the feeling of constant observation often associated with CCTV systems. The cameras also enable security personnel to track which entry route intruders have used and what rooms they entered. However, for the main gate, where lighting conditions are variable and recording continues through the night, a black-and-white camera still proved to be the most appropriate choice.
Today, Düsseldorf’s Japanese School is protected by round-the-clock video surveillance. The four cameras are connected to a Mitsubishi DX NT400E, a high-performance, maintenance-free digital recorder with a recording speed of up to 25 images per second. The recording function of the black-and-white camera is activated by motion detection and alert contacts – for example when someone tampers with the card mechanism.
The Mitsubishi DX NT400E proved a perfect solution for the school: not only does it deter potential intruders – the system’s user-friendly DX-PC25 software also integrated effortlessly with the school’s existing network. Today, several people can view and check recorded images from their own workstations. They can choose from a variety of viewing modes, such as split-screen mode, which shows all four channels at once, or single-camera mode.
The removable hard disk is a further advantage of the DX NT400E: when the current hard disk is full, staff replace it with a spare disk and store it in the archive for a month. Once the second disk is full, it is replaced by the first one. In this way, a month’s worth of images can be stored at one time for possible later reference.
The DX NT400E records up to 25 images per second. The recorder has two alarm recording modes (Alarm Channel and Alarm Plus). Users can prioritize cameras and select specific recording speeds in case of an alarm. And finally, the digital recorder’s compact dimensions make it the ideal device for areas with limited space.
Technology used:
Mitsubishi Electric NT400
- Maintenance-free
- Optional removable HDD tray
- Built-in web server
- Recording system: digital wavelet, 720 x 288 pixels
- Recording speed: 25 images per second
- Includes motion detection
- Dimensions (W x D x H): 300 x 343 x 88 mm
- Recording activated by motion or alarm contact
- 5 levels of image quality to choose from
Mitsubishi BDC 4803VFD colour dome cameras
- 1/3-inch Sony Super HAD chip
- 480 lines of colour
- 12 V DC power supply +/– 10%, approx. 180 mA
- Simple ceiling or wall installation
- Automatic white balance
- Dimensions: 120 mm diameter
- White or black casing available
IF-231 card reader
Swipe cards
