The all-seeing surveillance camera

Most surveillance cameras must be panned to see what's going on in an entire room. This means the camera mount must be motorized and an operator must man the camera to make sure nothing is missed. An alternative, the Dove (digital omnidirectional video eye) from Egg Solutions Optronics, Paris (www.egg-solutions.com), records and displays a full 360° view at once. Outputs include Y/C and CVBS, and it handles MPEG-2 encoding, including TCP/IP connectivity. The camera has no moving parts and can send output over LANs without using a PC. Resolution is 1,024 3 1,024 pixels at 12.5 frames/sec in PAL; 15 frames/sec in NTSC. Output can be configured as full panoramic, two 180 scenes, or a "donut." The unit measures 3.5 in. in diameter and 5.9 in. tall, and can be used indoors or outside.