Plymouth Cattewater Harbour Commissioners required live CCTV coverage of a tidal body of water to monitor anti social or dangerous behaviour on the water. As the location was not able to be connected to the harbour Wifi network due to geographiy Outersight used a secure VPN connection over a public 4G service. The camera used was UK built and comes with a special marine coating to withstand the harsh salt spray environment in the South West of England.
Projects
Case Studies
The Ministry of Defence asked us to provide camera systems to monitor the welfare of Grey Seals during a military exercise. Working closely with the experts at the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) of St Andrews University we designed and built two separate systems each with two PTZ cameras. 24 hour rercording and live viewing was required and due to the remote location it was powered by solar panels and a wind turbine and connected over the 4G mobile network. to complicate matters we were not permitted to penetrate the ground due to unexploded ordnance risks so everything had to be free standing and ballasted with sand bags. We were given just over three weeks to design, source equipment and install before the exercise commenced. Fortunately our manufacturer partners are mostly UK based.
Forestry England at the request of an anonymous benefactor sought Outersight's expertise to install a 4K resolution camera with local recording facilities on a remote Osprey nest site in the Kielder Forest. Using the latest camera technolgy and low power IP video recording equipment linked to a Solar power generation capability. The project was completed in early March in readiness for the return of the Ospreys. Recordings are kept locally but the live images can be viewed over a 4G mobile connection as well. The Osprey Chick that Fledged from this nest in 2021 has already been sighted in Africa and will hopefully return to Kielder in the future.
Northumbrian Water asked Outersight to install a new Osprey nest camera on a nest that was successful last year. In the freezing kielder winds and with the assistance of Forestry England climbers we installed the camera Solar power system and Wireless links to enable the camera to be added to Kielder's 'OspreyNet'. There are now 7 nests in the area with cameras installed.
Viewing of the live images will take place at the Tower Knowe Visitor Centre where a new log cabin is being installed to house 'Osprey Watch'. Ther camera provides closeup views of the nest with a scenic background featuring Kielder Water.
Forestry England asked Outersight to provide specialist maintenance services to maintain their Network of Osprey nest cameras in Kielder Forest. There is a mix of standalone and networked cameras with the latter streaming back to a recording system at Kielder castle. The recorded footage is used for monitoring and protection . Most of the nests are solar powered and are not in areas that are easily accessible. Kielder water is an ideal hunting ground for the Ospreys and suppurts several successful pairs.
Marine Scotland Were looking for a way to monitor the impact of seals eating fish on the river Dee in Scotland. They asked The Sea Mammal Research Unit at The University of St. Andrews to put a Research methodology in place and came to Outersight to design and build the observation array and archive system.
Plymouth Cattewater Harbour Commissioners needed a network of cameras to provide an overview of vessel movements in the Cattewater and increase situational awareness and improve safety and security for all water craft. With five robust full HD PTZ cameras and two 180 degree 12 megapixel cameras installed along the waterway the harbourmaster can see exactly what is happening 24 hours a day. A network of microwave links brings all the live feeds back to the Harbour office where they can be viewed, controlled and recorded. The Harbour master has access to live feeds at all times using a phone or tablet.
The Longrunning BBC Autumnwatch used the grey seal colony of the Isle of May as a remote location for part of the Autumn 2020 show. For 2 weeks live footage from the island was used and had to be encoded an streamed from the island live. Outersight provides Internet connectivity to the island for the wardens and researchers and the BBC asked us to provide a high capacity 4G low latency uplink for the show. Even though the island is over 11KM from the mainland we managed to provide a 30Mbps uplink to enable the live feeds to be used for the show as well as for the webcams during the daytime.
The Scottish Seabird Centre as part of their environmental policy needed to move away from diesel powered generators on the Bass Rock gannetry. They asked Outersight to project manage the installation of a PV array and battery storage system to provide year round clean power to the cameras on this amazing offshore Gannet colony. The installation took place during a stormy November and as the sea was too rough all the equipment and 2000KG of ballast was airliffted on to the island by Helicopter.
The University College Cork's Beaufort Research Centre required a way to monitor a Grey Seal haul out site on the remote Blasket Isles on the West coast of Ireland. Outersight designed a self contained system powered by wind and solar power that used a 180 degree 10 megapixel cameras to cover the 1km long beach as well as a full HD PTZ camera to enable researchers to identify individual seals from their pelage. The live images were made available to the Blaskets Visitor centre as well as being viewed remotely from Cork
The Berry Head Nature Reserve had cameras installed many years ago and Outersight were asked to upgrade the cameras to robust PTZ full HD that had the ability to zoom in to the Guillemot colonies on the cliffs. With the help and expertise of the warden and the Trusts rope access specialist we installed the camera and fibre optic backhaul to the visitor centre ( conveniently located by the excellent Cafe). Visitors can view the live camera and staff and volunteers can move the cameras around between the various colonies.
The Scottish Seabird Centre required a live video link to the Isle of May to watch Puffins, Kittiwakes and shags in the spring and summer and Grey Seals in the winter. Outersight designed and installed the camera systems as well as the Microwave links, Fibre optic transmission, island power distribution and the camera control and display system on the mainland. Over the last 20 years Outersight has been responsible for maintenance and upgrading this system. Outersight worked closely with the Scottish Natural Heritage Wardens to ensure the camera installation did not disturb the birds or seals and did not interfere with the valuable research that is carried out on the island by the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) andThe Sea Mammal Reasearch Unit (SMRU) at the University of St. Andrews.
The Galapagos Conservation Trust and The Scottish Seabird Centre asked Outersight to compile a feasibility report into installing remotely controlled cameras on uninhabited islands within the archipelago. The cameras would be live streamed back to The SSC and other locations to help the GCT education aims and increase worldwide awareness of the importance of this unique place. A series of in depth site visits were carried out on mountain tops and secluded islands to establish best camera locations and radio paths.
The IMARES research centre located on the island of Texel in the Netherlands needed a remote camera system as part of a research project into human disturbance of Grey Seals on the Razende Bol sandbanks near the Dutch naval base of Den Helder.. Outersight designed and installed the system which linked to the internet within the naval base. The camera was powered with a solar panel array and an EFOY Methanol fuel cell. Outersight have carried out several other projects with IMARES
The Welsh Wildlife Trust Wanted to have remote controlled cameras on the Island of Skomer to enable visitors who could not access the island to get a flavour of the wonderful birlife that inhabits the island. Outersight designed and installed a 3 camera system that included 2 PTZ cameras and one fixed Manx Shearwater burrow camera. We also included wireless internet facilities for the researchers and wardens who are stationed out there for much of the year. The network was linked to the mainland via a pair of microwave links and the cameras used fibre optic cable to reach the buildings on the Island.