Protecting the G8 Summit with Lothian & Borders Police
16th December 2019
The Challenge
As part of their management and security of the G8 summit, Lothian & Borders Police, Scotland’s second largest force, needed to provide video and audio surveillance throughout the city; including areas where there was existing CCTV coverage as well as areas where there were no cameras or infrastructure.
Given the security operation was of the highest priority, it was imperative that any solution was secure and that Lothian & Borders Police maintained control of each and every camera utilised.
The Solution
Encrypted wireless technology needed to be deployed in order to securely transmit video and audio from various surveillance sites to multiple command and control locations. Lothian & Borders own cameras, as well as cameras provided by Tellemachus, would need to be utilised in order to give the additional coverage required.
The Tellemachus team worked closely with Lothian & Borders Police to carefully plot and design a high bandwidth wireless IP backbone, to cover the areas where the additional cameras were to be located
Specially trained Tellemachus rigging engineers deployed the wireless radios, using a range of wireless frequencies and appropriate antenna at multiple locations around Edinburgh.
This “temporary” IP backbone allowed high quality video and audio to be securely transmitted to command and control rooms across Edinburgh, together with control of the PTZ cameras.
Senior Tellemachus engineers worked together with Lothian & Borders personnel to create facilities within command & control rooms, where the live video and audio feeds could be viewed, reviewed and cameras controlled. Facilities for recording the video and audio feeds were also included.
Tellemachus engineers delivered solution-specific training to Lothian & Borders personnel and remained on-site throughout the whole of the event, in order to provide support services as and when required.
Following the success of the use of the wireless network during the G8 summit and the associated protest marches, the equipment provided has been re-used several times since.
The Benefits
- Secure wireless IP infrastructure
- High quality video and audio transmission
- Transmits from and to multiple locations
- Control of PTZ cameras
- Recording provided for evidential purposes
- Integration with existing CCTV equipment
- Rapid and easy to deploy
