CCTV GIVES RACERS AN ADDED BENEFIT

Dec 1, 2005 12:00 PM

When race officials at the Dromo One indoor race track in Orange, Calif., wanted to crack down on overly aggressive drivers, they did not realize they were about to create a new way to entertain the crowd.

Racetrack officials teamed with Honeywell, Syosset, N.Y., and California Systems Integrators (CSI), Irvine, Calif., to install a new DVR, 15 stationary cameras and one Honeywell RapidDome PTZ camera. But the surveillance system ended up doing more than catching aggressive drivers in their cart-style cars — it enabled offcials to broadcast footage of the races on Dromo One's large plasma screen.

The camera can travel at speeds of up to 400 degrees per second and zooms in and out, making it easy to identify a car number when there is a complaint of aggressive driving on the course.

“Before, drivers would complain about getting bumped by speed demons on the racetrack, but management could not pinpoint the aggressive driver because the image was fuzzy,” CSI principal Mark Ostgaard says. “Now, drivers cannot argue when the incident is played back instantly.”

Using a joystick, they set the camera to follow an automated tour around the racetrack. Then, using the camera's “mimic” function, they save the automated tour route in the camera's memory, so no joystick or operator is needed.

In the future, Dromo One plans to use footage captured by Honeywell's RapidDome cameras to create DVDs for patrons who want a memento of their race.

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© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

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