Beating traffic cams...not so easy.

Well, let's turn this into a new post instead of a comment.

Intercooler said...

Security Insider. You posted an entry on boing boing, indicating that IR LED’s would not interfere with CCTV cameras, like Pelco, Panasonic, etc…

I’m curious if you could state the effectiveness IR LED’s aimed at photo radar cameras would have. Both day and night conditions.

Thank you.
November 11, 2008 3:50 PM


Security.Insider said...

It depends on how the light hits the camera, the camera type, and the timing. The camera should automatically adjust to the light, if it has wide dynamic range, and most radar cameras do. The timing of most WDR's is slow however, so the IR light could disrupt the image at night if it was a quick pulse. During the day, you will see little effect, if any by shining any light into a camera. Most are setup to withstand direct hits from sunshine, and it doesn't get much brighter than that. I know where you're heading with this though. To beat a traffic cam, a speeding cam, at night, you'd have to trick the cameras own iris. If the camera is the kind that flash when you're speeding then you're not going to overpower them with another light unless it was a laser or spotlight, and good luck hitting a camera lens with a laser (the angle has to also be right to washout the entire image, we've done this in the lab)...all while speeding past. Also, most video surveillance systems have alarms setup to detect this. It ,technically, is called a video occlusion filter. The same type of filter that detects a camera knocked out of focus or other dramatic scene changes. Also, some cameras will have light blanking, where they will make a negative out of bright lights. So bright becomes black spots and dark becomes white spots. Most license capture systems utilize blanking, so you're not going to wash it out. Many video capture systems use thermal as well. If it is thermal, then IR will not effect the camera at all. Most, if not all, incorporate a ccd along with the thermal, so they'll catch the image one way or another, even if you use simple methods to beat the thermal. Check out the links below for more info on one of the more popular systems out there. (http://www.extremecctv.com/products_video.php?vid=9) In the meantime, realize the speeding cameras are ultimately there for everyones safety and we all share the roads. Keep the racing on the 1/4 mile, and less kids will die. Also remember, you never know when this might happen when road racing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdxmAq3TOjI

-Security Insider