bcSistemas puts IP surveillance technology at the service of biology at the Barcelona Zoo

The Barcelona Zoo has successfully completed the mating of two of its Komodo dragons after the birth of twelve offspring of this saurian in its facilities., with video surveillance technology from the IT professional services integrator, bcSistemas, as a witness.

bcSistemas has helped the veterinary department of the Barcelona Zoo with the captive reproduction of a pair of Komodo dragons, thanks to the installation of a CTTV IP system for image capture and real-time monitoring. This is the second park in Spain where a baby Komodo dragon is born in captivity and the sixth in Europe.. Este nacimiento se produce en el marco de un proyecto más amplio del centro para visualizar en tiempo real diferentes zonas de interés, assess animal behaviors and act in case of events that require it.

With this initiative, The Barcelona Zoo has managed to control the mating of a pair of Komodo dragons, by installing cameras in different locations. In the outdoor enclosures where each specimen resides, allowing to record if there was copulation and how it developed while monitoring if there was damage or fights between them; in interior areas, where two high-definition cameras could record that the eggs were laid without problems, since it is common for the female to end up devouring them and , then, be able to act; and in the incubators where the eggs were transferred, with the objective of viewing and recording during 24 hours their evolution in the process of hatching and birth of the young.

Jaume Bordell, corporate director of Barcelona Information Systems at Serveis Municipals, on which the Barcelona Zoo depends, has pointed out: “bcSistemas' ability to understand and adapt its project implementation process to the needs and particularities of each species has been key to making the initiative a success.”. In the case of the Komodo dragon, era básico disponer de un sistema que nos permitiera actuar ante cualquier posible complicación, because its reproduction in captivity is quite exceptional, “as the statistics show”.

Milestone IP Recording System

bcSistemas has carried out an implementation based on professional security products with cameras of different specifications, according to each need – since the initiative included in the first phase the installation of them in different locations to monitor different animal species, from wild dogs to komodo dragons, passing by elephants, giraffes, gorillas or anteaters, a hardware-based IP recording system, and a global management software based on a client-server architecture, accessible through an open and easy-to-use interface, for viewing cameras in real time, timely recording of images in open formats, and the possibility of taking snapshots for quick responses.

This Milestone X-Protect Enterprise IP recording system that allows you to have as many distributed servers as you want within the same network, It has no limit on cameras and allows the caregivers of each animal to access the cameras of their interest with a simple client application. (Milestone Smart Client), It facilitates the import of plans to be able to more easily manage the areas to be controlled and offers easy review of the recordings., as well as activating them, stop them and export them in open and standard compression formats, widely supported by the vast majority of players, facilitating its dissemination in virtual and printed media.

From a communications point of view, bcSistemas also takes advantage of the zoo's existing IP transport infrastructure to support camera traffic, has incorporated fiber runs and WIMAX antennas to connect with the different locations, creating a “private and secure” environment for communication between the cameras and the recording system. It is necessary to highlight the importance of the advanced IP communications layer in this type of IP Video Surveillance project., In many cases, their success depends on their good design, even above the elements of image capture or storage..

According to José Antonio Illarregui, managing director of bcSistemas, “This is not the first time we have worked for the Barcelona Zoo, in fact, we have been collaborating for more than 7 years contributing the most avant-garde IP surveillance technology to biology in order to turn this Zoo into one of the most important in the world”.

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