Raytec Infra-Red lighting has been installed in a specialist surveillance system to monitor Osprey nest activity in ‘The Friends of Island Beach State Park’, Iowa, USA. The whole system is powered exclusively using solar power.

The State Park wanted to commission a high resolution Pan/Tilt/Zoom camera observation system to transmit live footage of the nest back to their visitor centre. One of the desired requirements was being able to clearly observe the birds nesting at night.Mains power was not available, so all equipment needed to be powered by renewable energy.

JES Hardware Solutionsbased in Florida, USA,, expertdesignersof advanced, engineered security systems, were responsible for the design and installation of the system. They selected RAYMAX low voltage Infra-Red illuminators due to their high performance specification, zero maintenance requirement, long life and reliability (given the remote nature of the site), along with their ability to be battery powered.

Raytec’s low voltage IR units are powered directly from 12-24 V and were installed alongside an Axis P5534E camera. Solar panels at the base of the column charged two batteries during daylight hours so that the camera and lighting could run at night. The Raytec lighting produced high quality, powerful IR illumination, enabling the camera to generate excellent black and white CCTV images of the nest in total darkness.

The quantity and quality of the illumination needed to be sufficient enough to allow the video surveillance system to produce high quality footage at full frame rate. With a powerful output and controlled, even light distribution, the Raytec units allowed the Axis camera system to capture real time footage of the Osprey nest activity in excellent clarity and detail.

The reliability and ruggedness of the Raytec IR illuminators allows the JES high speed wireless camera bridge to deliver 720P video footage at 30fps to the park’s visitor centre 24/7 365 days a year.

“We were challenged with a power constraint as we were running on batteries,” comments James Sessions, President of JES Hardware Solutions, “but the Raytec IR lighting performed extremely well and the customer is pleased beyond their expectations”.