Open Security System

Introduction

This is a system which I thought of several years ago, in 1999 or so. Nobody's building it yet. The software was available but perhaps a bit expensive, back then (especially things like drivers and video codecs); today, it is probably all available as free/open-source modules which just need to be knitted together in order to do the job.

Summary

The basic idea is to use inexpensive web cams, an inexpensive internet connection, and an inexpensive shared hosting account to provide home security, monitored (as the cheapest option) by friends and family over the internet.

Key Features:

• online storage of all video feeds, accessible by date/time index for as long as the feed is stored
• server-side detection of internet failure, in case a clever thief "cuts the lines" before entering, with escalating alerts if the connection is not restored after a set time -- these should be fully configurable, but here's the general idea:
  • First warning to all users via IM and email
  • Second warnings via automated phone calls to various friendly phone numbers
  • Third warning to emergency neighbor number(s)
  • Fourth warning to local police department
• all software should be free/open-source
• all hardware should be off-the-shelf and (where possible) inexpensive

Details

Software

The basic structure is more or less client-server, with the user's computer providing a data feed to the offsite server. Monitoring of the data received is via the internet. The quick, universally-accessible way to do this would be via web browser; later, maybe a custom app could be written to do more interactive monitoring (e.g. realtime displays of data aside from video feeds)

• Components:
  • End-user (i.e. computer at the site): data collector & streamer -- collects data from whatever feeds are available
  • Server (i.e. somewhere off-site): data receiver, data storage, user interface (either just for data retrieval or
• Feeds -- depends on hardware, but here are the obvious possibilities:
  • Video (web cams) -- the heart of the system, really. You could do something useful without a webcam, but you'd lose most of the advantages of this system
  • Contact sensors -- showing if any doors or windows have been opened (as used in traditional security systems)
  • Sound sensors -- cheap microphones to record any sounds in the room
  • Impact sensors -- (actually a specialized sound sensor) contact microphones capable of sensing a finger touching glass or wood are about $2 at Radio Shack, though a bit of modification is needed (take apart a piezo buzzer; what you find inside is a contact mic). These could be used to detect door or window tampering, footfalls (especially on non-carpeted floor), etc.
  • Motion detectors -- commonly used in traditional security systems; probably computer-linkable units are available using x10 or some such.

Hardware required

• Client Computer, at least 450 MHz / 128 MB or so, at a rough guess; a smaller computer might be capable of supporting a single video feed, or a single audio feed, but obviously the more feeds you have, the more CPU power will be needed for doing compression on those feeds.
• Host Computer, offsite. This could be either just a regular computer with a broadband connection or a dedicated server. Possibly a standard web-hosting account (costing as little as $5/month) could be used; it all depends on how the processing work is split between client and server.
• Sensors for each of the feeds: Web cam(s), microphone(s), contact sensors.
• I/O Cards for some feeds: anything that doesn't work via USB, e.g. microphones will need extra sound cards; contact sensors might be accessed via parallel ports, but at least some sort of adapter will be needed. Better yet might be a box designed specifically for this application, taking in any non-USB feeds and sending them all to the computer via USB.

Services required

• Internet Connection, preferably broadband. A dial-up would work for a small number of feeds, but the video would have to be greatly reduced (fewer frames per second, or very low-quality compression).
• Watchers -- with this system, the user could employ either or both of the following:
  • Paid Service: This is the traditional method. The advantage of a paid service is that they are guaranteed to be monitoring 24/7. The disadvantages are (1) that they may take a significant amount of time to drive out to the monitored location, and of course (2) they charge for the service, anything from $20/month on up.
  • Friends and Neighbors: One of the key features of the Open Security System is that you may allow anyone you choose to monitor the security feeds, as their time permits; see the Open Monitoring section below.

Open Monitoring

One of the key features of this system is that it allows you to give anyone access to the security feeds. This could be one or more friends, family, neighbors, and even yourself if you have internet access while you're away.

An attentive friend might spot something amiss which a paid security service, with dozens or hundreds of clients, would never notice. Said friend might call you just to ask casually about something they'd noticed, while a paid security service would only sound an alert if there were clear signals of a break-in.

There's no need to restrict the viewing to just one person, even; if you have several friends who are willing to check in on your security system, any break-in would be much more likely to be seen as it was happening. In the open source world, there's a saying: "Many eyes make shallow bugs." With the Open Security System, many eyes make better security.

Being able to monitor your own home while away from it (be that out of town, out of the country, or even just at work) could be a significant aid to peace of mind. Imagine your neighbor's house is broken into one night -- you make extra sure to lock everything you possibly can, and put your valuables out of sight, but still all the next day at work you are wondering if your house will be next. With the Open Security System, you can find out right away if anything has happened, and take appropriate action immediately.

One clear advantage of using friends and neighbors to monitor is that it is free, and even guilt-free if the neighbor also uses the system -- neighbors could trade surveillance ("I'll watch your house when you're gone if you'll watch mine when I'm gone"), and of course any neighbor wants to know immediately if someone's house is broken into or even just prowled. (I can easily imagine neighborhood coalitions setting up webcams to patrol the neighborhood at large -- thus giving some real meaning to the "Neighborhood Watch" signs you often see in suburbia.)

Links

• Network Pan/Tilt/Zoom Camera: streams over the internet without a computer, but probably does not record off-site; provides only a single video feed, at a cost of $350 (as of this writing) which would buy you several low-end webcams
• Motorola Home Monitoring and Control review: a similar system, but overpriced
• NerdMan: heavy webcam user. Livia gave me this link; not sure if it's applicable or not. Saving it to look at later.