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Camera

For the Nedap Access Control Integration Package we will use the Edge Cameras equipped with Embedded Face Recognition, specifically using the SmartFace Embedded Stream Processor. They allows us to keep the server hardware requirements at the minimum, while providing high quality face recognition.

Power

Connect your camera into the POE enabled switch using a common ethernet cable. The recommended switch does have POE enabled.

Network Configuration

Set up the network settings of the camera to match your desired network architecture. Look at sample of network configuration. The default IP address of most AXIS cameras is typically set to 192.168.0.90. However, if no IP address is assigned or it conflicts with other devices, the camera may obtain an address via DHCP if a DHCP server is present on the network.

To locate the camera, AXIS provides a tool called AXIS IP Utility or AXIS Device Manager that can help find and configure the camera’s IP address if needed. If you’re unable to access the camera, it may also be necessary to reset the camera to factory defaults, which will restore the default IP address.

You can change the IP Address manually without using any external tools. You need to connect the powered camera (POE) to a network, so it is reachable by your device, such as laptop, or one of the NUCs. If your network is not DHCP enabled, we suggest to set temporarily your device’s IP Address to be within the same range, such as 192.168.0.150.

Visit the camera’s ip address, using it as URL in your browser 192.168.0.90, where you are prompted for setting up the password. Set new password for the root user as per password quality requirements.

Within the camera web UI, navigate to the System, Network where you can see the IPv4 setup. Use the IPv4, where you can define IP address, Subnet mask and Router (Gateway) to match the IP Address Configuration. Click Save.

After succesfully applying the updated network configuration, you will need to connect to the new IP Address. To do so you will need to update the IP Address of the connected device (NUC/Laptop) to be within the right range. For this sample within the range of 192.168.17.*.

Position

We are aiming at positioning your Edge cameras correctly to avoid common facial biometry challenges. More information about where and how to mount and setup a camera is available here. This includes information about how to set up focus, lighting, colors and zoom.

SFE Stream Processor

An Edge camera is a Smart camera using the SmartFace Embedded (SFE) Stream Processor. The SmartFace Embedded (SFE) Stream Processor is a face recognition pipeline processing camera input and performing real-time face recognition on edge devices, like smart cameras and AI boxes.

We will install the SFE Stream Processor on each Smart Camera. Please follow instructions below how to ensure the camera’s firmware is up to date and how to install the plugin.

Firmware

To successfully install the SFE Stream Processor Plugin for Axis, ensure you have the camera updated to firmware at least with the version: 11.11.73.

Install

Instructions on how to install SFE Stream Processor on supported Axis camera are available here. If you prefer a video guide, it is available below:

Installing SFE Stream Processor on a camera includes obtaining and applying a license for each camera. More information about the process of obtaining and applying licenses is available here.

Connect to MQTT Broker

Once the plugin is installed you can configure it to connect to the SmartFace MQTT Broker. The SmartFace MQTT Broker has the same IP Address as the SmartFace Platform server. Then click the LAUNCH button to start the SFE Stream Processor.

Populating Cameras into the SmartFace

Each installed camera needs to be added into the SmartFace Platform. Please follow the steps to do so.

Configuring Cameras

Added Edge cameras can be configured. Detailed manual is available here. There are several recommended configurations optimized for the Event security. Please consider applying the configuration below:

  • Face processing : Enabled
    • Face save strategy: Balanced
    • Min face size: 20px, Max face size: 300px
  • Messaging : Enabled
    • Strategy: On new and Interval
    • Interval: Optimal (250ms)
  • Send crop images : Enabled
  • Send full frame images : Disabled
  • Watchlists matching & synchronisation: Enabled
    • Enable Watchlists you want to be able to open the doors. Set a matching threshold for all the Watchlists.
    • This will also make the cameras synchronize Watchlists from the server and load the selected databases into camera
    • This is not suitable for large watchlists as it is limited by available memory in the cameras

Liveness

The Liveness Check is a process of determining whether the presented face is a real person, or if the presented face has been faked during some kind of so-called spoof attack. This process is sometimes also called a Spoof Check.

A good starting position holding a good balance between False Accept Rate and the False Reject Rate would be set to 84. More information about passive liveness threholds is available here.

To set the Liveness/Spoof check, set it for each camera as per instructions.