Alarm-related procedures

The following alarm-related procedures are included in this section:

Route video surveillance system alarms to NiagaraAX alarms
Route NiagaraAX alarms to a video surveillance system
Replay alarm video (Video Playback view)
Replay alarm video (NiagaraAX alarm console)
Disable and enable alarm events in a video surveillance system
Create a camera view on Px page (Live Video Player or Camera Widget)
Create a video multistream Px view

Route video surveillance system alarms to NiagaraAX alarms

This procedure assumes that you are connected to a NiagaraAX station with sufficient editing privileges and that the station has a valid video network installed and properly configured.

Refer to ‟Getting started with a Video Driver” on page 1-2 for more details.

NOTE: The following steps are written for a generic video driver and the term ‟Video Driver” refers to any video driver. Some details may not apply to all drivers. Exceptions are noted, where possible.

In the NiagaraAX nav tree, expand the station Config and Drivers nodes to display the desired video driver network node.
Under the video network node, expand the video device (camera for non-DVR cameras or DVR and camera for DVR cameras) to expose the Events node.

NOTE: If there is no Events node under the camera device, then the camera does not support importing video surveillance system alarms into NiagaraAX.
In the nav tree, double-click the Events node. The Video Driver Point Manager appears. If needed, refer to the NiagaraAX-3.x Drivers Guide for a detailed explanation of how to use this (Point Manager) view.

NOTE: Some video drivers do not require ‟Event Discovery”. With these types of drivers, Events appear immediately in the Video Driver Point Manager View.
In the Video Driver Point Driver view, click the Discover button at the bottom of the view. The Discovery job runs (if necessary) and any video Events appear in the Discovered pane.
From the Discovered pane, select one or more desired Events and click the Add button. The Add dialog box appears, displaying selected events as potential boolean points. If the video driver supports other point types (for example ‟string”) then you can select the supported point type at this time.
In the Add dialog box click the OK button. The Events appear in the Database pane and under the appropriate Video Framework Events node in the nav tree. For each point that is added, the out value of the point indicates the Event status. For example, the Event ‟out” value is set to true when an alarm event is occurring and false when an alarm event is not occurring.
In the nav tree, under the Events node, double-click on the Event point (‟Motion Detected”, for example) that you want to route an alarm from. The Event property sheet view displays.
In the Event property sheet view, add and configure an appropriate alarm extension (for example, the Boolean Change of State Alarm Ext) from the alarm palette. Using the alarm extension, you can route the alarm to the desired NiagaraAX alarm class in order to send the alarm notification to the alarm console. Refer to the NiagaraAX-3.x User Guide for details about configuring and routing NiagaraAX alarms.
If you want the alarm console to indicate that there is a stored video associated with this alarm, do the following:
- From the VideoDriver palette, drag a Video Alarm Ext Parameter onto the alarm extension component. When you drop it on the alarm extension, it automatically fills in the associated camera information.
- Leave the Start Recording property set to false since it is already recording.

Route NiagaraAX alarms to a video surveillance system

When NiagaraAX alarms are routed to a video surveillance system, the surveillance system should start recording or start protecting the video footage that occurs at the time of the NiagaraAX alarm. The video surveillance system uses its own pre-configured duration and alarm recording and protection duration time for this alarm. In this case, the NiagaraAX framework is integrated with the video surveillance system such that the video surveillance system handles the NiagaraAX alarm the same as it does any of its own native alarms.

NOTE: The remoteVideo feature (available in NiagaraAX-3.5.53 and later) allows the Video Surveillance Viewer component on a NiagaraAX station to view either live or recorded video from any recording device that is configured on a remote station communicating over the NiagaraAX Network. The local station must be licensed for the ‟remoteVideo” feature.

In the NiagaraAX alarm nav tree, double-click on any standard NiagaraAX control point that you want to route an alarm from. The control point Property Sheet view displays.
From the NiagaraAX Palette side bar, open the alarm palette and drag and drop a standard NiagaraAX Alarm Extension onto the control point and configure the following properties, as desired:
- To Offnormal Text
- To Normal Text
- To Fault Text
- To Fault Algorithm and Offnormal Algorithm (one or both)
- Alarm Class
From the NiagaraAX Palette side bar, open the videoDriver palette and drag and drop a Video Alarm Ext Parameters component onto the Alarm Extension that you added in the previous step. The Video Alarm Ext Parameters component appears as a property of under the Alarm Extension in the Property Sheet view (and nav tree).
In the Video Alarm Ext Parameters Property Sheet view, configure the properties, as follows:
- Camera Ord
  Click on the folder and browse in the Choose Camera... dialog box to select the camera that you want to route an alarm to. When you select a camera and click the OK button, the Start Recording option list appears.
  
  NOTE: When browsing in the Choose Camera... dialog box, if you see a video camera in the station but the Ok button is not available then that particular type of camera in its particular video driver does not support this feature. It is probably a very basic, stand-alone camera in that case and does not support any special alarming features.
- Start Recording
  Select true from the option list, unless the control point that is the alarm origination point is under the same video camera that you just selected in the previous (Ord) property (see Caution, below).
  
  CAUTION: If you select true for a point that has been imported from a video surveillance system, then you may duplicate the recording - since the video system has originally created the alarm and recorded the associated video footage. In this configuration select false, for the Start Recording property.
  
  When you select true, the Go To Preset option list displays.
- Go To Preset
  Select true if you want to have the NiagaraAX alarm signal the camera to move to a particular camera Preset point as a function of routing the NiagaraAX alarm into the video surveillance system. When you select true, the Camera Preset option displays.
- Camera Preset
  Select one of the preset options from the option list. The selection for this property may vary depending on the way that the particular video driver provides access to the camera presets.
  
  NOTE: Make sure that the appropriate PTZ Support properties are enabled on the camera that you are sending the alarm to.
In the NiagaraAX nav tree, expand the nodes: Station > Config > Services and double-click on the AlarmService component in the nav tree. The AlarmService Wire Sheet view displays.
In the NiagaraAX Palette side bar, open the videoDriver palette and drag a Video Alarm Recipient component from the Alarm folder onto the AlarmService Wire Sheet view.
In the AlarmService Wire Sheet view, create a link from the desired Alarm Class component (Alarm) topic to the Video Alarm Recipient component (Route Alarm) action. The Alarm Class component that you use in this step must be the same one that you designated in the control point Alarm Extension Alarm Class property (Step 2). Alarm routing from NiagaraAX to the video surveillance system is complete.

NOTE: If the Start Recording property is set to true on the Video Alarm Ext Parameters for the control point's alarm extension then the particular video driver will also be asked to request the video surveillance system to start recording or protecting the video feed per its internal alarm settings at the exact time when the Niagara AX alarm occurs.

Replay alarm video (Video Playback view)

The following steps assume that the Event camera extension has been configured, event points have been added to the Event Camera Extension component, and alarm events have occurred.

To replay alarm video from the Video Playback view, do the following:

In the NiagaraAX nav tree, double-click on the appropriate camera. The Video Playback view displays.
At the bottom of the view, click the Events button . The Browse Events dialog box opens, displaying a list of any events. Use the controls at the top of the dialog box to page up or down to find the event that you want.

NOTE: If you know the time of the event you are looking for, click the Search button in the bottom of the view and enter the time in the Time Index dialog box. Click the OK button to go directly to the selected playback time.
In the Browse Events dialog box, select the desired event and click the OK button. The event plays in the Video Playback view.

Replay alarm video (NiagaraAX alarm console)

NOTE: The remoteVideo feature (available in NiagaraAX-3.5.53 and later) allows alarms to be routed to a supervisor station and for the associated alarm video to be played from the supervisor alarm console. The supervisor station must be licensed for the ‟remoteVideo” feature and the remote station added under the supervisor’s Niagara Network.

To replay alarm video from the NiagaraAX alarm console, do the following:

In the NiagaraAX nav tree, expand the nodes: Station > Config > Services > AlarmService and double-click on the ConsoleRecipient component in the nav tree. The Alarm Console view displays a tabular list of alarms.
Select on the desired video alarm and do one of the following:

NOTE: Video alarms are indicated by the filmstrip with green arrow button icon (). Only video alarms have this icon.
- Click the Alarm Video button at the bottom of the view.
  This action opens the Alarm Video dialog box (Video Playback view) and plays the alarm video. The standard Video Playback controls are available at the bottom of the dialog box.
- Double-click the video alarm record.
  This action opens the Open Alarm Sources dialog box, displaying all open alarms associated with the selected alarm source. In this dialog box, do either one of the following:
  - Select the desired alarm record and click the Alarm Video button at the bottom of the dialog box. This action opens the Alarm Video dialog box (Video Playback view) and plays the alarm video. The standard Video Playback controls are available at the bottom of the dialog box.
  - Double-click on the desired alarm record entry. This action opens the Alarm Record dialog box, showing detailed information about the alarm. From this view you can:
    
    Click the Close button to close the Alarm Record dialog box.
    
    Click the Alarm Video button at the bottom of the dialog box.
    This action opens the Alarm Video dialog box (Video Playback view) and plays the alarm video. The standard Video Playback controls are available at the bottom of the dialog box.
Close all dialog boxes when viewing is complete.

Disable and enable alarm events in a video surveillance system

As part of the Video Framework API, video driver developers may implement a standard mechanism through which particular alarm events on particular video cameras are enabled or disabled from NiagaraAX. For some video drivers this allows motion detection to be enabled or disabled on a per-camera basis.

To enable or disable video surveillance alarm events using NiagaraAX, do the following:

If the desired Event point is not already under the Events node, refer to Route video surveillance system alarms to NiagaraAX alarms and add the desired alarm event point. For example, for some drivers you could add a ‟Motion Detected” point under the device Events extension.
In the NiagaraAX nav tree, double-click on the target Event point. The Event point Property Sheet view displays.
In the NiagaraAX palette side bar, drag the Event Detection Ctrl Ext component from the videoDriver palette and drop it onto the control point Property Sheet view. The Event Detection Ctrl Ext component displays under the control point in the Property Sheet view.
Select the control point Wire Sheet view from the view selector. The Event Detection Ctrl Ext is displayed on the Wire Sheet view.
Right-click on the Wire Sheet view and select New>BooleanWritable from the popup menu. The Name dialog box displays.
Click the OK button in the Name dialog box. The BooleanWritable point is added to the Wire Sheet view.
Link the Out property of the BooleanWritable control point to the Enable Detection property of the Event Detection Ctrl Ext. The alarm detection feature may now be enabled or disabled by the status of the Emergency Override action on the BooleanWritable control point.
Invoke the Emergency Active action on the BooleanWritable control point to enable the detection mechanism in the video field device for this particular event.

NOTE: You may link any Boolean logic (such as a Boolean Schedule) from within NiagaraAX to enable or disable the event detection mechanism for the particular type of event for the particular camera. It does not have to just be from a BooleanWritable as in this example.