ACTi ACM-4201 Installation and operating instructions

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ACTi
Knowledge Base
Category: Application Note
Sub-category: Hardware, Application
Model: ACM-4201, ACM-4001, TCM-4201, TCM-4001
Firmware: N/A
Software: N/A
Author: Ando Meritee
Published: 2010/08/23
Reviewed: 2010/10/15
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How to Use Passive Infrared Sensor Cameras
Contents
Introduction
Where to Use PIR Sensor Based Solutions
How to Setup PIR Sensor Solution Using ACTi NVR
How to Setup PIR Sensor Solution Using Firmware
How to Avoid False Alarms or Missed Alarms
Additional Benefits of Built-in PIR Sensor
How Does PIR Sensor Work
PIR View Angle
Reference
Introduction
Have you ever wished that your budget friendly day-only cameras
could detect intrusions even in total darkness and make the intruder
clearly visible for video evidence recording? Now it is possible! All
the ACTi cube cameras come with built-in passive infrared
sensor (PIR) and with the terminal block for digital input and
digital output (DI/DO).
The built-in passive infrared sensor detects human movement by
sensing temperature changes over the scene, and works even in the total darkness. Human
body heat moving across the scene will trigger PIR sensor. The alarm signal will be sent to the
control center over the IP network instantly. As the digital output of the camera can be
connected to external lamps or alarm sirens, these devices will be instantly activated upon
the detected motion. As a result, the intruder who entered the guarded area in total darkness
will instantly be exposed for high quality video shooting.
In other words, instead of trying so hard to adapt the camera to poor lighting conditions
which quite often is a costly solution, you can simply turn the night into day when the
alarm is triggered and benefit from the best possible video quality in color mode!
ACTi Cube Camera with PIR

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Therefore, with the support of PIR sensor and DI/DO the ACTi cube cameras have become
professional 24-hour day and night surveillance devices. In the daytime you can benefit from
built-in video motion detection system while in the night time you can rely on PIR sensor. You
can even use both motion detection systems at the same time! The Megapixel models that
contain the above mentioned specifications are TCM-4201 and ACM-4201 while the VGA
models are TCM-4001 and ACM-4001.
The PIR sensor solution architecture is shown on the graph below:
To know more about how to connect external devices (lamps, sirens, etc) into digital output of
ACTi camera, please refer to the article “All about Digital Input and Digital Output”in ACTi
Knowledge Base.
PIR sensor can be used not only for detecting motion in the darkness, but it can even
be used effectively in daytime where it may produce much less false alarms compared
to video motion detection. Read more about it in the next chapter “Where to Use PIR Sensor
Based Solutions”.
Control Center
External Devices
PIR Camera
PIR Sensor Solution Architecture
IP Network
Motion detected by PIR sensor
Alarm notice sent to control center
Automatic external device activation

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Where to Use PIR Sensor Based Solutions
Below you can find a list of indoor scenarios where the PIR motion detection can do
better job than video motion detection. The common task of all scenes is to detect human
motion with PIR.
CASE 1: DETECT MOTION IN THE DARKNESS
This is by far most popular application of PIR sensor cameras. The human motion can be
detected in total darkness, after which the camera notifies the control center and turns on
the lights of the room that are connected
to digital output of the camera. The
intruder will be exposed clearly and the
cube camera can shoot a high quality
color video for evidence.At the same time,
NVR will automatically start to record the
clear video.
CASE 2: IGNORE MOVING OBJECTS BEHIND THE GLASS WINDOW OR DOOR
PIR sensor can help you keep the room guarded and
avoid false alarms even if there is motion outside the
window, such as tree leaves waiving in the wind,
heavy rain or snow, birds flying by, people walk by,
etc. In comparison, video motion detection cannot be
used in the same situation because all above mentioned
motions would trigger false alarms. Should an intruder
enter the office, the PIR will instantly detect it and the camera will process the alarm.
CASE 3: IGNORE SUDDEN LIGHTING CHANGES
The typical issue for video motion
detection is the sudden change of the
lighting conditions either in the
monitored room or in the nearby room
separated by a glass wall. This case is
not a problem for PIR –it will not
produce false alarms when the lights next door are turned on. At the same time, PIR will
still detect actual intrusions by humans.
The lights were turned on!
The lights are off next door
Ignore motion behind window
Darkness
Lights turned on!

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CASE 4: IGNORE FAR OBJECTS
Video motion detection system does not know which object
is near and which object is far –all the objects that move
regardless of their distance will trigger the video motion
alarm. PIR sensor sensitivity (configurable) corresponds to
the distance of the object. Therefore PIR can be used in
the scenes where we want to ignore the people in the
background while let the approaching person trigger
the alarm.
CASE 5: IGNORE THE MOTION OF ELEVATOR DOORS
In case there are cameras installed in hallways that point at
elevators, you might want the camera to detect human
activity but not produce any false alarms when an empty
elevator returns to the default stand-by floor and
opens the doors. The video motion detection will produce
a false alarm here while PIR sensor will not. Should there
be people in the elevator PIR will still trigger the alarm.
CASE 6: MONITOR AUTOMATIC MECHANICAL DEVICES
For the scenes with mechanical devices that operate
without the presence of humans you can consider using
PIR sensor instead of video motion detection to avoid false
alarms. The motion of mechanical devices does not
trigger the PIR sensor while the unauthorized entrance
of people does.
Machines work without human presence
Only nearby person triggers PIR
The elevator doors open/close

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It is important to realize that there are also lots of cases where the video motion detection is
recommended.
Scenes where the forbidden area has to be marked precisely –using video
motion detection it is possible to define the forbidden area on video display with the
accuracy of a pixel.
Use more than one motion detection region and manage their events
independently –while PIR considers the whole scene as one area, video motion
detection system allows defining multiple regions and setting customized event
responses for each region. For example, the camera that has two doors in its view
can be set up with two motion detection regions –the left door and the right door.
The scenes where the distant objects have to be detected –video motion
detection can detect far-away objects even if they appear very small.
Distinguish large and small objects –video motion detection has a function called
“threshold”by which the size of the triggered object can be defined. This way, it is
possible to detect movement of people while ignoring the movement of pets.
ACTi provides both video motion detection and PIR detection and these two functions can
even be used at the same time!

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How to Setup PIR Sensor Solution Using ACTi NVR
Note: If you do not have ACTi NVR installed yet, then we recommend to read next chapter
instead –How to Setup PIR Sensor Using Firmware.
Setting up PIR is very simple!
ACTi NVR version 2.2.57 or
newer supports PIR function of
ACTi cube cameras. You can set
up everything on NVR side
without needing to log into
camera’s web interface.
If you do not have NVR 2.2.57 or newer version yet, you can download it directly from
http://www.acti.com. It is good to know that the NVR Enterprise edition with remote access is
free up to 16 channels and the NVR Professional edition with local access is free up to 64
channels!
With the 4 simple steps, you can set up the whole PIR Solution using NVR only!
1. ADD CAMERA TO NVR LIST
Adding cameras to NVR is very easy; you can use the standard procedure of adding cameras
to list either by using manual mode or automatic mode in ActiveSetup program of NVR Suite.
Once the camera has been added to the list, the setup screen will look like below:

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2. ACTIVATE THE PIR FUNCTION INSIDE THE CAMERA
This step requires camera be connected to network so that NVR could access it and change
the settings there. Open Motion tab and click Get Motion Setting followed by Motion Setup.
After that you will be able to edit the fields of PIR Event. Check the PIR Event checkbox and
adjust the sensitivity and timer settings.The settings will be saved when Apply is pressed.
Please note that there is no
absolute rule when it comes to
adjusting the sensitivity. The
following table can be used for
reference.
Too low sensitivity may result
with missing the motion event
while too high sensitivity may
cause false alarms if the
camera is installed in an
environment with unstable
temperature. For more
information, please refer to the
chapter “How to Avoid False
Sensitivity
Distance to Object
0
OFF
1~16
1.5m
17~34
2m
35~56
2.5m
57~64
3m
65~73
3.5m (default sensitivity is 70)
74~79
4m
80~85
4.5m
86~88
5m
89~94
6m
95~97
7m or more
98~100
Highly sensitive, may cause false alarms;
not recommended for standard usage

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Alarms and Missed Alarms”. Once you have adjusted the sensitivity, you might need to decide
the timer value as well.The timer value refers to the time (in seconds) during which the camera
will not process new events.The purpose of this time limit is to avoid excessive and needlessly
redundant alarm communication between camera and the server. In this example, 30 seconds
is used as a timer value.
How does it work?
The actual motion
activity is marked
as blue in the timeline.When the motion occurs, the timer (red color) starts to count. If after the
end of time interval there is no more motion, the event will stop there and the camera will notify
NVR that it has returned back to normal mode. Should there still be a motion at the ending
point of time interval, the event will continue for another period of time interval.
The timer value is used not only for reducing redundant communication between the camera
and the server but also for avoiding false alarms in some cases. For example, when you
connect a conventional heat emitting lamp to digital output of the cube camera and you want
the lamp be turned on upon the PIR event, the lamp will be turned off after a certain amount of
time (the time length adjustment for digital output is explained in the step 3 of PIR installation).
The temperature change caused by the lamp turning off may itself trigger PIR sensor again,
creating an endless event loop. To avoid such endless event, it is recommended to let the PIR
timer value be bigger than the digital output timer value. For example, PIR timer is 60 seconds
and the digital output timer is 55 seconds. This way, the lamp has been turned off and the
temperature of the environment has fully stabilized by the 60th second when the camera is
ready to notice new events.
There is one more useful thing to know –NVR itself also has the filter to avoid redundant alarm
notices. As the minimum video recording length in NVR is at least 30 seconds, therefore NVR
has been designed not to respond to the events from the same camera within 30 seconds from
the start of the event. It means, if both PIR timer and digital output timer values are within 30
seconds then it does not matter which value is bigger –no endless alarm can possibly happen
due to de-activation of digital output. But if the timer values are more than 30 seconds then
make sure the PIR timer value is bigger than the digital output timer value in case you are
activating/deactivating external devices that may have impact on PIR sensor’s readings.
3. SET THE EVENT RESPONSE
Once you have configured the PIR as the event trigger, you can decide the appropriate event
responses. In this example, the event responses will be to activate digital output of the cube

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camera (turns on the light or opens/closes the door, etc) and notify the guard with the pop-up
video window one the NVR screen.
Open the Event Manager tab and click on PIR and the action panel will expand below it.
Check the Action checkbox and start activating the event responses. Check Trigger DO
checkbox and set the timer value –for example 25 seconds. After that, select the Pop-up
Window that would automatically close itself after 30 seconds. The settings will be saved
when Apply is pressed.
4. SET THE RECORDING SCHEDULE
The last step is the easiest –just define the time range when you want the NVR handle the
events and record videos. Please note that you need to have either “Schedule”or “Event
with Streaming”scheduling mode to make the alarm system work. If you choose the normal
“Schedule”mode then the NVR listens to the incoming events during all this time and keeps

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recording continuously regardless of the exact timing of the events during the given time period.
In the “Event with Streaming”mode NVR also listens to incoming events during the time you
defined (marked with orange color on the image below), however, it records videos only when
the events happen.
The image below shows how to set a schedule using “Event with Streaming”mode that is
active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week:
The settings will be saved when Apply is pressed.
After these 4 steps, close ActiveSetup and open ActiveMonitor –the PIR solution is fully
configured and ready to work! When human movement triggers PIR sensor there will be a
video window popping up in the ActiveMonitor and the command to activate digital output will
be sent from NVR to cube camera automatically.

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How to Setup PIR Sensor Solution Using Firmware
Although the PIR setup via NVR is very simple and convenient, there may be users who might
prefer setting up PIR using firmware interface of the camera instead. Besides, ACTi firmware
contains powerful Event Handler that can be used as an independent system to maintain the
events and the responses directly inside the camera without needing any NVR support.
Let’s choose a scenario where the camera will stream video or snapshots to FTP
whenever PIR sensor detects motion.
Such solution setup consists of following parts:
PIR sensor activation and configuration
FTP server setup in remote PC
Event Handler configuration
The example below is based on ACM-4201 with the firmware v3.12.15.
1. PIR ACTIVATION AND CONFIGURATION
When you log into the firmware user interface using the IP
address of the camera in the address bar of the Internet Explorer
browser, you will find Video Adjustment item in the firmware
menu.You can activate both video motion and PIR motion detection settings there.
Press MOTION SETUP
button to be able to
activate sensors and
change their settings.

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Here the PIR activation and
configuration is very similar to the
one that was explained in NVR
section in previous chapter.
The only difference you may notice
is the presence of two profiles.
Profile 1 (called Runtime MD) is the
default PIR profile of the camera.
The Event Handler always uses this
profile unless you create a
special Event Handler rule that
would switch camera to 2nd
profile (Event MD) instead. For
example, a profile with
increased PIR sensitivity
would be good for night time –
therefore you can set the rule
in Event Handler that
whenever camera switches to
night mode, it would use
Profile 2 instead.
Anyway, profile 2 is not the
topic of this article, therefore
we just activate profile 1 with the
default sensitivity 70 and trigger
interval of 30 seconds. For your
convenience, the reference table
of sensitivity levels is provided
here once more.
Once you have configured the PIR,
press Apply. After that the screen
looks like this:
Sensitivity
Distance to Object
0
OFF
1~16
1.5m
17~34
2m
35~56
2.5m
57~64
3m
65~73
3.5m (default sensitivity is 70)
74~79
4m
80~85
4.5m
86~88
5m
89~94
6m
95~97
7m or more
98~100
Highly sensitive, may cause false alarms;
not recommended for standard usage

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2. FTP SERVER SETUP IN REMOTE PC
If you do not have any FTP servers installed yet and you have never installed one before then
the following example may be very helpful in learning about FTP server installation.
First of all, you may visit http://filezilla-project.org/ and download FileZilla
Server setup file from there. Once you have downloaded it, execute the file
in your computer –it will launch the Setup of the FileZilla Server.
After reading and agreeing the License Agreement, simply use NEXT button all the way till the
end of the set up process without changing any settings

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This window pops up right after the end of the
installation. The purpose of this window is to
allow you to define how the FTP administrator
would access the system part of the FTP server.
Since it is your own PC anyway, just leave
everything as it is –no need for password here.
Just press OK.
After that, you will be redirected to the FTP server administrator’s page. In this page, you can
create accounts and their permissions to certain folders of this PC.
Click on the icon to add a new user.

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Click on the “Add”button below Users area and type the name of a new user and press “OK”.
After pressing “OK”, the name will be added to Users list. Now you can add a password for the
user by checking the Password area and typing any password you like.
The next step would be to assign permissions to access certain folders of
given PC for that new user. You could, for example, first create a new folder
to your Desktop, named FTP.

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Now, click on “Shared folders”and press “Add”, to show the path to the new FTP folder you just
created.
When you see the new path appearing in window named Directories then please remember to
give the full permissions for the user to work with the files and subfolders within the FTP folder.
When done, press “OK”.
The FTP Server has now been fully configured. How to test if the FTP server and the user
account actually work over the network?
For testing, copy one
sample file into your FTP
folder –for example, the
installation file of the
FileZilla server itself.
Then use another PC in
your network to access
this FTP server. In this
example, the local IP
address of FTP server
PC is 10.1.1.36

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In the PC with IP address 10.1.1.24 the testing connection to FTP server can be done simply
by using any web browser, typing the following into address bar:
ftp://10.1.1.36
After that you will be prompted to type user name and password.
Upon successful login, you will see the contents of the folder that the user has permissions for.
The FTP server part has been fully configured and validated. It is time to move on to the
firmware of the camera again in order to set up the Event Handler rule.

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3. EVENT HANDLER CONFIGURATION
It is to be noted first that the camera that we are configuring now has the local static IP
10.1.1.77 and with the mask 255.255.255.0.
In the firmware menu, please click on Event for accessing
Event Handler system.
There are 3 parts to configure here:
FTPd (account settings)
Upload video/snapshot (define the
uploadable content and destination)
Event rule (combines the schedule,
trigger, and response)
Let’s begin with the first one -
configuring the FTP account related
settings.
Type the IP address of the FTP
server together with user name and
password.The other settings (port 21,
passive mode, max connection time
= 10 –you keep them as they are).

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The 2nd step is to define the uploadable
content.
Remember to check “Enable
Video/Snapshot 1”.
If you would like to test the video
streaming to FTP first, then click on the
radio button named “Video”, and select
Upload image to “FTP Server”.
The length of the video –2 seconds
(Pre-Buffer time) before the event is triggered, and 10 seconds (Upload time) after the event is
triggered.
You may use following naming convention to auto-assign file names to captured video clips.
name-%YYYY-%MM-%DD@%hh%mm%ss
This way, every file name will be different since they will carry a different date and time code.
You may simply copy this line into the textbox of Image File Name section for your convenience.
Of course, you can rename the part “name”into something else if you like. For more naming
options, you may click on the hyperlink “Refer to name rule description”.
If you want the video to be stored in root folder of the FTP account, then mark Upload path of
the image file simply with “\”.
The last step of Event Handler setup is to
create the rule that would define the period of
time during which the PIR is “on duty”and
what should be the response when PIR is
triggered during “on duty”period.
Click on the rule ID 1 to define it.

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Setting up the rule is very simple –
since we want the PIR sensor be “on
duty”for 24 hours a day and 7 days a
week, therefore you do not need to
change the default settings for Cycle
of Time and Start Time. Keep them as
they are. Just remember to “Enable”
the rule itself!!
Choose “Motion”as the trigger type
and specify it by checking “PIR”.
Finally, check the “Upload
video/snapshots”and pick “Image 1”
that you defined earlier.
The whole system is now ready!! The PIR sensor of the camera is now 24 hours a day on
duty to detect any human motion and ready to stream video to FTP server when motion
occurs.
Let’s go and try it out! After walking across the room within the view of the camera, PIR will
detect your motion and couple of seconds later you will be able to find the RAW video file in
FTP server’s folder.
The last thing you might
wonder is how to do the
playback of those RAW
files.
You may use either
Archive Player of the
ACTi Utility Suite (free
software), or
ActivePlayer of NVR
(also free software).