Leading edge CCTV manufacturer AD Group - the parent company of Dedicated Micros - has received the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category, for its advanced TransVu system, which is helping to tackle crime on the move.
The compact TransVu is a sophisticated multi-camera digital CCTV recorder, which can be fitted to a wide range of vehicles including: trains, buses, taxis, vans and heavy goods vehicles. Its key feature is total network integration that automatically downloads images and incidents, eliminating the need for time consuming manual archiving. Status reporting immediately highlights any tampering with the system, such as masking cameras, and also assuring operators that the system is always fully functional. GPS capability allows the vehicle to report its position immediately to base, while intelligent power management controls system operation without intervention by a driver.
Said AD Group's CEO Mike Newton: "The Queen's Award is a great honour for AD Group and we are particularly delighted that it reflects our position as a real pioneer in the CCTV industry. Our business thrives by being ahead of the competition, when we innovate - with TransVu being a prime example - it's not simply by adding a bell or whistle to a box but by introducing something genuinely new. "
TransVu has already been applied with impressive results in a wide range of applications, worldwide, including an award winning railway project where it was able to dramatically reduce vandalism on trains for Netherlands Railways. TransVu units were installed in Sprinter type trains on the busy Zoetermeer Stadslijn (City Line).
The outcome was extremely positive - 60% of commuter train passengers felt safer with the digital recorders and cameras installed and vandalism fell by 45%.
Another example of TransVu in action is helping to trap car thieves as part of a new Covert Capture Car initiative launched by Avon and Somerset Constabulary in the Bristol area, with the message that the next car that criminals break into could be a police car.
Large bus operators have also been able to use TransVu to identify fraudulent compensation claims, with an internal inertia circuit constantly logging acceleration, braking and turning of the vehicle providing a vital audit trail should the vehicle be involved in an accident.
TransVu even made an appearance at last year's Le Mans 24 Hours, where fitted to a MG Lola EX264 race car which won the LMP2 class, it underlined its ruggedness - so essential for transport applications - by continuing to recorde images despite the battering it received in such a harsh environment.
AD Group is also looking to the future with a new variant, TransVu Media, which allows advertising to be provided, on the move, to a commercially attractive audience. When the unit is installed in a bus, for example, it is possible for it to feed on-board display screens with stored advertising messages together with travel information, whilst simultaneously recording CCTV images from inside the cabin.
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