ABOUT US

Digital Barriers: The Basics

Get your questions answered with quick facts about our business, approach and views:

Where does Digital Barriers operate and how large is the business?

Digital Barriers is headquartered in the UK with regional offices and operations spanning Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Reported revenues for H1 FY12 were approx. £4.8m and around 160 people are employed across the business.

What are the origins of the Digital Barriers business?

Digital Barriers was established to provide advanced surveillance technologies to the international homeland security and defence markets. The business was formed by the team behind Detica Group plc, a FTSE250 specialist consultancy with a forty year heritage in the UK and US national security sectors – Detica was acquired by BAE Systems in 2008.

So what exactly does Digital Barriers do?

We design and develop innovative technologies that can capture, analyse and deliver intelligent surveillance information from remote, hostile and mobile environments. We also develop very specialist technology suited to large-scale surveillance schemes where the challenge is networking across wide areas and between many thousands of sensors; this applies to mass-transit and public safety schemes, force protection and national surveillance infrastructures.

Our solutions have particular applicability to specialist areas of intelligence, defence and law enforcement, and to the oil and gas and transportation sectors.

We invest in research and development of surveillance technologies – including image processing, biometrics, video transmission and wireless communications. We provide readily deployable or ‘out of the box’ solutions – such as remote covert or body worn surveillance – as well as configurable and bespoke solutions for specific projects. Our involvement in major projects extends beyond technology provision and into solution design, deployment and operational support services.

How does Digital Barriers deliver effective surveillance?

Our solutions provide information to improve awareness, monitor locations and high-value assets, and respond effectively to incidents. We enhance and combine a range of sensory inputs – including visible-band, thermal, spectral, audio and seismic – with image processing to create a surveillance picture in a range of operational and environmental conditions. We provide the means to transmit and integrate surveillance information across locations – using wireless and wired technology – to get critical surveillance information to the right places at the right time. Finally, we provide the systems to manage and interrogate surveillance information – along with automated approaches to alerting and content analysis.

What does Digital Barriers mean by ‘edge-intelligent’ surveillance?

We believe that technological advances in processing and transmission are transforming the way in which surveillance solutions are able to support critical decision-making in real world operational situations. By embedding greater intelligence into sensors, by applying intelligence as close to the scene under surveillance as possible and by increasing the degree to which those sensors are self-aware and interconnected – there is the potential to create surveillance systems that deliver more refined situational awareness and valuable intelligence in even the most hostile, remote or complex environments.

We believe that ‘edge intelligent’ surveillance systems will expand the capability of users in the field, as well as providing a richer picture to operatives in the control room. Our solutions not only deliver intelligent information from the edge of a surveillance scheme back to a central control room, they can also push rich information including live video and sensor outputs to operatives in the field giving unparalleled situational awareness where it’s needed most.

How do I find out more about Digital Barriers and engage with you?

This site includes further details on a number of our technologies, solutions and points of view around key surveillance and technology issues – including PDF format documents that can be downloaded. For further information on any aspect of our solutions or activities in a particular customer sector, please contact your local Digital Barriers regional office or our head office. We would welcome the opportunity to explore your requirements and demonstrate how our solutions and experience might be applied to address your needs.

What is Digital Barriers' view on surveillance technology trends?

We believe that effective surveillance systems are about more than just the technology. Digital Barriers develops surveillance solutions that are highly functional, reliable, cost effective and scalable – taking into account current and future requirements, as well as existing infrastructure investments. We are not advocates of a particular technology – such as IP/Ethernet or analogue video – and choose instead to combine the right technologies in the right ways to meet each particular set of customer requirements. For example, we are pioneers of ‘hybrid’ surveillance networks, combining IP/Ethernet protocol, uncompressed digital fibre and conventional analogue formats to optimise the reuse of existing infrastructure, ensure flexible video access/storage, and incorporate video analytics into surveillance systems.