Analysis of the Pan-Tilt-Zoom Consistency of a Sony SNC-RZ30N Camera

Pan-tilt-zoom PTZ cameras are often the primary sensing equipment used in surveillance systems, because PTZ cameras allow a greater degree of flexibility in covering a large area with a limited number of cameras. Adapting these surveillance systems to remotely cue the PTZ camera using a networked computer station has increased their capability, but it has also increased their complexity. This report documents our efforts to measure the consistency of the SNC-RZ30N PTZ mechanism. Using a SNC-RZ30N Sony network camera created as a surveillance test bed at the U.S. Army Research Laboratorys Adelphi Laboratory Center, MD, we attempted to cue the cameras to a specific PTZ setting using a software interface however, the device was not consistently accurate in transforming to the instructed PTZ setting.