Taiwan Eyes High-end Market For Surveillance Devices

The popularity of security and surveillance systems has grown to unprecedented levels over the past decade, thanks to software improvements, miniaturization and power increases in IC chips, cost reductions, the increasing popularity of broadband networks worldwide-and, of course, increasing concerns about security worldwide.

This trend is creating lucrative opportunities for Taiwanese manufacturers, who are known for their outstanding manufacturing, cost-control, and R&D capabilities, as well as their operational flexibility. More importantly, these producers are supported by a world-leading electronics sector and an abundance of highly educated R&D talent.

Most of Taiwan's security- and surveillance-system manufacturers are not large by international standards, and have streamlined workforces, a high ratio of R&D engineers to other personnel, and networks of quality satellite plants that supply key parts. Most handle final assembly and quality control in-house.

A well-established division of labor between the manufacturers and their satellite plants gives Taiwan strong international competitiveness. Local manufacturers are well known for their ability to develop new products, create new application possibilities, and even alter the traditional thinking about such products.

The key technology used in charge coupling devices (CCDs), however, which is a key component in security/surveillance cameras, however, is controlled by big Japanese companies such as Sony and Panasonic. The licensing of this irreplaceable technology limits profit margins for local makers, restricting their room for product innovation as well.



CCTV



Chiper Technology Co. is one of Taiwan's top three suppliers of high-end closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems. With a pedigree that includes ISO 9000, CE, UL, and FCC certification, the company comes to the plate with integrated product-development and -manufacturing capabilities.

Founded in 1978, Chiper is now one of Taiwan's most important suppliers of high-tech CCTV cameras and the island's No. 1 producer of 1/2-inch CCD cameras.

The company supplies a wide range of CCTV and peripheral products, including color and b/w auto and motorcycle license-plate identification cameras, as well as starlight (ex-view CCD) and infrared-cut models. The company also provides video-matrix systems, pan/tilt units for cameras, stainless-steel camera housings, digital video recorders (DVRs), and advanced thermo-camera products, as well as CCTV solutions, such as security/surveillance systems and crime-control systems.

Chiper vice president Jack Wang says his company has become a world-class manufacturer with cutting-edge technology thanks to its outstanding R&D capability. The company's multi-level detection (MLD) technology, for example, greatly enhances CCTV performance and reduces the cost of its license-plate identification systems.

Wang explains that MLD is an advanced software technology that divides each frame detected by a CCTV into 256 (16 x 16) segments and eliminates the excessive illumination that makes images unclear in competing systems. This technology is vital for license-plate detection systems, helping to achieve a detection accuracy of over 90% in comparison with as little as 30% for other types of systems.

Chiper is the global leader in the development of MLD technology, Wang claims, adding that his products can greatly reduce system costs and expand the range of applications for license-plate identification systems into new fields such as parking-lot management. This is possible, and particularly economical, because the low-cost MLD-technology system can replace high-cost chip-card sensing systems in parking-lot management.

Wang expects his company will supply systems for over 70% of the license-plate identification network to be installed by the police in Taiwan by 2008.

Chiper's unmatched development capability has won the company qualification as a national defense supplier. It began developing highly advanced thermo-cameras for Taiwan's military about five years ago. Wang says that these cameras have high-end sensors that can detect any object with a tiny difference in temperature from its surroundings.

Since 2003, the company has been working on several new product lines, including fiber-optic converters for CCTV image transmission, explosion-resistant CCTV camera pan/tilt units for high-end security/surveillance systems, and web servers that match all kinds of IP cameras.

Chiper completed construction of a new plant in mainland China's Guangdong province in 2003, and the new facility now mass produces lower-margin items. The company's Taiwan plant will continue turning out higher-margin, high-tech CCTV cameras.



Knock, Knock, Who's There?


Another leading security-system supplier in Taiwan is Kanrich Electronic Corp., a specialized maker of security/video doorphone systems and the largest exporter of such products in Taiwan. The company also provides total doorphone solutions for buildings and housing communities. All of the company's products are CE-approved.

Jace Liu, export manager of Kanrich, says that her company has developed a full range of doorphone products, including models for housing communities, buildings and stand-alone homes. She stresses that all of her company's video doorphones adopt CCDs supplied from big Japanese brands to assure the highest quality and durability.

Liu also claims that Kanrich is the only Taiwanese doorphone maker that can parallel or even beat the quality of big Japanese counterparts. Kanrich markets about 65% of its products worldwide (in over 50 nations) under the Kanrich brand, and exports the remaining 35% or so to famous brands in Japan and Europe on original equipment manufacturing (OEM) terms. The company ships about 50,000 to 60,000 doorphones per year from a 100-worker plant in northern Taiwan.

Kanrich recently demonstrated a new and high-level doorphone series, the PH-855C7 and C8, with built-in card reader. Liu claims that all models in the new series are made in high-level stainless material to meet European market demands. The new series also has built-in auto-sensing back-light, which provides increasingly brighter back-illumination as ambient light darkens. With the built-in card reader, Liu says, the PH-855C8 can reduce installation cost and time.

Kanrich also developed an innovative solution for security-surveillance systems--an FM CCD camera series, called the VP-02, that requires only two wires for video, audio, and power.

The 1/3-inch semi-dynamic night-vision color CCD camera is ideal for security or surveillance applications in places with no power or insufficient power, such as farms and streets. The new series also features several advantages, including minimum required object luminance; high image fidelity even after long-term usage; real-time display; compatibility with all popular CCTV lenses; silent operation; low power consumption (less than three watts); auto shutter control from 1/100,000 to 1/60 second; and auto-tracing white balance (ATW) technology, which enables the camera to register true color under any light source.



Well Focused


Another top security-equipment maker in Taiwan is Gkb Cctv Co. Ltd., one of the island's top five makers of closed-circuit TV (CCTV) and peripheral equipment. The ISO 9001: 2000-certified company supplies a wide range of products, including color and black-and-white (B/W) digital-signal processor (DSP) charge-coupling device (CCD) cameras, infrared (IR) cameras, outdoor waterproof cameras, dome CCD cameras, day-to-night cameras, Internet protocol (IP)/network cameras, smoke-detector cameras, and stand-alone DVRs.

Jessie Liao, GKB's marketing head, claims that her company can produce over 3,500 high-level CCD cameras a month at its two facilities, one in northern Taiwan's Chungli and another in central Taiwan's Taichung. GKB exports about 90% of its products to 75 nations, with the bulk of shipments going to the U.S. and Europe. About 60% of the company's exported products are marketed and sold under the GKB brand, while the rest are supplied on OEM terms.

Liao claims that GKB's products are internationally renowned for their durability and low maintenance needs. GKB only uses CCDs supplied by big Japanese brands such as Panasonic and Sony, which adds to the quality, and cost, of the company's products.

Liao says that GKB has separate lines to tap both high-end and lower-end markets.

GKB recently demonstrated an innovative and patented product, the CC-28919 DVF, a color weatherproof vari-focal CCD camera. According to GKB, the internal focus-adjustment mechanism of the new outdoor camera is a magnetic system that enables easy adjustment with external controllers, making the unit as easy to adjust as it is to install. The CC-28919 DVF also features high resolution of 550 TV lines and a 1/3-inch high-resolution CCD supplied by Sony.



The Mini Seer


Misumi Electronics Corp. manufactures miniature complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) and CCD cameras and supplies other general CCD cameras and peripheral equipment.

Misumi was established in 1982 by its chairman, Liao Jenn-feng, who also heads the company's impressive R&D department. Liao claims that Misumi recently demonstrated the world's smallest (8mm x 8mm) color CMOS camera, the S588, with a resolution of 380 TV lines. According to Liao, Misumi has developed the world's smallest CMOS camera model, featuring a 1/4-inch color CMOS.

According to Liao, some Japanese companies produce similar-size mini CCD cameras but they refuse to sell their CCDs to overseas makers. Misumi therefore developed its own technology, overcoming many technical challenges in the process. The company's rival technology is priced much lower than CCD counterparts. The economical mini camera has unlimited application potential, including usage in medical, surveillance, spy, and inspection devices

Liao also plans to modify the S588 for use as an IP camera with wireless functions. All of the technical problems have been solved, the chairman says, and Misumi is now just waiting for the right time to introduce the mini IP camera model.

Over 99% of Misumi's products are exported to Japan, the U.S., and Europe. With expertise in mini-size camera applications, the company has developed many innovative products such as spy cameras, sunglass CCD cameras, and snake CCD cameras.
(Jan. 2005)