TL;DR

  • Cameras used as visual sensors can turn physical conditions into useful operational data, monitoring equipment between inspections and reducing routine manual checks.
  • Connecting visual and thermal data with BMS and DCIM platforms gives engineers context to assess alerts sooner, provided hardware and integration suit the task.
  • Start with a familiar monitoring task and test whether it reduces verification time and unnecessary visits before extending deployment.

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By Peter Dempsey, EMEA Key Account Manager & Data Centre Lead, Axis Communications

Data center engineers spend part of their working day collecting information that equipment could, in some cases, report for itself. Reading a gauge or checking equipment with a handheld thermal camera remains valuable work, but repeating those tasks across a large facility takes time. Much of that effort is necessarily spent confirming that conditions remain normal – work that increasingly lends itself to automation.

Used as visual sensors, cameras can assist with much of this routine observation. They can provide a continuous view of physical conditions, while suitable analytics turn a gauge reading or thermal change into data that operational systems can use. In doing so, they connect what is happening at the equipment with the platforms responsible for monitoring it, including conditions that might otherwise require someone to visit and verify.

The opportunity is therefore not simply to add more monitoring, but to make physical evidence useful within the systems operators already trust. That means deciding where visual sensors can add value, what information they should provide and how that data will integrate with the wider monitoring strategy. 

Make the information useful where it arrives

For most operators, that means starting with the building management system (BMS) and data center infrastructure management (DCIM) platform. These are already central sources of operational oversight. Visual and thermal information adds value when it appears within those workflows; if it remains in a separate interface, engineers still have to find it and manually match it to the equipment concerned.

Consider a temperature alert associated with a particular cabinet. Linking it to the relevant thermal view allows the operator to remotely examine the area where the abnormal condition is concentrated. A suitable visible-light view may provide further context, helping them assess what needs investigating before they attend.

The connection should work in both directions. Status information from a rack or management platform can accompany the view of that asset, so the engineer can relate what they see to what the equipment is reporting. 

BMS and DCIM platforms retain their management roles, but benefit from additional information available to support decisions. That information can also generate, or be attached to, a work order or help a remote engineer advise colleagues on site. 

The practical test is to determine whether the addition of visual data actually reduces the work needed to understand the event. If staff still have to search several systems before they can assess it, the integration has left an important part of the job unfinished.

Monitor what changes between inspections

A scheduled inspection confirms conditions only at the time of the visit. It cannot account for a battery string that starts running hot shortly afterwards, or airflow that deteriorates following maintenance. In this case, detection depends on a secondary monitoring system or, often, on the next person arriving.

Increasing round frequency reduces that interval, at the cost of additional staff time. For teams responsible for expanding facilities, this becomes difficult to sustain. Operators are now in the position of identifying which checks would benefit from continuous observation and which still require an engineer’s physical presence.

Fixed thermal monitoring can complement periodic surveys by watching selected equipment between visits. Where the device and application support it, a temperature exception can trigger an alert accompanied by a view of the affected area. The engineer can then assess the incident’s location and extent when deciding how urgently to respond.

Advancements in monitoring do not replace expertise; a heat spike still needs interpretation. It may indicate a failing component, obstructed airflow or a condition that has already corrected itself. While thermal and visual information can help quickly narrow the investigation, neither will explain every fault.

Gauge monitoring offers another practical application. If the current process requires someone to read a dial and enter the result into a report, a suitable camera and reading application can instead supply that value directly to the management platform. The facility gains an auditable record that can be compared with defined limits, without waiting for the next round.

Choose hardware that supports the task

The monitoring task should determine the hardware, not the other way around. Reading a gauge requires a camera and lens that capture enough detail at the installed distance, with a clear viewing angle and lighting that avoids glare across the dial. Direct temperature monitoring requires a thermal device designed to provide temperature measurements across the requisite range, with sufficient accuracy to meet defined thresholds.

Processing capability also needs to match the application. If analytics are to run on the device, it must support that software and have the resources to perform the required task. The task itself must be clearly defined before procurement. Monitoring a thermal area against agreed limits, for example, gives operators something they can test against actual equipment conditions.

Specify the connection as well as the device

Before selecting equipment, operators must also establish how its output will reach the receiving platform. The system needs to recognize what a reading represents and which asset it belongs to. Putting devices on the same network does not, by itself, make their information useful to one another.

Protocols such as MQTT, Modbus TCP and OPC UA can support data exchange between visual sensors and management platforms, so operators should confirm which interfaces are supported and whether integration software is needed between them. But a protocol listed on a specification sheet is only part of the answer. An open platform gives operators greater freedom to build the integrations they need without the hardware itself becoming the limiting factor. 

The integration must also be secured, monitored and maintained throughout its operational life. Clear failure alerts are essential: an automated check should never give operators misplaced confidence in a reading that is no longer accurate.

Start with a task the team knows well

A useful first deployment should address a recurring task that the operations team can describe in detail. Beginning with selected thermal checks or manually recorded gauges offers a manageable scope and existing known routines against which to compare performance. The trial should cover the equipment, but also what happens after detection, including how the engineer receives the information and responds.

The team can then assess whether the change reduces verification time or unnecessary visits, as well as whether it detects the intended conditions reliably. They should also check what happens when a view is obstructed or a reading cannot be obtained. Those situations establish where manual inspection must remain and how staff will know it is needed.

Before extending the deployment, operators should ask engineers what work the system has removed and what work it has added. Their experience, alongside the trial results, should guide the next investment. If the result is simply another screen to monitor, the integration has not yet delivered its intended value.

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About the Author

Peter Dempsey has spent 25+ years in the security sector undertaking various roles that have seen him take responsibility for key elements of mission critical, high-profile projects across a number of different vertical markets. For the last two years Peter has focused his attention on how security technologies best support a business’s security strategy, whilst driving the adoption and elevating the importance of cybersecurity and emerging technologies for physical security practitioners in the Data Centre vertical. As the Industry Liaison Manager for Axis Communications, Peter has been instrumental in driving the Axis strategy for Data Centres across Northern Europe and the wider EMEA region. Peter’s passion for Data Centres can be traced back to the huge success in Ireland with Hyper Scale and Multi-Tenant Data Centre (MTDC) deployments. The key to this success was Peter’s commitment to deliver a reliable sustainable solution that will mitigate downtime.