The AVA dome is an NDAA compliant vandal resistant (IK10) day /night IP66 dome for indoor or outdoor use with 4K imaging, built-in microphones and edge analytics.
The dome uses Cloud connectivity to provide simple set-up and management with factory installed certificates. The dome’s aluminium body measures 15 x 15 x 9.6 cm and weighs 1.2kg. Its 4K 1/1.8” sensor has 3840 x 2160 pixels and is specified to 0.15 lux minimum illumination colour.
Getting started
The dome is supplied with its mounting plate attached to the main assembly. This can be used for wall or ceiling mounting with a replaceable side entry blanking plate on the main body for surface cable entry. Four captive Torx screws hold the main body to this mounting plate and the top cover is then held with a further four captive Torx screws. The RJ45 camera feed is fed through a grommet in the assembly base using the feed-through cover supplied. A range of alternative mounting accessories is available.
To access the camera, it is necessary to link to it via the AVA Aware cloud system. This can be accessed via the QR code that is on the base of the camera, under the top cover, or on the back of the dome’s box.
The sign-up process is straightforward and enforces strict login credentials using at least a 10-character password. You can then register a new deployment or add cameras to an existing one. Once the administrator credentials are set up and verified using the user e-mail account address, you can log into the AVA Aware site. The sign-in screen gives a number of quick guides to the key features and confirms the camera connection, the camera firmware will be updated if necessary and the main menu dashboard display is shown. The Video view option gives access to the window where screen layouts can be assigned, and available cameras displayed. Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers have had the most testing with Aware software so are recommended for use.
Extensive on-line documentation is available through the AVA Aware system.
Operation
The camera is PoE powered, with a power demand from 3.8 to 4.8 watts in normal daytime operation and up to 9.1 watts recorded with IR illumination on, the specification sheet states that the heater if required, can take the demand up to 23 watts. Once powered up the dome has three status LEDs that show power, network link, and connection to the AVA Aware cloud service. There are an additional five LEDs that are used to assist with levelling of the device when installing on wall or ceiling.
The dome is supplied with a fitted 512GB Western Digital “Purple” micro-SD card for edge storage. The card is within the main body so it is necessary to remove the cover should you need to access this.
In normal usage just metadata is sent to the cloud so there is limited bandwidth demand on the system unless licenced cloud storage is used.
A default daily maintenance connection is set for the early hours of the morning, this can be changed to weekly if preferred. This ensures that the latest firmware is always installed in the camera.
Read the full review in the March 2023 edition of PSI magazine
