Rethinking wide-area surveillance for Africa

Leandro da Cunha, Surveillance Business Unit Lead at Duxbury Networking.

---

In Africa’s diverse and often unpredictable environments, surveillance systems face challenges that go far beyond simple camera placement. From sprawling industrial facilities and logistics hubs to campuses, open public spaces and perimeter security at critical infrastructure, capturing comprehensive visual coverage with fidelity and reliability is non-negotiable. Traditional single-sensor cameras have served well in confined areas, but they struggle to offer seamless situational awareness over expansive spaces. That is where multi-sensor panoramic cameras make a significant difference.

Multi-sensor panoramic cameras integrate multiple imagers into a single device to deliver wide-area coverage with minimal blind spots and rich detail. Axis’s latest multi-sensor models, for instance, provide unified panoramic views spanning up to 180 degrees horizontally and 90 degrees vertically without stitching artefacts, helping security teams see the whole scene in a single stream.

Many companies in South Africa and the broader continent operate in environments where traditional surveillance is challenged by:

• Lack of fixed wiring infrastructure in remote or rural sites.
• Harsh environmental conditions (dust, heat, rain).
• Long perimeters with limited power access.
• The need to monitor both macro movement and fine details in a single scene.

A multi-sensor panoramic camera, such as the Axis Q3839-PVE or P3818-PVE, delivers a combined, seamless video feed from multiple sensors, eliminating blind spots and enhancing situational awareness across larger areas. With up to 13MP resolution and ultra-wide fields of view, security teams get a panoramic overview and the detail they need for decision-making.

This is not just about a wider picture. It is about the ability to see an entire scene without shifting cameras, reducing operators' cognitive load and improving incident response.

Multi-sensor panoramic designs offer practical efficiencies:

• One camera, IP address and stream to simplify network configuration and storage policies.
• Fewer POE drops, less cabling and lower power consumption than equivalent clusters of separate cameras.
• Integrated analytics support, including object detection and classification, available locally at the edge when linked with advanced platform capabilities.

For public campuses, logistics facilities, transport hubs and industrial areas, these efficiencies translate into real savings in both time and capital.

The value of multi-sensor panoramic cameras multiplies when they are part of a broader, integrated security ecosystem. A panoramic feed feeding into analytics engines, such as advanced motion detection, loitering alarms or object analytics, enables security operations to move from reactive viewing to proactive monitoring. In concert with radar or other sensors, panoramic cameras can visualise not just what is happening, but where and how things are unfolding, triggering alerts and workflows that align with modern security expectations.

From a deployment perspective, these devices also align with prevalent trends in networked video surveillance:

• Edge analytics support, reducing unnecessary bandwidth use and storage demand.
• Compatibility with common VMS platforms, so organisations don’t have to overhaul their existing infrastructure to adopt wide-area coverage.
• Cyber security features such as Axis Edge Vault that protect device identity and secure storage of cryptographic keys.

Duxbury Networking's dedicated surveillance team specialises in designing intelligent, integrated solutions that combine panoramic multi-sensor cameras with analytics, storage, access control and unified management platforms.

“In many of our projects, especially public or industrial deployments, the ability to see everything without blind spots significantly reduces both operational risk and total cost of ownership,” says Leandro da Cunha, Surveillance BU Executive at Duxbury Networking. “Multi-sensor panoramic cameras are strategic enablers for large-area situational awareness. When paired with deep analytics and robust integration, they transform surveillance from passive recording to active insight.”

South Africa’s enterprise and government sectors face growing demand for smart surveillance. Africa’s broader surveillance landscape similarly prioritises scalable solutions that perform under diverse conditions.

By embracing multi-sensor panoramic technologies, organisations can harmonise wide-area coverage with detail-rich feeds that drive better operational outcomes. Combined with analytics, cloud or edge storage and unified management, these cameras become the backbone of next-generation surveillance architectures.

Connectivity should not just collect images; it should empower decision-making. Multi-sensor panoramic cameras bring that empowerment into focus for Africa’s unique security challenges.