Robert Becker, chief mechanical engineer with Sentry Technology Corporation, was faced with the challenge of improving the design and reliability of his company’s video surveillance system. The company’s goal was to achieve longer intervals between customer service calls. “Customers were calling every four to six months,” Becker said. “We wanted our system to be problem-free for at least 12 months.”

In a move that would prove to be very beneficial to his company, Becker decided to enlist the help of the Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP), which he heard about through the Hauppauge Industrial Association in New York. And although video surveillance isn’t “rocket science,” why not have a rocket scientist on your team at no cost to your business?

Headquartered in Hauppauge, New York, Sentry Technology Corporation has been manufacturing video surveillance systems for larger retail establishments and correctional facilities in the United States and abroad since 1966. In keeping with the company’s long tradition and strong identity in the industry, company officials wanted to achieve more product reliability and longer intervals between service calls.

In order to do this, Sentry engineers needed to redesign the mechanism that sends power to the video camera. They were using spring-loaded graphite contact wheels that rolled along a copper pipe, causing a significant voltage resistance that resulted in corrosion and wear. Additional problems were the considerable losses in signal strength to the security camera, along with a rather loud operating noise level.
“There is a delicate balance to be achieved between our electrical, video and mechanical requirements,” Becker said. “We called SATOP to provide us with the expertise to assist us with a design enhancement or materials change that would improve our system.”

Representatives with SATOP fulfilled Becker’s Request for Technical Assistance by putting him in touch with top engineers at United Space Alliance (USA), a SATOP Space Alliance Partner. USA is among 25 other companies who have volunteered to provide free space technology expertise as part of SATOP’s program to assist small businesses.

Hal Novak, a senior materials engineer at USA with an extensive background in research and development, was the SATOP volunteer assigned to the Sentry Technology Corporation project. Novak works at USA’s office at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. USA serves as NASA’s prime contractor for the day to day operations of the Space Shuttle program and provides operations services for the International Space Station. USA employs more than 10,000 people in Texas, Florida, Alabama, Washington D.C. and Russia.

Novak, along with a team of electrical engineers and material scientists, evaluated the surveillance system’s challenges and developed a number of recommendations. “Our research actually concurred with some of Becker’s ideas on how to improve the surveillance system,” Novak said. “However, we were able to offer some new ideas and material enhancements that would improve the system and help him reach his goal sooner.”

To significantly decrease corrosion and oxidation of select parts of the system, which in turn affected the video quality, Novak recommended gold plating as well as using corrosion inhibitors, which actually control the atmospheric humidity. Novak and Becker were in agreement that using a sliding graphite contact instead of a rolling graphite wheel would reduce electrical resistance by increasing power transmission. Novak investigated companies that produce a higher level sliding contact and recommended them to Becker. “The end result is that the camera moves faster, has better video quality and is much quieter,” Becker said. “This is precisely what I wanted to accomplish when I turned to SATOP.”

Thanks to SATOP, Sentry Technology Corporation believes they will decrease service costs by significantly increasing the amount of time between service calls.
The improvements in reliability, signal strength, and the reduction in operating noise, will allow Sentry to satisfy their customers with a superior product and open the door to new sales opportunities, all while decreasing their operating costs.
“The program has been very helpful in confirming some of our ideas and offering new suggestions,” Becker said. “I’ve already recommended SATOP to my colleagues in the industry and I will definitely use SATOP again in the future.”