Innodisk claims it has an innovative method to counter frame loss for surveillance systems using flash storage. The solid-state drive (SSD) is increasingly finding its rightful place in the surveillance world. Emerging surveillance features such as facial recognition, data analytics, and smart city solutions, all require large data amounts to be handled on-the-spot.
As an example, picture a busy intersection that does not just run on timed signals, but rather changes dynamically according to traffic. Cameras follow the ebb and flow of vehicles and people while simultaneously calculating the most efficient flow of traffic. While this requires a lot of computational power, even incremental improvements will lead to significant cost savings for society. Surveillance features such as this are what gives the better performing SSD a leg up on the legacy hard disk drive (HDD).
However, one user ran into some issues with SSDs used in surveillance equipment. The equipment recorded high-resolution video where consistent quality was vital to the application. However, when testing this new setup, the recordings would all exhibit re-occurring frame loss; leaving the equipment manufacturer at a loss as to the reason behind it.
Drops in write performance causing frame loss for standard SSD
The crux of the problem lay in the execution of background processes (garbage collection and wear leveling), which handle the deletion of SSD data. These processes usually kick in when the SSD workload is lighter, as to minimize the impact on performance. This introduces some problems to surveillance recording, which is constantly running, as any background process will cause a drop-in video quality when it starts up.
Innodisk’s investigation into this issue led to the development of RECLine, an approach that alters the firmware of the SSD. It acts by dispersing and lowering the frequency of background processes. This allows the SSD to continuously write data with minimal interference and frame loss.
Stable write performance for InnoREC SSD
RECLine, and the associated InnoREC Surveillance SSD series, remove the last stumbling block for the SSD in the surveillance market. More insights are available with a quick visit to the Innodisk surveillance info page.