Industry
Law Enforcement and Defense Technology
Challenge
Law enforcement agencies like the FBI can face critical limitations when operating in remote or covert environments. Traditional surveillance systems depend on fixed infrastructure and reliable connectivity, neither of which are guaranteed during field operations. These restrictions make it difficult to access live video, assess threats in real time, and gather high-quality, evidential footage without risking personnel or operational exposure.
Results
By pairing Digital Barriers’ EdgeVis platform with Simply NUC’s Chimney Rock hardware, the FBI gain a reliable, covert video surveillance solution capable of streaming high-quality, real-time footage over constrained networks. The deployment allows for live facial recognition in the field, instant alerts to tactical teams, and secure, evidential video - all without fixed infrastructure or network upgrades.
About Digital Barriers
Digital Barriers delivers secure, real-time video and AI-based analytics to frontline teams operating in the most challenging environments. With over a decade of experience supporting military, law enforcement, and national security agencies, the company has pioneered technologies that enable mission-critical decisions to be made anywhere, even over constrained cellular or satellite networks (think remote border zones, natural disaster areas, or mobile field operations where connectivity is unreliable or limited).
EdgeVis is a patented platform designed to stream live video and analytics over any network with minimal latency, reduced bandwidth consumption, and enterprise-grade security. Whether deployed for overt surveillance in urban areas or covert operations in remote terrains, EdgeVis ensures that teams on the ground and at command centers can see, assess, and act in real time.
Simply NUC Partnership
Simply NUC provides hardware that allows Digital Barriers to expand the reach and capability of its solutions, bringing live facial intelligence, encrypted edge processing, and seamless VMS integration to a wide range of mobile surveillance assets. The collaboration enables law enforcement and defense agencies, like the FBI, to deploy reliable, scalable, and secure video intelligence systems faster and with greater operational flexibility.
The Challenge
Law enforcement and national security teams work in unpredictable, high-risk environments where clear, uninterrupted access to live video and constant communication are key to success or failure. Traditional video surveillance systems fail when deployed beyond urban infrastructure, especially in mobile, remote or covert scenarios
Common challenges include:
- Unreliable connectivity: Field cellular and satellite networks are often unstable or bandwidth constrained, resulting in dropped frames, frozen feeds and unusable video, especially for time critical operations.|
- Delayed decision making: Without real-time video, command teams are delayed in assessing threats, coordinating responses or supporting field agents.
- Cost and complexity of deployment: Installing fixed infrastructure like wired CCTV or fiber is time consuming and expensive, limiting flexibility.
- Limited visibility: Standard surveillance setups only offer partial coverage, often confined to areas with strong network infrastructure or permanent installations.
- Security and compliance risks: Transmitting sensitive video over public networks without robust encryption puts agencies at risk of data breaches and non-compliance with government standards.
These limitations create operational blind spots and put frontline personnel at risk, especially during missions that require discretion, mobility or high quality evidential footage in real time.
The Solution
To meet the needs of law enforcement and federal agencies in the field, Digital Barriers deploys its EdgeVis software on Simply NUC’s Chimney Rock, an ultracompact Long Life NUC that delivers high-performance for embedded edge applications in mission-critical environments.
Chimney Rock is the perfect balance of power, portability and durability. As part of the deployment process, Digital Barriers pre-loads its EdgeVis software onto the devices so they arrive ready to use with real-time video streaming, compression and secure connectivity already configured.
Chimney Rock enables:
- Real-time video encoding at the edge using Digital Barriers’ TVI codec, compresses video feeds by up to 90% without losing quality.
- Reliable performance in mobile, remote or covert deployments, with the Chimney Rock’s compact form factor and low power requirements makes it easy to integrate into vehicles, polecams and tactical kits.
- Dynamic network adaptation, EdgeVis adjusts bandwidth on the fly to avoid freezing, jitter or dropped frames.
- Full compliance with federal standards, including FIPS encryption protocols and GDPR alignment for secure and responsible data handling.
- Integration with leading VMS platforms, so you can ingest and archive video without having to overhaul your existing infrastructure
Whether monitoring border activity, supporting covert surveillance operations or gathering evidential quality video during field investigations, the Chimney Rock is a scalable, rugged and field-ready computing solution that gives you operational visibility and decision-making even in the most bandwidth constrained environments.
Use Case
When traditional surveillance setups aren’t viable due to no fixed-infrastructure, live facial intelligence software is ground-breaking. The system can be connected to a discreet pole-mounted IP camera and relies solely on a 4G cellular connection to transmit data back to headquarters.
The result is a fully self-contained surveillance node with advanced live facial intelligence capabilities, all in a compact, rugged form factor suitable for covert operations.
Key outcomes:
- Real-time facial recognition: As individuals enter the camera’s field of view, the system places a box around each detected face and runs immediate checks against the agency’s encrypted watchlist, even in low light or when faces are partially obscured.
- Clarity under pressure: Thanks to Digital Barriers’ patented TVI compression, the FBI receives clear, non-grainy imagery despite limited bandwidth, ensuring reliable identification that could be used as part of an evidential chain.
- Silent alerts and live tracking: When a match is detected, an alert is pushed instantly to remote agents, allowing tactical teams to coordinate without disrupting the feed or compromising the setup.
- Data security and integrity: All footage is encrypted and securely routed to an FBI-approved VMS system. Data could be automatically deleted after the operation, leaving no trace on the field device.
Equip your teams with real-time, covert surveillance designed for the demands of the field. Partner with Simply NUC to stay ahead in mission-critical environments.
