Bounding Boxes—Fact or Fiction?

Okay, so the title might be a bit misleading, mainly because bounding boxes are real. So, FACT.

I have to admit, when I first started in security and heard the phrase “bounding boxes,” I immediately thought of some medieval torture devise. Scenes from the Princess Bride where Wesley is on that wrack contraption in the Pit of Despair kept popping in my mind.

Imagine my relief to learn that bounding boxes are really harmless, though they are super effective in providing security coverage. 

When you look through your security cameras, you have your full field of view. Often there are things that happen within that full field of view that you aren’t concerned with. Cars passing on the main road, kids on bikes passing outside the perimeter, etc. How do we make sure we are being alerted to things that are truly important to us? Bounding boxes.

Bounding boxes are basically thermal boxes drawn in a camera’s field of view. A virtual thermal fence, if you will. This box is then set to alert you when anything with a thermal signature enters it. It’s great for watching perimeters and those things being stored within them.

Bounding boxes can also be used to watch the temperatures of objects within them. For example, many of our power company customers use bounding boxes to monitor the temperature of their power transformers. If they are getting too hot, they are alerted and can take action.

The same goes for fire detection. Bounding boxes are immensely useful in situations where you want to watch for rapid changes in temperature...especially heat!!!!

The bottom line is, while a bounding box is still a great name for a medieval torture device, they are, in reality, extremely useful in the security world for watching, monitoring, and alerting us to intrusions and other dangers.