Axis cameras are in general very configurable and scriptable, and have a wide support for advanced apps (ACAP - Axis Camera Application Platform). ACAPs are built by both Axis themselves as well as third parties. Irisity has created the Axis ACAP for IRIS+ CM to connect Axis cameras standalone to the IRIS+ CM platform.

To connect an Axis camera to the Irisity Alarm Filter platform, simply use the built-in functionality.

Axis cameras support both HTTPS and SMTP (email) towards the alarm filter. HTTPS is generally preferred.

Login to the camera using administrative credentials.

Make sure that the camera is setup correctly, with a valid IP address, has access to the internet, and that a DNS server is properly configured (e.g. 8.8.8.8).

These steps are necessary in order to reach the Irisity Alarm Filter.

Create a new ‘Receiver’ in the UI, the location of this option depends on the version of the Firmware running in the camera. The screenshots below are for the newer firmware versions.

Log in to the camera and make sure that a video motion analysis is running. This can e.g. be accomplished through the ‘Axis Video Motion Detection’ app, which is found by clicking on the ‘Apps’ and selecting ‘AXIS Video Motion Detection’.

For cameras that support it, the more capable Axis Perimeter Defender app is recommended for better detection capabilities.

For new AI-enabled cameras, it is also possible to use the Axis Object Analytics (AOA) app.

In this guide, AXIS Video Motion Detection app will be used as one example of generating source events.

To configure sending the events to the Irisity Alarm Filter, click on the ‘System’ tab and on ‘Events’

When selecting ‘Events’ a new screen opens with the options of configuring Rules, Schedules, and Recipients. Click on Recipients to start setting up a new destination. For AXIS both HTTPS and Email (SMTP) are possible recipients.

Https recipient requires the following information. Notice that no username/password should be filled in here. Clicking on the ‘Test’ button will give an error message in the camera UI saying something like ‘401 Unauthorized’, this is expected as no credentials have been entered yet.

To create a rule that sends alarms through the new HTTPS Recipient, click on ‘Rules’ and create a new rule with setup similar to the screenshot below. There may be multiple video motion detection to trigger on, depending on the setup of the motion detection, select the one which is applicable to your use case.

It is possible to send video clips or images through HTTPS. We recommend sending 3 images spaced 1 second apart, or a a 2 second video clip at 1 fps with 0.5-1 second pre-recording.

The API key from Getting started needs to be provided as a ‘Custom CGI Parameters’ in the bottom of the form as shown in the screenshot below, as well as an identifier for the camera in the system. I.e. at least the two query parameters ‘apikey’ and ‘camera’ are required.

Click on Save and events should be appearing in the Irisity Alarm Filter as soon as motion is detected by the camera.

Start by giving a name to the rule and a wait time of 30 seconds or more (time between alarms) for most scenarios.

Continue by choosing the conditions that should trigger events. Typically, you should have only one condition, but it is possible to trigger alarm sending based on a multitude of events such as door forced open events, MQTT messages, or external triggers.



Next, configure the actions section:

Validate the settings match Irisity's recommendations:

Click save to save the rule. Events should appear in the Alarm Filter portal as soon as the selected condition is triggered.

If you prefer to send video clips rather than images, the video clip setup is similar to the settings above. Below we show an example with a different firmware version.

Click save to save the rule. Events should appear in the Irisity Alarm Filter as soon as the selected condition, for example, motion in a region of interest, is triggered.

If you prefer to configure SMTP (email) instead of HTTPS that is also supported. The process is very similar to the one described above with some important differences regarding how to send parameters and how to set up the endpoint and credentials, notably how camera id and credentials are set up.

To use SMTP (email) for alarm sending, both camera id and endpoint is configured as part of the recipient setup

The camera ID is specified when you set up the recipient, meaning one email recipient needs to be set up per detection (virtual views, region of interest, sensors, or physical cameras). The recipient format should be TO: [email protected] with the rest of the settings (Subject, Message, From, ..) not being used by the Alarm Filter.

Set up the SMTP recipient as in the screenshot below and ensure to set up one recipient with a TO address for each rule you intend to configure.

For completeness, please see the below screenshot for a fully configured SMTP rule in Axis.



Once completed, validate the settings and compare to the Getting started guide.

The setup of the alarm sending can be tested by triggering a Test alarm in the camera. In AXIS Video Motion Detection, this is done by opening the app and clicking on the Test Alarm button in the lower right corner. The alarm should now appear in the Irisity Alarm Filter portal.

While using the test alarm functionality often works, it may not match fully what you get when the rule is triggered normally. We, therefore, recommend always triggering a real alarm for final validation.

In different firmware versions, the procedure of adding a camera is the same but the layout of the UI differs somewhat.