DIPOL Weekly Review - TV and SAT TV, CCTV, WLAN

The benefits of the Conference - ALARM Kielce 2007. The latest edition of the event took place from 7 to 8 November. It was a discussion forum for exchanging ideas and experience in the field of video surveillance. The organizers were able to draw outstanding lecturers, as well as considerable circle of users, investors, building developers. The first day was dedicated to "Security at stadiums". The message was unanimous opinion of MSWiA (Ministry of Interior and Administration), PZPN (Polish Football Association) and Ekstraklasa SA (Premier Division) that the law "Security of mass events" should be amended. There should be enacted special act focused on soccer/football matches. On the one hand, the current Act is in some cases too rigorous, on the other hand not suitable for specifics of sports events and stadium threats. Thus the need for new regulations.
As regards the MSWiA directive about "The means of recording course of events at public mass meetings", the regulations concerning voice recording are pointless at stadiums, considerably increasing costs of the installations.
It was underlined the necessity of developing standards of equipping sports facilities with video monitoring systems - as an example there were shown solutions implemented in Great Britain.
The second day was devoted to city monitoring. The users presented their opinions on the implemented systems. An especially interesting case was the city monitoring system in Warsaw. The operator of the system is not the police or municipal police, but a separate firm - it was considered as a better solution.
There were awarded Medals of ALARM Kielce:

5 mega-pixel IP CCTV camera distributed by DIPOL, honored with Medal of ALARM Kielce. Lectures on designing of modern city monitoring systems and broad offer of IP CCTV devices presented by our company at the event gained recognition of the organizers and visitors.

Remote control extenders - good and bad points of different solutions. There are two kinds of the extenders in the market: wireless - R94116, and wired (using antenna installation) - R93109. In both cases the users can purchase additional IR receivers/RF transmitters R94117 or R93112, enabling them to control any IR-controlled device from another room.
The wired solution (working up to 100m) cannot be used if there is an RF amplifier in the home installation. The wireless solution works up to about 50m. Practice shows that one floor does not hamper its proper operation.

Diagram of installation in one-family house. The installation enables the users to receive from each outlet any terrestrial program and one (in the moment) satellite program. The satellite program can be changed from any room where remote control extender has been placed. The installation can be further developed (e.g. by connecting next sat receivers), or simple monitoring system (the blinking elements).

Building of large multiswitch installations becomes easier. The most flexible multiswitch installations are based on 9-cable bus (signals from two Quatro converters + terrestrial TV). There are available now satellite taps SS-515 R70517 (new item), SS-510 R70516, and satellite splitter SS-504 R70515, which allow to shape any network according to the needs. Such solution enables the installer to deploy practically unlimited number of outlets, because the multiswitches are placed just in the apartment, and the system may be developed by adding next pass-through multiswitches, and, if needed, amplifiers.

Example of multiswitch installation with forked main path.
The thick lines are feeding cables.

The SS-504 R70515 splitter is equipped with DC-transition switch that in "ON" position runs current through "H" paths to both branches. In "OFF" position it is possible only within one path.
The SS-510 R70516 tap is also equipped with DC-transition switch that in "ON" position runs current through "H" paths to pass-through path and the branch. In "OFF" position it is possible only within one path (the branch). Similarly, the switch in SA-9xx amplifiers set to "ON" allows for DC transition from "H" inputs to "H" outputs.
Signals in the whole installation are amplified by the SA-901 R70901 device. Necessity of distributing signals to next two distant staircases is the reason for employing in cascade the SA-911 R70911 amplifiers. One of the amplifiers is powered from the SA-901 amplifier. The second one has to be powered from additional power supply (not to overload the AC/DC adapter built in the SA-901 device).

The most frequent errors in city monitoring. Inadequately designed city video surveillance system not only falls short of the expectations of the organizers, but also adds unnecessary costs. Below we list several common mistakes:

• Inadequate deployment of cameras. Before the decision, it is necessary to analyze the area from the point of view of threats. The result should be a map being the basis for the plan of deploying the cameras.
• Unprepared monitoring center . Lack of arrangements concerning cooperation of the center with the police, municipal police etc. ("official capacity" issue), and the problem of adequate staffing.
Due to regulations limiting periods of work with monitors, there have to be employed at least two people working each shift. So the round-the-clock operation requires minimum 6 people for one observation post. If the available funds are not sufficient for full staff, there is a need of substitute organizational forms.
• Problems with communication system. Lack of coordinated communication with squad cars and police station in the areas with deployed CCTV cameras.
• Inadequate equipment. The frequent errors:
• improper sensitivity of cameras,
• poor lighting,
• use of cameras that are not fully prepared for outdoor operation,
• recording system that uses to big intervals between the recorded frames.

When designing the system, one has to decide which cameras are planned for identification of persons, and which only for signalization of the presence of people and general assessment of the situation. In the former case, for proper identification the image of the person should exceed 120% of the monitor screen's height, in the latter 50% will be enough.

Cameras in front of UK Parliament building

Snapshot Utility - the way of putting CCTV image on a website. To add new functionality to ACTi family, the manufacturer has released a new application program - Snapshot Utility. It allows to download pictures from the cameras automatically, and save them locally on FTP server or send to chosen e-mail address. The program enables the administrator to configure up to 16 devices. Due to overwriting mode, it is easy to add to the website the link such as "Current view". The picture can be refreshed from every several second to several days. The program is available here.

Screenshot from Snapshot Utility

Wireless IP CCTV cameras from PiXORD. PiXORD cameras P400W K1132 and P405W K1134 are equipped with two network interfaces - LAN and WiFi, allowing to connect the camera according to needs. Both cameras comply with the IEEE 802.11b standard, additionally the P405W also with the IEEE 802.11g.
Each device uses wireless network finder and infrastructure mode (when connected to an access point). P405W can also work in Ad-Hoc mode (connected directly to a PC).
The cameras are capable of data encryption. They use 64 or 128-bit encryption. The P405W camera, thanks to IEEE 802.11g interface can also employ WPA-PSK coding in TKIP or AES mode. The cameras are equipped with microphones and audio transmission facilities.

Setup window of P405W camera

Video motion detection and motion sensors. Practically every modern DVR is equipped with video motion detection. This "hardware" detection finds every change in the image as alarm event that switches on recording function.
It should be remembered that such alarm may be triggered not only by the intruder in the monitored area, but also other moving objects, e.g. trees (wind) or small animals. Of course, number of false alarms can be reduced by proper choice of areas of detection and its sensitivity.
DVRs CPD-560/501/503/505/507 are equipped with advanced algorithms of video motion detection which can analyze in certain areas size and speed of moving objects.
CPD recorders have one more important function connected with motion detection - R.E.T.R. The function enables the system to make another copy of recording on external computer working in the network.
There are situations where any configuration of areas will not eliminate moving objects, e.g. behind doorway (moving cars in the street), along fence by the sidewalk (moving people) etc.
In such cases alarm sensors (PIR) connected to alarm inputs can be more useful than video motion detection. These sensors detect difference in temperature between the object and the environment, so they are not sensitive to motion of such objects like tree branches. It also eliminates false alarms caused by rainfall or snowfall, as well as by "snowing" of color cameras working at low light.

Directional antenna ATK-16/2GHz with FME socket. The ATK-16/2GHz A7036 antenna is designed for use in UMTS systems working in 1.9 - 2.1 GHz band. It eliminates problems with unstable connections due to low signal level. The antenna has 11 dBi gain, and can operate with H/V polarization.

UMTS antenna ATK-16/2 GHz A7036 is equipped with 10m cable terminated with FME socket (shown in the catalog page)

Product of the Year. This prestigious award of SatKrak 2007 (October 18-20, Krakow, Poland) in "The best accessories" category was given to DIPOL for the TRISET family of coaxial cables.