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

Does Intel make a breakthrough in the intelligent home market?

Earlier this year, Intel introduced Intel^(R) Home Dashboard Concept. The set of equipment is used primarily for home energy management, but application of a 32-bit microprocessor (Intel^(R) Atom^(TM) M Z530) makes it a fully functional computer system - a home management center.
The Home Dashboard Concept is based on a central unit which can communicate wirelessly with peripheral devices using ZigBee protocol. The peripheral devices provide input data (sensors of temperature, humidity, etc., smart meters), and control various home devices. The memory of the central unit can store programs for control of the home systems, taking into account the input data that depend on external factors. Combination of weather service predictions and the data from external sensors allows to maintain optimum room heat balance.
Home Dashboard Concept employs WiFi connections for communications with Internet devices. Aifter adding suitable widgets, it enables continuous update of certain information important for the users (trip planning, traffic reports, weather warnings etc.), as well as allows them to manage the system remotely. They can also supervise video surveillance and alarm systems.
Application Programming Interface (API) allows easy expansion of the system to include applications dedicated for different users and further development of its capabilities.
Intel's involvement in smart home control systems may become a breakthrough in development and implementation of these systems, due to capability of the microprocessor giant to provide dedicated chips, reduce costs of the equipment, as well as to support standardization process. Any of thousands of solutions currently available on the market has not gained popularity because of the lack of interoperability and high price.

The dashboard - a low-power embedded computing panel - has been made according to the latest trends in industrial design, and the user interface is very straightforward and intuitive. You can see this watching a brief presentation given by Intel's marketing manager.

Building management systems (BMS) have many functions. They integrate monitoring, control, optimization, and reporting tasks of:

The systems working independently consume a large amount of energy and require costly maintenance. According to estimates made by independent institutions and the owners of buildings who have invested in such systems, only the energy savings are about 30%. In addition to the savings resulting from reduced amounts of electricity, water, gas, the systems are more reliable than those operated by people. The service staff can be minimized or may maintain more buildings.

Antennas on the water.

Antennas are normally installed on the roofs of buildings, but there are situations where the only solution is to place the antenna/dish over a lake or river.
For example, in the case of a building located in a dense forest, the nearby lake or river may be the only open space available for proper reception. Typically, such installations are made at campsites, marinas etc.
We invite you to take part in the "Engagingly about antennas" contest. The works can be submitted from June 1st, however the pictures can be taken anytime - just look for an interesting topic!

Modernization of a hotel TV antenna system - SMATV based on TERRA headend.

Spring is the time of intensive preparation for the holiday period in boardinghouses and hotels. Many investors think of enriching the terrestrial channels by an array of satellite broadcasts, using the wiring that has been installed for distribution of terrestrial television.
The best solution is to apply a headend, which can operate with any existing, properly designed and implemented TV antenna distribution system, no matter whether it is an installation of a star, pass-through, or mixed topology.

The owner of one of reputable hotels decided to expand existing TV installation to allow for the distribution of 24 satellite channels, which - together with the six terrestrial programs - would give a total of 30 television channels available in each hotel room.
Due to the high quality and reasonable price, the choice has been one - TERRA MMH-3000 headend.

The arrangement of professional headend equipment of TERRA MMH-3000 headend for 24 satellite channels. Each RDC-313 module allows for the reception of programs from one transponder and sending the transport stream to DM-313 panels (they also enable loop-through connection).

The base unit UC-380 R81700 may hold up to 8 individual modules for digital satellite or digital terrestrial receivers with integrated VSB/DSB modulators.
The RD-313C R81710 receiver is the basic module used in MMH-3000 headend, mounted in the base unit UC-380 R81700. Thanks to transmodulation to PAL standard and RF modulation (VSB) the broadcast can be received by regular televisions. One device receives one program and provides MPEG-2 stream from the received transponder. To receive other programs from the same transponder it is enough to employ cheaper MPEG-2/PAL transmodulators - DM-313 R81712, using MPEG-2 TS output of RD-313C.
RD-313C has CI slot enabling - after installing adequate CA module - reception of encrypted programs. Usually the card makes available all channels of the received transponder. Not all competitive solutions available on the market have this feature.

Of course, the system also employs satellite dish ( A9658 ) and two quatro LNBs ( A98257 ).

Modular Headend TERRA MMH-3000 - description

Power supply in large CCTV systems.

Power supply of several or so cameras with heaters from 12 VDC power source is usually quite burdensome. The current drawn by one camera/heater set may even exceed 1 A, and the voltage drop in long cables may cause malfunction of the cameras.
Most power supplies available in the market have capacity of 2.5 A. Using e.g. 16 cameras, it is necessary to employ several such devices. The best way to power a CCTV system is central power supply (simpler installation and easier way to implement UPS), so for larger installations we recommend the newest power supply - DRA-120 M1835.
Aside from high efficiency (due to switch mode), power factor correction, adjustment of the output voltage within the range of -10% to +15%, protection against short circuit and overloading - a great advantage of the power supplies is the capability of parallel operation - the total current drawn from the set of three units can reach 30 A. This allows to connect the mentioned 16 cameras, even mounted in housing with heaters, a DVR, and several IR illuminators.
Notice! At all power supplies must be set to the same output voltage!

Application diagram

Monitoring of a construction site via the Internet.

The investor, due to being abroad, wanted to monitor the site via the Internet. For economic reasons, he decided to use analog cameras and video servers.

Transmission of video from the construction site via the Internet

The perfect solution was application of the ULTINET K2140 video servers. The devices convert analog video and audio into data packets that can be easily transmitted on the Internet. They use H.264 compression algorithm, which is crucial in the case of low-bandwidth connections. The video servers have built-in Web servers, which means that it is possible to preview the video directly on the website, without installing additional software.

Among many features of the digital video servers (DVS), the most interesting include: capability of transmission PAL-quality video at 25 frames per second, two-way audio transmission, implementation of RS-232 and 485 interfaces and over over 80 PTZ protocols, ability to define the image parameters (bitrate, resolution).

The devices can operate in a wide temperature range (-10...+55^oC). One device can connect up to 15 users at the same time and allows to define two streams with different parameters of the image.

ULTINET K2140 video server can cooperate with all analog CCTV cameras. In the case of more advanced systems, it can be integrated with Ultisystem. The users praise simple installation, easy operation and reliability of the device.

CDMA on vessels? Use omnidirectional CDMA antenna TRANS-DATA CDMA DZ10.2.

The problem that occurs on board a ship, yacht etc. is practically no possibility of applying directional antennas for data transmission (they have to be always directed towards the CDMA base station). The solution is the use of an omnidirectional antenna - without a need to change its direction. TRANS-DATA CDMA DZ10.2 A742020 is outdoor omnidirectional antenna for receiving and transmitting CDMA signals in various environments. Due to 10.2 dBi gain in the whole CDMA band (400-480 MHz), it is a perfect outdoor antenna for CDMA modems and routers, both in fixed locations (buildings, cottages, summer houses etc.) and on vessels (fishing boats, yachts, cutters, barges, ships). The antenna is made of materials resistant to various weather and environmental conditions, including sea salt (surface layer and carcass - glass fiber).

Access to the CDMA network allows to browse the Internet (e.g. check the weather, current events) and VoIP connectivity (phone functionality).

TRANS-DATA CDMA DZ10.2
A742020

Main features:

DVD shelves.

The DVD shelves have been designed to hold home devices like DVD player/recorder, sat receiver, set-top box etc. The glass shelves are made of tempered glass of 8 mm thickness. The supports have been made of aluminum - they are light and very stable. Cable management systems allow to hide connecting cables.

DVD shelves
LCD/PDP mounts of Monako

We have written about:

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Let's compare three models from different price levels, with diverse parameters and functions.

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