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

Mehr Licht (more light) for Europe.

On October 26, 2010, at the Paris conference on broadband connections, the Fiber To The Home Council Europe published a report on the development of this type of fiber-optic networks in the continent. In the past 6 months there was a 22% increase in the number of subscribers using optical transmission means directly on their premises. This result is mainly due to quick development of the services in countries which are the youngest members of the EU and in Russia.

In the first place of the ranking taking into account the percentage of citizens who use fiber optics we can find Lithuania. The second and third places go to Sweden and Norway. In these three countries the estimated percentages of the direct fiber connections respectively amount to 21%, 13%, and 12% of households.
In absolute numbers, the leading country is still Russia, which can boast of 1.2 million users of this technology. A surprise was the appearance of Romania on the 13th place. The country has outdistanced even highly developed economies such as Italy and France. The fastest growing fiber optic infrastructure has Bulgaria which takes the 8th place, which means 8-position jump in the ranking.

Chris Holden, President of the FTTH Council Europe said: "the New Member States are leading the drive for fiber to the home in Europe" ... "If we include Russia, today the majority of FTTH/B connections are found in the Eastern part of Europe."

The ranking takes into account the countries in which the penetration of FTTH/B has reached at least 1% of the total number of homes. Therefore, it contains only 17 states. The real surprise is the absence of Germany and the UK. The dynamic development of the infrastructure in the Eastern European countries is strongly supported by inflows of EU subsidies.

June 2010 European Ranking of FFTH/B penetration
Source: IDATE and FTTH Council Europe

Globally, most subscribers of FTTH/FTTB services are in Asia. In 2008, 78% of home fiber optic systems were on this continent.
European countries have only 5% of the global market share. Industry analysts estimate that at the end of 2011 approximately 16 million homes in Europe will be connected to FTTH/FTTB networks - about 8% of all households. This does not seem to be so ambitious comparing to the results obtained by South Korea already two years ago - at the end of 2008, 45% of their homes were connected to FTTH/FTTB. At that time, the percentage in Japan was 25%, in Taiwan - 12%.

Antennas in the oldest city of the world.

The oldest city is also the lowest city - 276 meters below sea level. It is situated near famous Jebel Quruntul (Mount of the Quarantine or Forty Days), also known as Mount of Temptation, with three ridges. One of them bears many signs of modern civilization, including some antennas. In the half of the second ridge there is monastery, built around the grotto where Jesus lived. According to tradition, Jesus went there to fast for forty days and withstood the temptation of the devil. The mountain top offers a panorama of the city.
What is the name of the city? - You can find it out in the last part of this issue.

Designing of SMATV systems.

Network planning and design with the use of a sheet of paper and a pencil is laborious and entails the risk of error. Free software from TERRA - SatNet 2.0.2 - allows to design installations based on the equipment manufactured by the company. The program allows to prepare the project in graphical form, to determine signal levels in all outlets and verify if they are compliant with standards, and to decide whether to use equalization function of the amplifiers. The program enables the user to archive the projects.

Download free SatNet software

Movie showing the process
of designing a multiswitch system

CCTV images in Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.

Viewing video footage through a browser is one of the most popular means of remote surveillance, especially in the case of small CCTV systems (in homes, businesses etc).
Due to licensing reasons and support of ActiveX controls, so far the only browser enabling to watch surveillance video has been Internet Explorer.

After installing IE Tab plug-in for Mozilla Firefox, the users can display any website rendered with IE engine. After entering the address, the compatibility mode can be activated automatically or triggered manually by the operator. All configuration and management capabilities are enabled, including:

and many other model-dependent functions of DVRs.
The IE Tab plug-in enables remote control of the following DVRs:
TREND 250X04 M72504, 250X08 M72508, 250X16 M72516; Ultimax 104 M71040, 204 M72040, Hikvision-Ultimax 7300, 8100 M74040, M74080, M76080, M76081, M76160, M76161, M78080, M78160.

Lens replacement in a dome camera.

In many situations the standard lenses mounted in dome cameras should be changed.
The cameras use two kinds of lenses - with CS/C or CS-M mount with thread diameter of 13 mm. Lenses with CS mount are mainly used with BOX cameras (which usually are sold without lenses), but also are installed in high-quality dome cameras, e.g. V-CAM 515 M10751, whereas lenses with CS-M mount usually cooperate with board cameras (typically designed for mounting on ceilings) such as CAM-612D M10734.

Wireless IP CCTV system.

IP CCTV technology allows to create wireless monitoring systems without problems with video transmission.
Ultimate flexibility is achieved by using IP cameras with separate access points, e.g. N2301, N2311. They allow to put transmission points on roofs of buildings, which is not possible in the case of cameras with built-in APs.

Wireless IP CCTV system with Pixord cameras

The above diagram shows a wireless monitoring network using Pixord P600 K1532 and PL-621 K1533 cameras, connected to centralized supervision and recording system based on a server managed by NUUO software ensuring functions such as:

Image analysis implemented in the software makes the work of the operator much easier, minimizing the effects of losing concentration during continuous observation of video surveillance images.

Be legal - use certified GSM repeaters.

GSM repeaters used to improve cellular connectivity have to meet strict standards due to the possibility of disrupting operation of public cellular networks. The most demanding standard is associated with effective use of frequency spectrum - ETSI EN 300 609-4 V8.0.2.
Before purchasing a GSM repeater, the customer should check if its CE declaration confirms compliance with that standard. If not, the distribution of the device in Europe is illegal, and both the seller and user are liable for the consequences of operating such equipment.

New cellular amplifiers/repeaters compliant with the latest standards and legal requirements

Readers voting - "Engagingly about Antennas".

Of the 182 images submitted for the contest we have chosen 21, the most interesting in our opinion. Our readers have been voting for over a month for their choices.
The winner of the readers' choice award has become Mr. Tomir Dabrowski.
The award is a bottle of brand-name Tokay, funded by "DIPOL Hungaria".
We invite you to participate in the next contest that starts in June 2011.

The pictures with the numbers of votes

Jericho.

A city located on the west bank of the Jordan River in the Palestinian Territories. Jericho is probably the oldest city in the world and certainly the oldest continuously inhabited human settlement. Already since 8000 BCE the city with an area of 4 ha was surrounded by about 3.5-meter-high stone wall, with a 10 m tower in the center of one side. The tower is considered the oldest fortification structure.

Zacchaeus sycamore tree in Jericho

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