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

The Brave New World?

Already in several US cities, Comcast Corporation provides cable television services combined with the security and control of "smart homes", under the name of Xfinity Home Security. Signals from home sensors (of motion, smoke, glass break, etc.) and images from surveillance cameras arrive, thanks to wireless transmission, to the home control unit and then are sent to the data center in Colorado. The transmission between the sensors and the control unit is based on the ZigBee protocol which, specially designed for such applications, does not interfere with wireless (WiFi) devices.

Depending on the system settings, some of the data is stored on servers in the data center, other part is analyzed by special software, and some of the information or images may also be sent to the smartphone of the home's owner. The video recordings are stored on the service provider servers for 30 days.

The system can be used for remote control of home appliances and the lighting, heating, etc. It can also be programmed in a more sophisticated way, for example, if a child does not come back home by the programmed time (does not insert the key into the lock), the parent will receive a message on his/her phone. So the users can create their own applications, with the help of the supplied software.

According to Mitch Bowling, SVP and GM of New Businesses in Comcast Cable, responsible for the Xfinity Home Security project, the system is safe due to the encryption of data. It is impossible that a hacker could view video channels or open the locks. However, all data stored on the server can be made available to the relevant authorities, with the consent of the court.

The cost of maintaining such a system consists of the following elements:

Similar services have been launched by Verizon Wireless and Time Warner. This year, Google is to start another project, based on the already introduced "Android@Home" framework for home automation and open source applications for control of electrical and electronic devices from mobile phones.
An example of such an application is the Homebuddy utility which communicates with a controller, e.g. Vera Z-Wave, via the Internet or Ethernet network to switch on/off power, adjust temperature, control various devices.

"Homebuddy" in action

Google wants to go one step further and create Smart Home system based on cloud computing, similarly to Comcast. Devices such as Vera Z-Wave controller would send information to a central server processing it in order to optimize the performance of the building. The user would only configure the system, also through a web browser or Android smartphone, without a need to adjust the parameters.
Google project would perform more sophisticated operations than just switching on/off home appliances, for example, it could assist the user in shopping by sending on their smartphone a list of products lacking in the refrigerator or after expiration date.

The idea of ​​smart homes has been known since the 70s of last century and is derived from the automation of industrial production, of which some aspects, brought to everyday life, might make it easier and more economical.
Until now, a lack of standards for control of home systems and appliances, problems of external control arising from connectivity issues and the high cost of data processing - caused that the installation expenses were high and the benefits low. Cloud computing technology can change this situation and accelerate the development of smart homes.

Disk space issues.

The amount of disc space S_h (in MB) required for saving one hour recording from one channel with bit rate of B is equal to:

To calculate the S_HDD disk capacity, the S_h value has to be multiplied by 24 and the α coefficient referring to the daily percentage of recording time. Additionally, we must take into account the required number of days D for each of the k channels. All the results for individual channels have to be summed up:

The calculation procedure can be greatly simplified by the use of disk space calculators. These programs usually require the introduction of a smaller number of parameters and can automatically select the optimum bitrate resulting from the required image resolution, compression type and frame rate. Due to the nature of H.264 compression based on image processing algorithms and dependent on the dynamics of the scenes, all calculations should always be considered estimates and increased by 10-20%.

A disk space calculator can be download from here. It has been prepared for Hikvision DVRs and takes into account their characteristics.

Our offer includes a full range of SATA hard drives perfectly cooperating with the offered DVRs.

CCTV systems operating in a 7/24 environment with multiple disk drives should be equipped with units dedicated for this purpose - M89265, M89270. They ensure reliable operation, greater resistance to vibration and high temperature, lower power consumption and noise emission.

How to connect several TVs to a digital cable STB?

Subscribers of digital cable television often face the problem of bringing the signal to TVs located in other rooms. When the signal is not encoded, they may purchase and use additional DVB-C receivers. However, in most cases it is not possible - they would have to pay additional subscription fee(s) to decode the channel(s) on the additional STB(s). Both these solutions would allow for independent selection of the received channel, but for a considerable cost, especially in the latter case.

Below we present three simple ways of transmitting the decoded channel from a DVB-C STB (decoder) to other rooms. The solutions assume that all televisions get the same channel (currently selected on the decoder).

Three ways of transmitting the decoded channel from a DVB-C STB to other rooms.
Each TV receives the same channel, selected on the STB.

• 1. Application of the HDMI splitter Signal H3212 - the splitter provides the digital video signal from the STB to modern televisions via HDMI cables. The advantage of this solution is the ability to watch a selected HD channel on each of the TVs,
• 2. Use of the RF modulator Terra MT41 R871741 - the best solution when in the rooms there are TV outlets connected via a coaxial cable. Since the modulator has to be connected to analog A/V outputs of the STB, they should provide the analog signals simultaneously with the digital signal (HDMI),
• 3. Deployment of the A/V transmitter Signal TR-3000 R94110 - eliminates a need for any cabling between the STB and the televisions; the 5.8 GHz working band is practically free from interference.

When choosing the 1. or 2. method, the user should take into account the need for a remote control extender (e.g. Signal DIR-300 R94120), to remotely control the DVB-C receiver from another room. In the case of the third method, the TR-3000 R94110 kit has a built-in transmitter of IR commands.

It's time for fiber optic backbones.

A telecommunication and Internet service provider has been preparing the network for a newly built housing development consisting of three apartment houses, each with 20 apartments. The investor required to deploy optical links to the buildings in order to offer the future residents advanced triple play services (broadband Internet, TV, and VoIP), with the use of GPON technology.

In the first stage of the project, one of the buildings has been connected via optical fiber and the managed switch TP-LINK N29957 equipped with ULTIMODE L1416 SFP modules to the infrastructure of the ISP. The managed switch is connected via optical cables to smart switches TP-LINK N29951 equipped with ULTIMODE L1417 SFP modules, located in the other two buildings. Currently, the apartments have been connected to the switches via copper cables. However, the houses have also been equipped with modular cable system (fibers of the needed type can be blown in at any time and will link the distribution point in each building with every apartment).

In the second stage of the project the smart TP-LINK switches will be replaced with passive splitters and the copper links with fibers blown into the modular cable system. The ISP will also provide a wide range of digital TV channels and VoIP service.

Diagram of the fiber optic solution

Video monitoring of a single-family home.

The owner has decided to raise the level of home security by installing a CCTV system. The required high quality devices should not break the household budget. The system should operate round the clock, and cover both the interior of the house and the unlit neighborhood.

The cameras chosen by the installer provide high resolution images (600 TVL) and are very sensitive (0.01 lx in B/W mode). These are ceiling cameras v-cam 430 M10754 and v-cam 450 M10749, equipped with IR illuminators and capable of capturing video at night without external lighting. The cameras have many useful functions controlled through OSD menu. The installer activated BLC function which enables more detailed observation of objects and people lit from behind.
Outside the house there are n-cam 710 M11276 cameras equipped with infrared illuminators with a range of up to 30 m. Thanks to HLC function, they can capture license plates of cars with turned on headlights.
The video from the cameras is recorded on the 8-channel TREND 250X08 M72508 DVR, with high parameters (4CIF at 25 fps). The recording of the video from indoor cameras is triggered by motion detection. The DVR is connected to the Internet, allowing the user to access the live and recorded video remotely.

Merging images from multiple cameras.

The newest NUUO NT-4040(R) K4204 NVR can record H.264 video streams from up to 64 megapixel cameras (each with resolution up to 5 MP) and merge selected images into a continuous, panoramic picture.
NUUO Image Fusion Technology gives the possibility of combining images from up to 10 fixed cameras that cover the neighboring areas.

NUUO Image Fusion Technology - stitching together images into a panoramic view.
Images from 6 cameras throughout the stadium have been combined into one picture
that can be zoomed in and scrolled.

This technology allows for adjusting the views from individual cameras (by changing their size and angle of view, rotating on XYZ axes) in order to combine them into one coherent picture without "blind spots". The resultant panoramic picture can be treated as an image from a separate megapixel camera with digital PTZ function, which may also be recorded as an additional channel.

With this functionality, it is possible to monitor a stadium, parking lot, street, store, or a long corridor without having to switch between different cameras e.g. when tracking a moving person.

How to improve LTE connectivity?

In order to enhance the signal from the mobile operator, the user of an LTE modem should connect the device to an external antenna pointed toward the base station of the cellular operator.

We offer compact LTE antennas:

The antenna shoud be connected to the modem with the use of a suitable RF adapter.

Application of the A741021 antenna for an LTE modem

Worth reading:

Second generation headends allow selection of channels in multiplexes. After analog TV switch-off, manufacturers of televisions do not supply on the market TV sets with analog tuners. So, the currently installed headends must be able to convert 8PSK/QPSK satellite broadcasts into digital terrestrial COFDM signals. To meet technical specifications, the choice of the channels in the multiplexes required by the owner of a SMATV/CATV system has to be agreed with the installer/installation company.
Planning the set of channels in a multiplex, the installer has to take into account the bit rates of the channels that are to be distributed in the network. This is mainly due to the limited capacity of digital multiplexes. The maximum capacity of a DVB-T multiplex with the guard interval of 1/32 and FEC of 7/8 is 31.66 Mb/s.

The www.linowsat.de website provides bit rate statistics of satellite TV channels

Video surveillance of a ski slope. The owner of a ski slope decided to install a CCTV system in order to secure the people and ski lift.
The snow conditions and people on the slope are observed by megapixel network cameras Pixord P600E K1532 equipped with megapixel wide-angle varifocal lens UltiEye M2263. The IP cameras are protected against adverse weather conditions by Marathon M5406 housings.
For economic reasons the video data is not recorded by any server. The video footage from last three days, recorded on a continuous basis, is available on the 32 GB SD cards installed directly in the K1532 cameras. The footage can be used as evidence in the case of accidents on the slope...

Trusted quick assembly connectors from ULTIMODE series. Contrary to fears of many installers, optical fiber is now relatively easy to terminate, without the need of buying fusion splicers or hiring subcontractors to perform this work. DIPOL offers high quality and easy to use ULTIMODE quick assembly connectors that provide the same transmission parameters as in the case of connections made in laboratory conditions...

Cross-sectional view of a ULTIMODE FAST connector

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