The Leader in Wireless & IP Video Systems
TOTAL TURNKEY SOLUTIONS FOR OUTDOOR WIRELESS & IP VIDEO APPLICATIONS
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2009 Spring Edition
The bi-monthly eNewsletter is an online publication from Inscape Data
Corporation. It covers the most up-to-date business information about
Inscape Data's products. In this bi-monthly eNewsletter, you will find
valuable information, such as new product release news, application
notes, technology update, success stories, and help desk.
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 COVER STORY
Introducing Next Generation High Performance Outdoor Dual Band Radios
Inscape Data Corporation, the leader
in wireless and IP video systems announced the successful release of the
AirEther dual-band wireless point-to-multipoint system, the AirEtherTM SB54
access point and AirEtherTM SC54 wireless client.
The rugged cost effective new system offer premium features at a great
competitive price point.
The all-in-one approach of Inscape
Data systems tackles the most demanding wireless applications. Product offering include and not limited to:
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Dual band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wireless Band Operation
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500mW Peak Transmit Power for Longer Rang
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Proprietary IEEE 802.11 Range Extension
Algorithm to Reach up to 50km*
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Subscriber Up and Downstream Bandwidth Control
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Access point with bridge, and repeater
functionality built-in
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Integrated 12dBi 2.4GHz patch antenna
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Internal and External Antenna Selection
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Rugged Weatherproof Design
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Power over Ethernet
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Secure Wireless Transmission
Inscape
Data continues its tradition with the next generation wireless product to meet
the high demand environment of IP video security, wireless networking, and
wireless internet service industry. With
equipment maintenance cost high on the list of company expenses, the AirEther
SB54 and SC54 are easy to install and future proof. When used with the Inscape Data LPS1000 Outdoor
Adjustable Voltage PoE and commercial PoE injectors, PIS200, PIS200, and
PES100, the SB54 and SC54 products provides rugged reliable wireless
interconnectivity of mission critical IP video surveillance and networking functionality.
The AirEther SB54 access point / bridge / repeater and SC54
wireless client are the newest offering of our dual-band wireless
portfolio. Inscape Data is excited to
deliver this unprecedented point-to-multipoint wireless system to the market.
For more information regarding the new
AirEther SB54, AirEther SC54, or outdoor rugged IP based products from Inscape
Data Corporation please visit us at www.inscapedata.com
or contact an Inscape Data channel partner today.
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TECHNOLOGY CORNER
Outdoor Risk and Equipment Protection
The proper use of surge
suppressors, lightening arrestors, and weatherproof enclosures are critical
protection measures for all outdoor wireless and IP video devices. Inscape Data Corporation offers a complete
line of cost effective Power over Ethernet (PoE), Surge Suppressors, Lightening
Arrestors, weather proof products (IP67/68).
Many outdoor products such as wireless broadband radios to IP digital
video cameras are often times surged unprotected. Outdoor Ethernet based equipment suffering
surge related damages add up to significant maintenance and camera replacement
cost, due in part, to premature equipment mortality from water damage,
lightning and/or electrical surges. While
it is difficult to quantify lightning losses or water damage, industry experts
estimate many millions of dollars worth of damages and losses occur each
year. Safeguarding your outdoor Ethernet
based equipment with proper surge protection devices and by following industry
standard grounding practice, will help to ensure years of trouble free
operation. Inscape Data encourages you to review and learn the outdoor surge
protection, grounding techniques, and weather proof compliance, so your
investment and equipment will be properly protected over the life time of the
installation. 
Lightning
Lightning,
the most dangerous and most frequently encountered weather hazard experienced
each year is one of the most common causes to outdoor digital surveillance
equipment. Cloud to ground lightning can
destroy digital equipment by direct or indirect ways. There is no direct lightning strike
protection of equipment but only diversion through lightning rods and insurance
claims.
Direct lightning strikes incinerate
equipment in contact beyond repairable means and the aftermath resembles that
of a charred barbeque platter. Direct
strike to equipment is preventable and is more obvious to detect than indirect
lightning strikes.
Indirect lightning strikes
are common when the lightning current branch off to obstacles as it traverse
its way to earth ground while destroying everything on its way. Common obstacles are antennas, power lines, telephone
lines, water tower, tree, water, pipes, or aquifers to name a few.
Unprotected digital equipments in contact
with the lightning surge are sure to be in danger and have very low probability
of survival. It only takes micro-seconds
after a surge to damage unprotected digital equipment.
Let's take a look at an example:
Consider lightning strike to a nearby street light, see Figure 1. The voltage or electric potential is raised
to hundreds of kilo-Volts. In other
words, the light pole becomes a charged battery with hundreds of kilovolts of
electricity. This electricity dissipates
into its surrounding over time and raises the voltage levels of everything it
is in contact with. Unprotected outdoor
digital equipment installed onto poles or into cabinets is now charged with
thousands of volts of electricity.
The
damaging factor is not necessarily attributed to the highly charged digital
equipment but the condition the equipment is connected to another device
through a communication interface with less electric potential or charged voltage. Since electric flow only occurs when there is
an electric potential difference, the outdoor digital device then discharges these
hundreds of kilovolts through the communication cable to the connected
device. If the connected device has low
voltage surge tolerance, it will not survive the electric current transfer. The voltage surge may still be strong and now
ready to find its next victim. Voltage
surges can travel miles before it subsides.
Risk Analysis
A site Engineer responsible
for the design of outdoor digital equipment deployment needs to consider the
following two major risks to the installed components:
- Surge onto equipment contact points
- Elevated Ground Potential
For instance, if we consider
an outdoor IP camera installed on a pole with intermediary electronics housed
in a cabinet nearby, we can observe both risks are present. Moving the electronic cabinet onto the pole
may alleviate the "Elevated Ground Potential Risk", but "Surge onto equipment
contact points" are still present. In
all cases, surge protection must be installed and is the key to address risk #1.
What most often is neglected
for outdoor deployments are surge protection at all ends of every circuit on a
site, not only the equipment power port.
The Ethernet port, one of the most sensitive digital ports for digital
electronics, is not very tolerant of voltage surges and is easily damaged. Other ports to consider for outdoor wireless
IP based Video surveillance system are antenna, alarm, sensor ports, PTZ, and
hybrid camera's coaxial video ports.
It is
important to address ground potential of interconnected equipment. Ground potential is essentially equipments
electric potential referenced to ground.
For example, if the outdoor IP cameras are installed onto a light pole,
then the outdoor IP camera is referenced to the light pole's ground potential. If the outdoor IP camera is installed inside
a utility cabinet sitting on the ground, then the IP camera is referenced to
the utility cabinet's ground potential.
The key to successfully avoid surge related problems is to keep all
interconnected equipment at the same ground potential. In other words, when electrical surges are
present on the equipment, it raises the potential of equipment all at once and
dissipates it over time harmoniously. Damages
are likely to occur only if interconnected equipment is at different ground
potential. This is key to addressing
Risk #2.
Solution to Outdoor Risk
Once we understand the
potential risk to outdoor equipments, we can understand the measures taken to
minimize equipment mortality rate.
There are many surge
protection devices in the market. Most
of us are aware of surge protected power strips which protects our sensitive
home electronics equipment. Consumer
surge protection devices differ from industrial surge protection device in the
level of surge protection it provides.
Industrial surge protection devices are more sensitive and operate at
much higher surge capacity than consumer surge protection equipment. It is not recommended to use consumer surge
protection for use with commercial or industrial application.
A surge protection device is
a junction equipment device with a built-in voltage sensitive switch. It increases and decreases impedance based
on engineered voltage threshold. If the
voltage sensed is higher than the surge protection device is rated, it
decreases impedance and provides an alternative path for the excess voltage to dissipate
into. It provides a safe conductive path
for the excess voltage to travel and diverting it away from the sensitive digital
electronics components or system. The
following photos are industrial surge protection devices for Ethernet and AntennaPorts
from Inscape Data Corporation.
One may wonder why ground
wires are shown as one of the four photos above. The ground wire is the most important
component of a commercial surge protection device. It provides a conductive path for the harmful
voltage to the Earth's ground. Using a
surge protection device without attaching the ground wire properly renders the surge
protection device's effectiveness to none.
Always properly ground your outdoor digital equipment at all times. Skipping this step may lead to serious
consequences and many hundreds or thousands dollar of maintenance and service
calls.
The logistics to address surge
for outdoor equipment's contact points and elevated ground potential are
relatively easy but a very important item on an installer's checklist. Taking the time to plan and address outdoor
risks will lower maintenance cost and increase longevity of outdoor equipments.
The next few sections address common
outdoor risk associated with each particular application.
CCTV
Surge onto equipment contact
points maybe addressed by using port specific surge arrestors and
protectors. In the CCTV world, the minimum
recommendation is to add surge protection devices to the following ports:
- 24VAC Power Line
- Coaxial Video Cable Line
- RS485 PTZ Line
- Audio
Line
IP Video
The big advantage of IP
video cameras compared to analog CCTV system is the decrease in the number of
concurrent cable interfaces to and from the video camera. IP video systems typically use a single
network cable to digitally transmit multiple video, audio, and telemetry
information. The minimum recommendation
is to add surge protection devices to the following ports:
- 12VDC or 24VAC Power Line
- EthernetPort or RJ45 Line
- Power over Ethernet Line
Wireless Data Communication
In the Wireless Data Communication world, the minimum recommendation is the
following:
- Antenna Ports
- Power over Ethernet Line
- Equipment Power Line
Ethernet Cables
Special mention about the
type of Ethernet cables to use for outdoor deployment is crucial. The Ethernet cable
should be CAT5 or CAT5e, outdoor rated, and shielded. The designation for these types of cables is the
following: sFTP, FTP, or STP. The use of
unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable and/or unshielded RJ-45 jack outdoor is not
recommended because of the increased electromagnetic noise level for outdoor
deployments. Using shielded CAT5 cable
without shielded RJ-45 jack at the PoE side may cause more problems then not
using it. The CAT V shield if ungrounded, acts as a magnet for static surges
present in the environment. Since the
charges do not discharge properly through the conductive RJ45 jack, it couples
with the internal data or power lines of the PoE cable. The coupling of high voltages present on the data
cables will damage the equipment directly interfacing it.
Since every component of
outdoor digital equipment is crucial to the system as a whole, damage to one
component may heavily cripple the effectiveness of the whole system. Always use outdoor rated Ethernet cables
for outdoor installations.
 Grounding
The criteria of success to address ground potential difference are placement
location and effective grounding. When
possible, place interconnected equipment on the same mounting location referenced
to the same ground potential. Doing so simplifies
installation efforts. If the
interconnecting equipment must reside at different location, one may address
the grounding issues through careful planning.
The key is common potential ground reference. How does one achieve this? By understanding and properly ground all
equipment to a common ground reference, the Earth Ground.
One may use the best and strongest surge protection device in the
industry, but without proper grounding, the surge protection devices will not
work optimally and in most cases will not work at all. The following are proper grounding points from
the United States National Electric Code (NEC) Sections 810-15s and 810-21 to
be nearest accessible location to the following:
- The building /
structure grounding electrode
- The grounded interior
metal water piping system
- The power service
external enclosure
- The metallic power
service raceway
- The service equipment
enclosure
- The ground electrode
or 8 foot ground rod
A detail list of the NEC
code on grounding is in the appendix of this article. Please reference to it for more details. It is highly recommended to follow the
national electrical code for grounding to achieve the highest level of
protection for your outdoor equipment.
More Tips
Here
are more tips to increase the effectiveness of your grounding scheme and surge
related items and to fight against lightning surges and minimize equipment
damage.
- When in doubt
regarding grounding, drive your own rod and bond it to the house ground.
- Keep cable runs as
straight as possible.
- Use a minimum of 16
AWG copper clad steel wire to ground the Antenna Mast and outdoor wireless
system to the nearest common earth ground point.
- Always run the
outdoor PoE cable inside of the mounting pole when possible. The mounting pole, if metal, will add
insulation and pass the surge to ground.
- Use PoE cable and
RJ-45 jack that is rated for the following:
-Outdoor or direct
burial
-Shielded (FTP,
sFTP, STP) - Test for conductivity
of the grounding system to ensure the installation is solid and
electrically capable of grounding any ambient surge or static.
Other Factors to Consider
Surges from natural occurrences happen more frequently during certain
seasons than others. Using industrial
rated surge protection from Inscape Data Corporation ensures your equipment
will be protected against outdoor surges all year round. There are few key items the Inscape Data
Corporation's surge protection device cannot address are:
- ESD Damage Caused by Not Grounding Yourself
During Installation
- ESD Damage Caused by Dragging CAT 5 Cables
Across Carpet
- Direct Lightning Strikes to Outdoor Equipment
- Damage Caused by Not Grounding Your Equipment
and Surge Protection Device
Transient surges are
everywhere and closest to you without your notice. Always ground yourself and clear yourself of
harmful static electricity before handling your equipment. One may plan to install the best surge protection
the industry has to offer but prematurely damage the device through means of
ESD.
Final Note
Industrial
surge protection devices installed on all lines to the equipments interface and
cabinet will greatly minimize 99% of outdoor weather related surge damages and
provide the following key benefits:
- Protect equipments
and investments
- Increase the life
time of equipments
- Lower the probability
of service call or operation failure
Outdoor surge protection
is one of many consideration to keep your outdoor digital equipment operational
for many years to come. Using outdoor IP
or Nema rated equipment is also an important factor in choosing your outdoor
equipment. Please contact an
Inscape Data product expert for more information on outdoor wireless broadband
radio and IP camera surge protection. A
copy of this article with Appendix can be found on our website in the support
section at www.inscapedata.com
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HELP DESK
What is the difference
between Radio's Repeater mode and WDS mode?
This question comes up often and the industry uses the term
repeater very loosely. Although
conceptually all repeaters function the same, to repeat signals or extend a
signals range, implementation maybe entirely different.
Inscape Data Corporation's outdoor wireless products offer
repeater capability for wireless data access range extension. By repeating the original wireless signal,
new coverage areas can be served. There
are many ways to extend the wireless coverage area, we will cover three.
- Setup
new base station(s) to cover the new service area
- Setup
WDS repeater to cover the new service area
- Setup
802.11 repeater to cover the new service area
Setup new base station(s) to cover the new service area
This is the most optimal method to extend wireless service
to new areas. By setting up new wireless
base station and optimizing network bandwidth, you are ensuring your
subscribers and users obtain the most out of the wireless broadband
services. Using combination of Inscape
Data Corporation infrastructure Access point or Bridge equipment, the new
wireless core infrastructure can be built.
This is the recommended method to extend wireless network coverage.
Setup WDS repeater to cover the new service area
WDS repeater is a proprietary feature built into many of
Inscape Data's outdoor access points and is a great solution for short range
wireless extensions of a service area not covered by the main access
point. Inscape Data's WDS implementation
allows an access point to function as access point and bridge mode simultaneously. This gives Inscape Data access point the
capability to communicate with each other and 802.11 client stations
simultaneously. This provides a great
low cost solution to extend hot spot access and non-mission critical
applications. The cost of using one
radio to extend network coverage comes at the sacrifice of network
bandwidth. Each hop decreases network
performance by 50% or more as wireless traffic are relayed to the main access
point. Due to increase in network
latency in the WDS mode, high demand real-time applications are not recommend
for this mode. This is a cost effective
method to extend small wireless zone for WIFI access.
Setup 802.11 repeater to cover the new service area
802.11 repeaters is an extended mode of operation for Inscape
Data outdoor wireless broadband access points.
802.11 repeating offer the flexibility to extend network access of
compliant IEEE 802.11 access point. The
non proprietary nature of this method provides cross hardware platform
repeating capability with internal capability to function as an 802.11 client
station and access point simultaneously.
There are known issues using 802.11 repeater modes. One primary issue is lower performance and
possible compatibility issues due to slight variation of third party vendor AP
design. The 802.11 repeater mode is a
single radio repeater therefore each hop decreases network performance by 50%
or more as wireless traffic is relayed to the main access point. This is a cost effective way to extend
wireless coverage area of existing non-Inscape Data AP.
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Inscape Data Corporation www.inscapedata.com
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