• Cover Story: Introducing the New LinkPower^TM PoE & Power Switch LPS600, LPS700, & LPS800 series - Outdoor PoE & Power Center
  

• Technology Corner: LinkPower Outdoor Network & Power Solution

• Help Desk: External Sensor Trigger of Inscape Data PTZ IP Video Cameras
  
  

The Development of Outdoor Network Appliance Market

The transformation and migration to outdoor wireless networking & power solution enables a broad range of cost-effective, secure deployment of government, municipalities, enterprise campus, and industrial applications.  Standards-based wireless access takes advantage of the growing popularity of WiFi hotspots, Mesh and WiMax, enabling new service opportunities and applications that improve deployment limitations, user productivity and responsiveness.

A transformation is also underway in the outdoor physical security and smart grid markets. The demands of better safety and asset protection, the command and control capabilities of information technology networks, and the processes of crisis management are merging to redefine how organizations effectively communicate and respond to threats.   On the other hand, the power and energy industry is demanding more reliable and simple network access to the smart meter installations.

IP Video, smart grid, and wireless standards based wireless infrastructure communication are three primary outdoor network appliance applications to emerge in this decade to define the explosive growth of outdoor network devices.  Traffic surveillance, automated utility meter reading, i.e., smart meter, wireless parking meter management, and wireless parking lot video surveillance are few examples of outdoor network applications once not possible or too costly with traditional solutions.

The key elements for deploying and integrating current and future outdoor network devices are power and inter-connectivity with reliable and cost effective outdoor network power center. 

Attributes of an Outdoor Network & Power Solution

Organizations have a variety of requirements that define the type of outdoor network & power center best suited for their application needs. These requirements include: voltage flexibility, outdoor reliability, daily maintenance, and remote management.

Voltage Flexibility - An outdoor network power center must have flexible voltage requirement to accommodate vast number of vendor equipments from IP video camera to wireless network bridges.  Single voltage outdoor network power center is too narrow in scope to address the complexity at an outdoor installation node.  The use of do it yourself box made of various PoE injectors and switches is time consuming and undermine the reliability of critical outdoor network equipment deployment.  Many components chosen from do it yourself boxes are not designed for outdoor deployment causing premature failures of outdoor installations.  All in one outdoor power solution addresses presales complexity and postsales installation and maintenance issues commonly faced by system integrators.

Outdoor Reliability - With increasing demand for cost effective IP devices, many new Powered Devices (PDs) are now operating both indoors and outdoors.  IP video camera systems used to monitor the inside of buildings are now finding their way onto street lights and utility poles for public safety and traffic monitoring.  The core challenges of powering outdoor PDs are:

·             Inclement Weather Conditions

·             Transient Voltage Surges

·             Extreme Temperature Ranges

·             AC Power Source Location

·             Power Reliability

·             Diverse PD voltage types

·             PD Lock-Up

The proper use of transient surge suppressors, lightening arrestors, and hardened weather-tight enclosures are also critical protection measures for all outdoor network device installations.  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. An outdoor network device power center must have the proper surge protection specifications to protect itself and the network equipments it services to insure outdoor reliability.  This way your investment and equipment will be properly protected over the life time of the installation. 

Daily Maintenance - An important design factor to consider for outdoor power centers is to lower daily maintenance cost over the lifetime of the network device installation it services.  For outdoor network device deployment, equipments are usually out of reach from the public therefore ladders and special lift vehicles are required during maintenance and troubleshooting.  These costs are added into support contracts and passed onto the end users.  Added measures in an outdoor network power center will have features to manually or automatically remote power cycle and manage the network device it services by eliminating a potentially expensive maintenance service call.

Remote Management - System operators must be able to easily manage outdoor network device deployment as they are deployed across wider areas than indoor network device deployments.  A municipal traffic surveillance application can easily cover several square miles of streets therefore very important to quickly identify outdoor device issues and recover from it.

When building or connecting a new outdoor wired network proves too costly, time-consuming or prohibitive, a wireless network should be considered as a proven and reliable alternative. Standards-based wireless infrastructure equipment provides great location selection and coverage without the costs of trenching or hanging cables.

When expanding a current video network to new locations, wireless networks play a very important role. When designed properly, they are generally easier to install, quicker to deploy, cost less, and extend to hard to reach areas with very good results.  To power reliable outdoor wireless infrastructure equipment, the use of a reliable maintenance free network power center with Power over Ethernet (PoE) support is important.  The trend for network equipment powering is PoE.  Wireless and IP video solutions are now utilizing PoE as the primary powering method.  With new PoE standards releasing periodically, PoE based network devices will surpass traditional powered network devices shortly from IP phones to wireless access points.  

Overview of Power over Ethernet

PoE eliminates time, cost and effort required to install separate 110/220 Volts Alternating Current (VAC) power to the remote Powered Device (PD). Using the power derived from the Ethernet connection eliminates the need for a localized battery back-up, preventing any data loss or security breaches. All PD devices can be protected by a single centralized UPS. 

There are two methods of interfacing power to the Ethernet cable. First, a mid-span powered hub is connected in cascade with the Ethernet switch (refer to Figure 1A). Second, the end-span (end-point) power module is fully integrated in the Ethernet switch delivering power without the need for additional components (refer to Figure 1B). 

Benefits of PoE

 

The benefits provided by PoE technology are more than just simplifying the wiring. Benefits also include:

 

Cost Savings - Cost savings in the time of deployment and costs associated allows for deployment without traditional high voltage electrical circuits, eliminating the creation and maintenance of power infrastructures such as cords, outlets, and conduits.  Cost savings associated with the need to subcontract expensive high voltage electricians is also eliminated.

 

Easy to Install - PoE requires one set of wires to the PD.  Vendors and users both benefit from this simplified installation concept.

 

Deployment Flexibility - Since PoE PDs may be deployed up to hundreds of feet away from AC outlets, the location flexibility of PDs simplifies cabling layout and power restrictions.  Systems like IP cameras and wireless access points can be located in more secured locations to avoid intentional tampering.

 

Reliability - PoE architecture allows centralized power management by managing the PSE to an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) system. By attaching a battery backup system to the PSE, the PD is guaranteed power even when there is a main power failure.

Outdoor PoE Challenges

 

The future of an outdoor network power center will offer Power over Ethernet and the flexibility to accommodate wired or wireless network infrastructure equipment.  However, with the lack of outdoor and multi-power PoE switch support from network equipment vendors, many system integrators have to build their own boxed solution from scratch, until now.

 

LinkPower Outdoor PoE & Power Switch

 

Inscape Data Corporation, the leading outdoor network appliance company has recently released new family of outdoor PoE switches.  Based on Inscape Data's patent-protected proprietary technologies specifically designed for powering outdoor network appliances such as IP surveillance cameras and wireless systems, the Link Power Switch family line is the pioneer standard for outdoor PoE & power switch.

 

The remote controllable LinkPower outdoor switch offers a unique and powerful outdoor network power solution which significantly reduces the complexity of outdoor network installation, integration and ongoing network maintenance.  Table 1 is a comparison table of the LinkPower LPS PoE & Power switch to current market availability.

Features	LinkPower (LPS) Switch	3rd Party Switch
All Weather Design	Yes	No
Multiport Adjustable PoE Voltage	Yes	No
Remote Power Cycle of Ethernet and AC Ports	Yes	No
Multiport	Yes	Yes*
Ethernet Surge Protection	Yes	No
AC Power Forwarding	Yes	No

* Limited Availability

Table 1. Comparison of LinkPower PoE & Power Switch with 3^rd Party Equivalent Products

 

Conclusion

Clearly, the shift from indoor network powered devices to outdoor network powered devices in the physical security and network appliances market will pave the way to extend security and network devices to application scenarios once not possible.  Modern network equipment and recent events around the world are putting new demands on both the folks that design, install and manage these networks, as well as the manufacturers that develop technologies used in these networks.

 

Inscape Data's LinkPower PoE & Power Switch family line is leading the trend for outdoor network power center to reliably power outdoor network devices and lower lifetime maintenance and installation cost.  The LinkPower PoE & Power Switch is an emerging technology that will change the way outdoor network devices are managed and powered.  With the rapid increasing deployment of PoE enabled PDs, residential, retail, enterprise, and industrial users will all benefit from the cost savings as well as the simplicity, reliability, and flexibility.  Outdoor PoE device market faces challenges of diverse power systems and extreme operating environments.  By providing flexible outdoor network power center voltage support and remote restart capability, Inscape Data's LinkPower PoE & Power Switch overcomes practical deployment problems in outdoor environments and brings a new concept to outdoor PoE powering and switching.  The adjustable voltage, remote reset, individual port monitor, and much more, makes the LinkPower Switch the industry's only solution to power your PoE enabled outdoor network devices.