Smart City Enhanced parking lot security can provide us with peace of mind while we shop, travel, work or visit a business. Video surveillance networks and emergency phones in parking lots are often great tools in providing a safe environment, but in my experience, their installation can present challenges when there is no conduit provision for running fiber to cameras or emergency phones in parking lots.
Here, I provide some basic tips for making parking lot surveillance installation easier and less expensive through the use of millimeter wave (mmWave) technology, while also boosting the speed and reliability of your wireless network.
Spotty connectivity? No way.
When deciding on an infrastructure for your video surveillance networks, the obvious choice is fiber. However, fiber is not always available. A wireless network is another option, but wireless network connection speeds can be slow, which translates into poor image quality and high latency.
MmWave technology’s use of spectrum that is separated from traditional wireless consumer networks can bring you reliable connectivity and enough available bandwidth to accommodate multi-sensor HD cameras and even 4K cameras. And they can take as little as 30 minutes to install.
CPB and POE
If you’re mounting cameras to existing lamp poles, then check that there is continuous power at the pole. When continuous power isn’t available, a continuous power bridge (CPB) is a great option. Using the Power over Ethernet (PoE) capabilities of millimeter Wave (mmWave) radios to power your cameras from the radio, reduces installation time and the number of power supplies required.
Slaying the Bandwidth Dragon
Fiber provides the fastest path for transmitting the large amount of data generated by cameras and wireless emergency phones, but it’s usually costly and time-consuming to install. I know customers who have increased their network bandwidth by 200 percent by using mmWave radios in their network infrastructure, getting fiber-like connectivity for their video surveillance networks without the fiber price tag.
Simplify, Simplify
Most wireless networks require spectrum analysis before and after deployment to identify interference that could negatively impact the network’s performance. Interference affects network designs and often increases installation times.
Wireless networks that use mmWave radios to transmit data are much simpler to design and pre-install prep is minimal because no spectral analysis is required. MmWave’s transmission beams are very slim and don’t reflect off the ground like traditional wireless, so the possibility for interference is greatly reduced.
When you think of utilizing wireless video surveillance networks to connect your cameras or emergency telephones in a parking lot, think mmWave. It’s a fraction of the cost of fiber and is far quicker to install. MmWave offers tremendous amounts of bandwidth and an interference-free wireless network, providing the infrastructure that a modern-day video surveillance system requires. Many educational institutions, healthcare organizations and businesses are already using mmWave for their video surveillance networks precisely for those reasons. MmWave provides the bandwidth and reliability of fiber without the high cost and takes a matter of minutes to install, not weeks or months, factors which are important to any business’ bottom line.