WiFi, Fiber optics, Earthing and Rope access

The challenges with fiber installations and outdoor WiFi networks

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Business surveillance system

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Wireless business surveillance and security systems

Maintaining the business takes up all the time. Keeping it safe from would-be criminals is just as big of a challenge.

Wireless surveillance cameras come with all the same standard features as a wired camera without the hassle of running video cables. Just install the cameras, plug the camera in and start viewing. These systems are used in situations where cable dredging is not practical or is cost prohibitive.

Security systems serves several purposes.

Keeping all employees and customers honest. Knowing the cameras are there provides security in itself

It shows the shopping patterns of the customers and provides better understanding of where to place merchandise for best results.

Security cameras at the registers can help solve any disputes. No more fights about the change returned and the bill denomination.

See if any employee is entering incorrect amounts into the register.

Ensure safety in the workplace while protecting your assets with business security cameras. Cover especially vulnerable areas of your business like point-of-sale machines, or capture everything that happens with multi-camera systems and covert devices.

What to look for? WiFi camera pros.

WiFi cameras will be easier to install. No hassle of running video cables. No drilling holes.

Can be placed anywhere (within WiFi signal range) for optimal protection.

The image quality is better and the digital video quality is higher.

A wireless camera allows for remote viewing of areas

Night vision security cameras are needed if you want to be able to identify a person in low light or very dark conditions.

The lenses in the cameras are not made alike. There are basically three categories of lenses.

Fixed focal length - That comes with a manual iris.

Vari-focal length - also with a manuel iris.

Vari-focal length - with the automatic iris.

The iris controls how much light is allowed into the camera. With the manual iris the best results are achieved inside office buildings with a constant light. The automatic iris can handle changing light conditions for example outside.

Its possible to put up cameras yourself. But, working with security experts provides the best result. People with long experience in designing systems for any applications.

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Rope Access technicians on the job

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Rope access is efficient on taller structures

Rope access provides a safe, cost-effective, and efficient means of accessing structures and geologic features for inspection, maintenance, and construction.

Rope Access is a safe way of reaching a workplace. It could be an alternative for scaffolds and man baskets. Difficult to reach places are accessed by rappelling/climbing techniques. Rope access is safe and a legal way and therefore complements other access methods.

A two-rope system is employed: the working rope provides access and support for the worker and the safety rope provides an independent back-up system.

Each rope access technician is trained in the IRATA system and assessed independently. The IRATA (Industrial Rope Access Trade Association) system is worldwide known as the best trademark for working in ropes.

Developed in the 1990’s from caving and climbing techniques, rope access was designed to solve the industrial sector’s most difficult access challenges.

The early foundations of the rope access system may be found in mountaineering and particularly in caving, where methods and techniques were developed over centuries for traversing dangerous terrain and negotiating vertical spaces.

Why use rope access technicians?

Modern rope access equipment, techniques, and training can be combined to produce an exceptionally safe, versatile, efficient, and cost-effective way to solve vertical access problems.

Benefits of using rope access

Some of the rope access advantages include a high level of safety, reduced exposure time, cost savings, and time savings. It also adds less dependency on unreliable machinery like boom lifts, scissor lifts, cranes, and scaffold.

Rope access is safe with independently certified rope access technicians.

It is versatile. Technicians can apply the techniques in a wide variety of environments.

It is efficient because systems are installed and dismantled quickly.

It is environmentally friendly - rope access techniques and equipment has minimal effect on the surrounding environment.

It is economical requering fewer personnel, with a faster completion time, less equipment, and minimal downtime. It all means lower costs.

If you have a project on a tall structure and want to provide a safe and efficient environment for your workers, then you most likely need rope access services.

Like any other method of working at height, the application of rope access should be regarded as a complete system, in which planning, management, competence and suitable equipment should be treated with equal importance, as each is dependent on the others to ensure a safe system of work.

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Electrical bonding of pipes

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Electrical bonding in commercial buildings

The importance of bonding and grounding in commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings cannot be overstated. The grounded circuits of machines need to have an effective return path from the machines to the power source in order to function properly.

Electrical bonding is the permanent joining of metal parts together to form an electrically conductive path that has the capacity to conduct safely any fault current likely to be imposed on it.

Bonding is simply the act of joining two electrical conductors together. These may be two wires, a wire and a pipe, or these may be two Equipments. Electrical bonding is the practice of intentionally electrically connecting all exposed metallic items not designed to carry electricity in a room or building as protection from electric shock.

Bonding ensures that these two things which are bonded will be at the same electrical potential. That means we would not get electricity building up in one equipment or between two different equipment.

The bonding also helps to create a low impedance path back to the source. This will force a large current to flow, which in turn will cause the breaker to trip. In other words, bonding is there to allow a breaker to trip and thereby to terminate a fault.

In a system with a grounded (earthed) neutral, connecting all non-current-carrying metallic parts of equipment to earth ground at the main service panel will ensure that current due to faults (such as a "hot" wire touching the frame or chassis of the device) will be diverted to earth.

Bonding to electrical earth is used extensively to ensure that all conductors (person, surface and product) are at the same electrical potential.  When all conductors are at the same potential no discharge can occur.  

The benefits for the building owner are many — maximized equipment protection, elimination of shock hazard potential, increased process up time, and reduced costs through avoiding expensive machine servicing.

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Video surveillance system

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Video surveillance systems gives you peace of mind

Video Surveillance solutions are security tools that help reduce crime and protect people and property. These solutions deter revenue loss from stolen merchandise, destruction of valuable information and vandalism.

Security is imperative for any business; after all, how can you be profitable if you can't protect your assets? While business owners might want to think crime will never strike their companies, it's a risk many aren't willing to take. To help protect their offices and stores, many have installed video surveillance equipment.

The needs of every business are different; some require surveillance across multiple locations, while others do not. New and improved IP camera systems allow for remote monitoring of any size business.

Video surveillance systems include several types of cameras that keep watch over a business, as well as digital video recorders that store all of the video for review.

One problem with the last generation of cameras was that you only found out that they were down when you looked for a recording and couldn’t find it. Its therefore important to keep tabs on your cameras and take action if any of them goes offline.

The best cameras now offer computer-like functions and features, like motion sensors and automatic mobile notifications.

Technological development has also lead to more efficient ways of managing recording and storage, as well. Now small business owners have access to immensely powerful surveillance systems at relatively affordable prices.

What about WiFi cameras?

If a camera is more than 750 feet away from the DVR the video quality begins to degrade. WiFi cameras resolve this issue by processing the images on the camera. They send a wireless digital signal instead of analog. Transmitting over wi-fi or Ethernet achieves higher quality digital video.

How wide is the viewing angle? and what recording resolution do I need?

It is depends on the image sensor with sizes normally 1/4” or 1/3”. Larger image sensors allow more light into the picture and give you a wider angle of view. A 3.6mm lens will see almost 80 degrees wide, and a 50mm lens, will only give you a viewing angle of roughly 5 degrees wide.

Normal camera systems range from 420 lines of resolution up to full HD 1080p resolution. 420 lines is enough for indoor systems monitoring a single area within 50 feet. For longer distances a resolution of 700+ provides a noticeable bump in image quality.

There are many reasons to have a Video Security System. The single most important reason is peace of mind. Knowing you can always look in on your cameras with remote viewing. Pulling up footage afterwards in the event of a break-in.

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Outdoor wireless access

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Outdoor wireless network solutions

Mobility is one of the most important social and technological movements in the past decade which has permeated all aspects of our lives. A key enabler of the movement, WiFi is fast becoming the answer to many businesses mobility problems.

Today's lifestyles mean an ever-growing thirst to receive data, voice and multimedia services anytime, anywhere. And to meet this demand, operators of all types are building advanced broadband networks using various technologies from Wi-Fi and WiMAX to provide Personal Broadband services. WiFi internet access is in high demand and being in the outdoors is no exception.

WiFi Outdoor Access Points uniquely combine high-gain antenna technology and external weatherproof housing to enable an extension to a WiFi network beyond the offices four walls. Built to withstand the harshest of outdoor conditions, WiFi Outdoor Access Points are ideal for general enterprises covering outdoor areas where Ethernet cabling is not possible.

Business-class routers and access points (APs) typically offer multiple SSID and virtual LAN (VLAN) features. When these features are set up properly, multiple wireless network names (SSIDs) can be broadcasted with varying levels of security, one of which could be a  guest network safely segregated from the private network.

With WiFi you enable the staff with the power of transmitting data and accesss the office computers, the internet or intranet not with the speed available using the mobile network, but with fast download and upload speed.

The major challenge in WiFi coverage is to link a low power WiFi CPE like a notebook computer, a WiFi phone or a handheld WiFi device to the access point.

Deployment of an outdoor wireless network requires an even greater specialised skillset due to the unique volatile nature of the outdoor environment. Large scale deployments of WiFi require something more than just a consumer grade WiFi router. There are numerous factors to consider that affect the location, quantity and type of wireless equipment needed, and the design of the network.

Outdoor access points can connect multiple concurrent users over acres of area, penetrating outdoor structures providing unmatched Wi-Fi reception and performance.

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Earthing and lightning protection systems

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Earthing & Lightning Protection

Protect your assets and personnel on high voltage installations. Electrical earthing systems are a site’s safety net for fault electrical current.

The grounding system at a building provides an easy path for electricity to flow to earth should certain problems occur (a power surge, lightning strike).

Grounding plays a vital protective role in an electrical system. Proper grounding provides shock protection, ensures protective relays work properly, ensures system voltages are stable, and provides protection against lighting and static discharge.

A grounding system or an earthing system is used to connect part of the electricity supply to the ground so that if there is a fault within the circuits the energy is dispersed without danger to people.

In the construction of most commercial buildings, one ground is usually run throughout the building to keep the impedance as low as possible. Low impedance in the ground is needed to make sure that the the fuse blows when something gets short circuited to ground wire (for example cable insution breaks inside the equipment and touches the grounded metal case).

Lightning protection

Lightning is the visible discharge of static electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between the earth and a cloud and is the natural discharge of electrostatic electricity within Earth’s atmosphere and has the capability to be extremely destructive.

Lightning is a rare occurrence but in fact it strikes the earth 100 times a second, or 8 million times a day. Being trapped in a burning building, being injured or killed by machinery in critical electrical fault, or being electrocuted through electrical equipment are nightmare scenarios that anyone would wish to avoid.

However, protective measures can be introduced to existing or prospective structures to help mitigate the hazardous effects of lightning strikes.

A lightning protection system provides a means by which this discharge may enter or leave the earth without passing through and damaging conducting parts of a structure, such as those made of wood, brick, tile or concrete.

The economic benefits of installing a lightning protection system with earthing measures are clear. A lightning strike could not only cause a danger to life, but could close down a business for a considerable length of time.

Earthing system can prevent the dangerous effects of electricity. So, make sure your electrical earthing systems is up to date.

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Fiber optic networks

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Advantages of a fiber optic network

Not too many years ago, fiber was a novelty, and there was little fiber optic installation experience in the industry. Copper was the king. In today's high speed networks the reverse is true.

Technological advancements require structured, up-to-date network cabling, simplified adaptability and future-proof capabilities.

As technology improves, more and more companies and organizations are getting fiber optic cables. They are easier to install, take up less space and provide faster transfer speed compared to other cables.

The race between copper and fiber was won, and the incontrovertible winner is fiber... Whether for Virtual Private Networking (VPN) for telecommuters, or point-to-point T1 services for businesses, only Fiber Optics can satisfy the wide-ranging needs of an entire community.

Fiber Optic Cabling will improve business whether you have a government facility, a business or an education building.

The cost of transmitting a single phone conversation over fiber optics is only about 1% the cost of transmitting it over copper wire! That's why fiber is the exclusive medium for long distance communications.

Other advantages of a fiber optical network

The use of a Fiber Optic Network minimizes maintenance expenses because the Fiber Optic Network signals are not affected by electrical noise. 

Data through a fiber optic cabling system travels nearly at the speed of light, ensuring your network is sending and receiving information as quickly as possible.

Fiber Optic Cables Are Built To Last. A Fiber Optic Network has an estimated Interior/Exterior, LAN, WAN, and Plant life of more than 35 years. 

Fiber optic cabling does not produce EMI, meaning there is no electric current traveling through the system’s core.

Fiber, even though it’s glass fiber, has more strength and greater tolerance than copper wire.

In longer runs, copper cables are prone to deliver a weaker signal—not so with fiber optic cables.

Signals from Fiber Optic Cables can be transmitted very long distances

The recent upward trend in copper prices has made fiber optics a cost effective solution for more and more applications.

To deploy or upgrade a fiber optic cabling system requires certain expertise to ensure a scalable and flexible communications infrastructure that guarantees speed and reliability.

System designers typically plan optical systems that will meet growth needs for a 15- to 20-year span. Although sometimes difficult to predict, growth can be accommodated by installing spare fibers for future requirements.

The fiber optic network is the next step in telecommunication network technology.