Seeking wireless IP recommendation

[SpyGuy10 0]

We are planning to install some cams at a small private airport. The primary goal is one or two cams near the runway so that pilots can view live weather and runway conditions on the airport's web site. We may also add some weather sensors and other data devices that would need to communicate via network connection.

 

It is not practical to run network cable out to the runway, nor to the windsock. Therefore, for the first cam, the plan is to install it on or near the windsock mast. The windsock is 300 meters (direct-line distance) from the airport office building which is the signal destination. There are some aircraft hangars and industrial buildings in the path between the windock mast and the office, however due to the height of the mast (~24'), there is direct line-of-sight to the windsock and the top of the windsock mast from the second floor of the airport office building.

 

We are considering mounting a wireless transmitter at the top of the windsock mast, with the receiver mounted on the exterior wall of the office building, just below the roofline. There is AC power at the mast (for the windsock lights).

 

One consideration is that there is a cellphone antenna array on the roof of one of the hangars. It is not directly in the line-of-sight path, but it is near to it. If I measure perpendicular to the line-of-sight path the the array, the lateral distance is about 20 meters. I don't know if this will have an impact on a wireless network signal, so that is one point I'm hoping to get advice on from this forum.

 

For the web site weather feed, we do not need high resolution, nor do we need high framerates. However, if we can get both without adding substantially to the cost, it might be worthwhile to have for internal monitoring of aircraft operations on the runway (it would be particularly useful if there were a mishap).

 

I've read good things in this forum about Ubiquiti products, but would appreciate some recommendations of specific models for our application. Would also appreciate recommendations on cams.

 

Lastly, does anyone know what software we could use to take the video and generate a public web site feed? We don't want to present a DVR control panel, nor to we want to expose a cam's internal server to the public. Ideally, we would have an informational web page, customized to the rest of the airport's web site, with one or two live video feeds embedded in the page.

[jeromephone 6]

Have you checked with the FAA on whether or not you can install a wireless system on the airport? I don't think it would interfer with a navigation or the automatic weather reporting but I would get some guidance before I setup anything with a potential to cause problems. You may face a pile of paperwork but that may be the lesser of two evils.

[bike_rider 0]

No recommendation on the wireless aspect, but Blue Iris software makes it easy to post images to a web site (via ftp). It also makes it easy to overlay weather data on to an image.

[SpyGuy10 0]

Have you checked with the FAA on whether or not you can install a wireless system on the airport? I don't think it would interfer with a navigation or the automatic weather reporting but I would get some guidance before I setup anything with a potential to cause problems. You may face a pile of paperwork but that may be the lesser of two evils.

Thanks for the advice. I seriously doubt it would affect any airport operations here. This is a small private airport with uncontrolled airspace: no tower and no precision instrument approaches (i.e., VFR only). Not even automatic weather reporting, although we may add AWOS in the future. Nevertheless, I will confirm with FAA prior to proceeding with any installation.

[SpyGuy10 0]

No recommendation on the wireless aspect, but Blue Iris software makes it easy to post images to a web site (via ftp). It also makes it easy to overlay weather data on to an image.

Thanks for the lead. I looked at their web site and it appears to be capable of doing what we want. I'm a little concerned about the lack of documentation on their site, as well as the lack of contact information for the company. But if I can't find a more professional application, we might just use this.

[bike_rider 0]

No recommendation on the wireless aspect, but Blue Iris software makes it easy to post images to a web site (via ftp). It also makes it easy to overlay weather data on to an image.

Thanks for the lead. I looked at their web site and it appears to be capable of doing what we want. I'm a little concerned about the lack of documentation on their site, as well as the lack of contact information for the company. But if I can't find a more professional application, we might just use this.

 

The developer is a one man shop, but is very responsive. www.cam-it.org is the unofficial support forum.

[hardwired 0]

For the wireless side, a pair of NanoStation Loco M5's would do just fine, the unlicensed 5GHz band is well away from any potential interference concerns, as long as you select U.S. operation in the units (newer ones shipped for U.S. use are locked to legal frequencies).

 

At the distances you are describing, you'll want to turn the power outputs on both units almost all of the way down, or you can overload the receivers in units used at short range.

 

There's a getting started guide for your type of application here http://wiki.ubnt.com/How_to_bridge_internet_connections. This guide is for a older generation of their products, but the basics are still the same.

[SpyGuy10 0]

For the wireless side, a pair of NanoStation Loco M5's would do just fine

Thanks for the advice. Those look perfect for our application and the price is right too!

[buellwinkle 0]

+1 on the Ubiquiti Nanostations. Get the PoE adapter option so you can power the camera from the Nanostation. Not sure if it's available on the Loco, but for sure on their standard Nanostations.

[hardwired 0]

+1 on the Ubiquiti Nanostations. Get the PoE adapter option so you can power the camera from the Nanostation. Not sure if it's available on the Loco, but for sure on their standard Nanostations.

Actually, I wouldn't try to power the camera from the Nanostation's secondary port, there's been a lot of problems doing that, plus the output from that port isn't 802.3af compliant, and most cameras will not work that way (I've tried quite a few).

 

Just use standard 802.3af PoE injectors (I use ones from Phihong http://www.midspans.com, and they work quite well).

 

If you are going to use two cameras, get the regular Nanostation M5, not the Loco, that way you can have two ports available without using a switch, just two PoE injectors, and the Nanostation power supply.

 

So, you'd have Nanostation (Primary port)---Nanostation PoE----Standard PoE----Camera

 

Or, for two cameras, Nanostation(Primary port)---Nanostation PoE----Standard PoE----Camera for the first camera, and

Nanostation(Secondary port)---Standard PoE----Camera, for the second camera.

 

It's a great idea, not needing to run a separate CAT5 cable for the camera, but it doesn't work so well in practice.

[thewireguys 3]

+1 on the Ubiquiti Nanostations. Get the PoE adapter option so you can power the camera from the Nanostation. Not sure if it's available on the Loco, but for sure on their standard Nanostations.

 

That is not how that POE adapter is designed to work. The Uniquiti POE adapter is designed for 802.AF switches power to the Nanostations.

[SpyGuy10 0]

I have a follow-up question to my original post...

 

As I stated, this is for a small private airport. We currently have a PC-based DVR running NUUO software, and with a NUUO SCB-7008 (5 analog cameras connected, providing security for the airport offices). This is a hybrid system capable of managing both analog and IP cameras.

 

In addition to the proposed cam at the windsock and/or runway to provide a "weather cam" feed for the airport's web site, we are considering placing some additional cams (3 or 4) at other locations out on the airfield for general security and observing aircraft operations. By necessity, these cams would be far from the airport office, as well as spread far apart from each other (and far from the weather cam at the windsock). The actual locations have not yet been determined, but there would not be line-of-sight between all of these field cameras and the office, and probably not even line-of-sight between all the field cams themselves. Line power will be available at each location, but not data cabling.

 

Any recommendations on how to best interconnect such a wide-spread system of cams?

[hardwired 0]

If you can give a Google Earth-type view of the area, (or at least a rough diagram), with camera/viewing locations and obstructions marked out, we can probably help more.

[jeromephone 6]

ubiquiti has a wireless camera system on their website

[MaxIcon 0]

No recommendation on the wireless aspect, but Blue Iris software makes it easy to post images to a web site (via ftp). It also makes it easy to overlay weather data on to an image.

Thanks for the lead. I looked at their web site and it appears to be capable of doing what we want. I'm a little concerned about the lack of documentation on their site, as well as the lack of contact information for the company. But if I can't find a more professional application, we might just use this.

 

Blue Iris is pretty awesome software for the money, and has a great feature set. The main downsides are that it doesn't scale well with MP cams, and recording search isn't up to the higher-end software capabilities. It'll handle D1 and 1MP cams pretty well, but starts to bog down as you add 2MP cams, and requires a lot more CPU cycles.

 

Still, it's a very inexpensive way to get started with a handful of lower res cams, and you can use it in demo mode on a mid-range PC to figure out how well it'll work for you.

[Campbell 0]

Brickcom have some good wireless cams.

 

My other thought.

 

Could you not just mount a 10MP Arecont or Avigilon or something with a nice fat 25mm or 50mm fixed lens on the side of a building pointing out into the runway?

[thewireguys 3]

ubiquiti has a wireless camera system on their website

 

Do you have a link?

[hardwired 0]

ubiquiti has a wireless camera system on their website

 

Do you have a link?

http://www.ubnt.com/airvision- Not directly wireless, but will power from the secondary port of a NanoStation (same non-standard 12-24 Volt PoE that the Ubiquiti wireless gear uses).

 

From feedback on the site, the cams are somewhat OK (no D/N cutfilter, fixed cheap lens, etc), but the software is really not ready for prime time (uses huge amounts of processor, crashes a lot, etc.)- Evidently, they are in the middle of completely rewriting it (it is originally based off of Zoneminder).

 

They do have a "Pro" line of cameras coming that will have varifocal, IR capability, and some other features, I'm curious to check those out when they're released.

[thewireguys 3]

Hardwired Thanks I knew that already. I talked to someone that was at the last UBNT show in Chicago and got to look at the new PRO camera. He said it was a beast VERY heavy but they still have work to do to compete with what we are used to in pro cameras.

[SpyGuy10 0]

If you can give a Google Earth-type view of the area, (or at least a rough diagram), with camera/viewing locations and obstructions marked out, we can probably help more.

I'll post that soon. Thanks.