Mobile surveillance system

[Mnewman 0]

I've been put in charge of designing and implementing a mobile unit which can provide surveillance for our construction sites over the internet.

 

Has anyone ever built anything like this? Right now my primary concern is how to power the DVR in areas where power might not be available, or running power cords might be dangerous (think heavy construction equipment).

 

I've looked at units like the Nuvico NVDV3-16250 16 channel DVR, a color unit with a 250GB hard drive and internet support, but haven't yet seen a spec listing how much current they draw. Right now I'm thinking about by-passing whatever internal power supply it might have and run it off of a several dozen lithium-ion batteries. Buying a big Honda generator that can run 14 hours on a tank of gas seemed like a good idea at first, but I doubt this system would draw anywhere near the 1400 Watts that that 14 hour number comes from, not to mention how inefficient it would be to generate DC electricity, just to be inverted to AC, and then back to DC in the DVR itself.

 

The final concern is getting internet access in the middle of nowhere.. Cell service is an attractive option, but there is no gaurentee of service in any given random location. HughesNet satallite service has a plan with 500Kbps upstream. Does anyone know about how much bandwidth would be needed on a unit like to to monitor 16 channels? I doubt it sends all of them full resolution in a grid or what not.

 

Any suggestions or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Edited April 5, 2007 by Guest

[WirelessEye 0]

My company has done remote construction site monitoring/recording for 4 years. (It was our bread and butter industry until the housing market crashed). We use both mobile tower trailers and block/tower combos, depending on the requirements. But we run off of solar power and are wireless, so our stuff is quite a bit more vandal resistant than what you are trying to do.

 

What I can tell you is that you have your work cut out for you. We have some competitors whom have DVR's, lights, cameras, etc. on a small pole, but generally the people that rob the sites that these units are "protecting" are also stealing the cctv equipment and dvrs out of them on their way out.

 

Another problem with running a system like what you propose is that you have to run temp power poles with a dedicated circuit to power them.

 

Internet access is always a problem when you're "in the middle of nowhere" but there are always ways of getting bandwidth to a location-- 90% of the time without expensive satellite (which charge full T1 pricing for 1/3 of the bandwidth).

 

If you have 16 cameras, you'd need AT LEAST 4Mbps in H.264 mode (upstream). Good luck with trying to do that on satellite. You're much better off doing a wireless backhaul from a local WISP, and even then, that kind of bandwidth from a WISP is going to be around $1,000/mo.

 

Are you planning on paying someone to monitor this stuff for you? If not, you'll find "after the fact" recordings of theft/vandalism are worthless 80% of the time (if not more).

[marzsit 0]

there are many off-grid power sites on the web that can give you ideas, solar is good if you're in an area that gets plenty of sun during the day and you have an efficient way of deploying the solar panels.. that can be tricky, getting enough large but still portable panels facing south..

 

probably a better solution would be an engine-driven dc generator/alternator charging a big bank of batteries, supplying power to inverters. your electrical demands will dictate the size of the battery bank you'll need, which in turn will dictate the size of the charging system needed to recharge the batteries in an efficient manner. such a system could be built using an automotive or truck alternator at 12vdc or better, 24vdc. much more efficient than using a commercial ac genset to run a battery charger..

[WirelessEye 0]

there are many off-grid power sites on the web that can give you ideas, solar is good if you're in an area that gets plenty of sun during the day and you have an efficient way of deploying the solar panels.. that can be tricky, getting enough large but still portable panels facing south..

 

probably a better solution would be an engine-driven dc generator/alternator charging a big bank of batteries, supplying power to inverters. your electrical demands will dictate the size of the battery bank you'll need, which in turn will dictate the size of the charging system needed to recharge the batteries in an efficient manner. such a system could be built using an automotive or truck alternator at 12vdc or better, 24vdc. much more efficient than using a commercial ac genset to run a battery charger..

 

How is this tricky? It's completely maintenance free... Compared to having to deal with refueling generators and making sure that they don't get stolen themselves... I'd choose solar any day... Much cheaper too, considering fuel costs.

[Mnewman 0]

The issue of people carting off with the system itself was one of the first things I mentioned when my boss told me he wanted something mobile.

 

I was thinking of going the ATM route and encasing the entire thing in a locked steel enclosure and then weighting it down with a few hundred pounds of something, rather than enclosing the whole thing in a trailer. The idea was to have a 'package' that could be freight shipped to any location we knew we were going to be at ahead of time.

 

As for the WISP, that's probably not going to be an option since these are jobs that run anywhere from a few days to a week or two at any given location among several states.. Trying to setup some sort of access in a time frame of 3-4 days with a different ISP each time probably isn't going to be feasible... though if it were I would happily take that over satallite. The satallite plan I've been looking at so far provides 500Kbps upstream for $180 a month (after buying equipment). Based on your 4Mbps figure for 16 cameras, I assume I should be able to monitor any two simultaneously assuming perfect conditions. Further comments on that would be appreciated.

 

 

Another area I've started researching are wireless cameras. It was suggested that a useful extension of this system (and thus the 16 camera unit instead of my originally proposed 4) was to put a wireless camera on most of the bits of equipment next to the driver. I've seen camera systems that allow you to select among 4 channels. Can you suggest a system which would provide for more? I assume most of the wireless camera run off of around 12V, which could be provided by an invertor or something similar on each of the pieces of equipment.. perhaps even a solar cell-battery combination.

[WirelessEye 0]

Depending on your location, you might have a WISP. If you have a WISP, they will probably let you roam all around their coverage areas, which sometimes are quite large.

 

Another option is CDMA or GSM broadband connections (cellular), but there are throughput limitations on most of the plans-- just like most satellite plans only allow you XXXX bandwidth per month before you are shut off.

 

If a camera doesn't run off of <=12VDC, don't run it on solar, period. You simply can't have a portable system that runs off of solar if the devices are power hungry--you'd need too many panels. Instead, find nice 12VDC cams that need not voltage conversions, then look at their power draw. But I urge you not to go cheap on the cameras, most wireless cams are cheapy garbage and you might as well not install them.

[Mnewman 0]

It's been alluded to me that for this project the final/monthly cost isn't really a concern.

 

But as for WISP, I still don't think that's an option since we're talking like AR for a few weeks, WA for a few weeks, KY for a few weeks.. That sort of thing, hopping states. If they could give me some concrete locations I'd look into EVDO coverage, we've had great success with that in some of our other mobile operations.

[replanet 0]

There is a company www.ecamsecure.com . I don't know anything about them, but they have a storage yard close to my warehouse. They have some nice trailers with all in one solution. They have RV trailers so don't know if the cctv trailers go along with a security guard in the rv trailer or just cctv trailer. I would be way too worried about the trailer being stolen, it must cost a fortune, for sure among the easiest most expensive items at a remote yard to steal. They have like 20 rv trailers and 11 cctv trailers at their yard.

[imcclendon 0]

WirelessEye, your setup sounds good. Can you provide any more details about the design of your trailers, or would this fall under the category of proprietary information?

[marzsit 0]

there are many off-grid power sites on the web that can give you ideas, solar is good if you're in an area that gets plenty of sun during the day and you have an efficient way of deploying the solar panels.. that can be tricky, getting enough large but still portable panels facing south..

 

How is this tricky? It's completely maintenance free... Compared to having to deal with refueling generators and making sure that they don't get stolen themselves... I'd choose solar any day... Much cheaper too, considering fuel costs.

 

most contemporary solar panels are expensive, very large sheets of glass... glass is a fragile material easily destroyed by vandals, or accidentally destroyed by errant solid objects like one might find on a construction site, etc.. large sheet material also tends to act like a sail in high winds, requiring very solid mounting systems to keep them from being blown away. if power requirements are low and sun exposure is high, then you can get away with less square footage of solar array, maybe just a pair of 75-150 watt panels on a trailer the size of a honda accord. but, if power requirements are moderate or high and/or you're trying to put together a solar array in seattle where sunlight is rare, you'll need an array the size of a greyhound bus to make the system work. then there is the issue of making such a system portable and street legal, capable of being hauled to remote sites, etc..

[WirelessEye 0]

Ecamsecure is located just south of us and is a competitor of ours.. kinda.

 

We have another competitor that is somewhat like you are describing CamGuard. Both offer different kinds of solutions, but both in my opinion are very prone to tampering.

 

Our solar arrays are relatively small because we calculate down to the tenth of of watt how much power consumption we have. Not only that, but we have other "goodies" that push the systems to abnormally high efficiency numbers. Also, the panels are actually coming down a bit in cost due to newer, non silicone-based cells hitting the market. Solar panels are not fragile by any means, the glass is actually Lexan and very tough. I've seen video of someone shooting an AK-47 and riddling a panel full of holes, and then they plugged it back in and to everyone's surprise-- it still cranked out 60% of it's rated power. But that wouldn't matter anyhow, as the system runs off of battery power, solar mearly a charger.

 

It is true different locales demand different Solar setups, and our location (the valley) is notorious for "Tule Fog". Sometimes we don't see the sun for a week a time during Dec. and Jan. But that's what you have to design your system for, it is "over built" 9 out of the 12 months of the year...

 

If you want, you can PM me with the particulars of your demands, and I can see if we can do anything for you. I might also be able to figure out bandwidth solutions for you too.

[Rooney 0]

You can also try www.remotesystems.us they have systems that are reliable and have solar option for non powered sites. Can transmit via wireless broadband or cellular. The systems also record on site. VERY stable and theft resistant.