Secure Outdoor Parking: All-in-one Solution with IP-communication Network Interface Box

Companies like to trust video surveillance systems to keep watch on their premises and their parking lots. They can react quicker if danger threatens and can already deter potential criminals in advance. And there are good reasons for doing this, as a report on car theft from the Association of German Insurers (GDV) makes clear. It shows a record total loss of €324 m over the last recorded year of 2017. That‘s an increase of 8 percent over the previous year.

According to statistics from the BHE (German Association for Security Technology), investment in security-related systems has grown steadily over the past few years, namely from €3.7 Bn (2015) to almost €4.4 Bn (estimated for 2018). As stated in the current market research of the BHE, a particularly large increase was apparent in access control (+6.7%) and video surveillance (+6%). “Interest in professional video technology and access control is growing not least because of its versatility in private, industrial as well as public area usage and because of its preventative effect“, explained Norbert Schaaf, Chairman of the BHE.

An Outdoor Company Parking Lot, for Example
In the following example, we look at the video surveillance system for an outdoor company parking lot (area: 150m x 50m). The security of employees was the prime consideration of the owners as they decided to provide camera surveillance for the newly built area, and also to prevent vandalism and theft. On the site, there was one solitary pole suitable to mount the camera on, but it was 200 meters from the main building and there was no data cable between the two. Digging a trench to lay one was not an option for the customer. But an uninterruptible power supply for the video surveillance camera and secure remote data capture were required.
Sebastian Ratajczak from the system suppliers Primary Connection in Wolfsburg was entrusted with the concept and implementation of the system. He chose the outdoor Synaps PoE network interface box from Slat for the failure-free supply of the M16 day-night camera from Mobotix and the WLAN bridge (Ubiquiti Nanostation) that was selected for the wireless data transmission. The advantage of the outdoor box recognized by Ratajczak was that it was an all-in-one unit that was already equipped by the manufacturer, yet still had additional space for customer equipment if a specific individual solution had to be provided.

Complete Solution
The core components, such as the AC/DC converter, over-voltage protection, LifePO4 battery and the Ethernet switch with two PoE/PoE+ ports, were factory-fitted. The installer used the available space to fit a 24V passive PoE power supply. Now the solution was complete. The camera and WLAN bridge were powered and could be remotely monitored in real time via the secure Synaps web server connection to check the system status: whether working on mains or battery power, the current charging level of the battery, remaining autonomous operation time, the operating voltage, internal temperature of the DC UPS, the network status (display of the interfaces and connected devices) or to change parameters via the HTTPS website. A further benefit for Sebastian Ratajczak was the compact and visually attractive design of the box (IP65/IK10, polycarbonate) as well as the easy installation that was assisted by a special set of fitting parts.
It was clear to the experienced installer that he could kill many birds with one stone using this solution: the WLAN bridge avoided the need to dig an expensive trench and lay cables, and the outdoor network interface box provided him with a complete logistical solution to simply manage the interface configuration, remotely gather and securely transmit the data. “A perfect all-in-one solution“, said Sebastian Ratajczak, “whose time and money-saving qualities totally convinced me.“