Installing wireless CCTV cameras
Wireless CCTV Camera
Wireless CCTV cameras are not a new product in the market, wireless CCTV camera was introduced long back with wired cameras or soon after wired cameras. But wired cameras are still in popularity compared to wireless and we will discuss about the technical advantages and shortcomings of wireless cameras in CCTV.
Wireless HD CCTV
Wireless CCTV cameras transmit videos signals over radio bands, it is very similar to wireless microphone which uses radio frequency. Wireless cameras were used in sports to capture video footage in motion and transmit those signals to a receiver in conjunction with fibre optics technology. Often wireless CCTV camera uses unlicensed radio frequency closer to 2.4 GHz or 5.4 GHz and this is mainly due to the fact that they need a license to use other frequencies and may differ from country to country. In 2.4 GHz video signals are more likely to exposed to EMI or Noise, this is due to the overwhelming use of 2.4 GHz by many Wi-Fi devices. Many wireless devices such as Wi-Fi router, mobile networks and many tend to use pretty similar bands in transmitting signals and this can result in electromagnet interference or noise from a different source in video footage received. Now you can check it yourself by operating a mobile phone next to a wireless CCTV camera or a TV set with aerial and you are very likely to see noise or interference.
There are few companies testing to see whether wireless CCTV video transmission can use a different range of bands to transmit signals. Hybrid wireless cameras using 7 GHz was tested with onboard cameras travelling at a speed of 200mph and it was successful. If a manufacturer succeed in transmitted HD video signals using different band with less interference, it would be possible to see wireless HD cameras working with less interference. But whichever the company is going to introduce them may need an extensive investment by broadcasters.
About 1000 HD wireless CCTV cameras were used in Beijing Olympic and they were using license free 1.8 -1.9 GHz frequency range outside UHF or other crowded bands. This was a successful project where wireless HD cameras were used.
In summary, it is not bad to think about wireless system. But one should ask the question that is it not too early to start promoting wireless cameras to our customers. At the end of the day, customers are depended on your expertise and as a CCTV engineer you always want to build a satisfied customer list.
We will discuss about other challenges in using wireless CCTV cameras soon.
Are you interested in knowing more about CCTV and becoming a true professional CCTV engineer? We run CCTV installation training courses in London, please call us on +44 208 320 1445 or + 44 77 244 19413.