Keep an eye on your assets – anywhere, anytime!

Ah, the cellular telephone.

Seems like everyone has at least one of these cool little devices now-a-days. With a cell phone not only can you make and receive calls, you are able to take digital photos, record short videos, play games, text message, email, the list goes on and on. However, there was an important function missing… until now! Video surveillance has gone totally mobile!

With the affordability of surveillance systems, more and more are popping up everywhere; large businesses, small businesses, homes and various high-risk public places. People want to keep an eye on their assets, especially in difficult economic times like these. Company owners want to make sure employees and customers are not stealing from them, parents want to make sure that their homes and families are safe when they aren’t there; and until recently people with these systems needed a computer or to be at their video storage device to view the video.

Now, on the go, anywhere in the world a cellular telephone can be used to view the video – live or playback. In some instance all that is required is a specific application downloaded to your cell phone, in others (with certain DVRs) you can view the live feed on a web browser on the phone.

It’s amazing how quickly the cellular telephone evolved from a huge block phone that required a suitcase of components to operate into something that allows us to do everything we need to do in our daily lives in one compact hand-held device.

WTI offers every piece of the cell-phone viewable surveillance puzzle, except for the cell phone of course. With WTI cameras and DVR equipment, setting up a system that can be viewed anywhere in the world is as easy as 1-2-3! Check out the full line of solutions available at: http://www.gotowti.com/Products_Main.htm.

~The WTI Team

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WTI (Wireless Technology, Inc.)

Video Surveillance Products Dedicated to the Broadcast, Global Security and Transportation Markets!

www.gotowti.com ● www.wirelesstech.com

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Oh, The Pressure!

With today’s video technologies continuing to rise in complexity and cost, the pressure of making the right decision… well… The “pressure” here is not the pressure of decision, it is the decision of pressure.

Decision: A pressurized outdoor camera or a sealed outdoor camera (non-pressurized)?

Why have pressurized cameras?

Typically, the location of the camera will be in an area that is known to have some type of air-borne contaminants that could damage the internals of the camera. Contaminants can be anything from oil, water, or any particulate matter from manmade or natural occurrence. The thought here is that if the camera is internally pressurized above ambient pressure, these contaminants will be prevented from entering.

The core purpose of pressurization in an outdoor camera is to “ensure that no water, moisture or dust is able to enter the camera enclosure and cause premature failure of the electrical, mechanical or optical components.”

The above quote was taken from a previous blog entitled “Dry As A Bone” in describing the challenge of building an outdoor camera; to read the entire article click on the link below:

http://gotowti.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/09/something-sidewinder-related.html.

The manner in which the seals are created for the Sidewinder P/T/Z camera is the same manner in which the seals are created for the all fixed cameras manufactured by WTI. A sealed outdoor camera (from WTI) meets the same core purpose as that of a pressurized camera; contaminants are prevented from entry.

Consider the maintenance cost reduction benefit of a sealed camera: no pressure checks! (Also, no alarm conditions when internal camera pressure drops)

Consider the installation site. Underwater (sea floor monitoring) or extreme altitudes (weather balloon) will indeed require some type of pressurized camera enclosure. Highways, intersections, utility infrastructure sites, building perimeter, etc… Why have pressurized cameras?

~David Scales, C.T.O.

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WTI (Wireless Technology, Inc.)

Video Surveillance Products Dedicated to the Broadcast, Global Security and Transportation Markets!

www.gotowti.com ● www.wirelesstech.com

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Digital Video Recorders and Network Video Recorders – save, store and playback.

A Digital Video Recorder (DVR) is a peripheral device that records information to a variety of storage devices (internal or external hard drive, USB port, a CD or DVD, etc.), digitally, from many sources. Some DVRs only record video but most will record both video and audio as well as other information (such as alarm functions). A DVR provides many advanced functions over the older standard - the VCR. These functions include video searches by an event, the specific time, a specific date and by each individual camera.

With a DVR there are many different video quality and frame rate options so that the user can optimize the disk space for their specific needs. DVRs can be set to automatically overwrite the oldest footage on the disk when the disk becomes full so that recording does not cease just because the internal hard drive has no more space. Most new-model DVRs will also allow the user to set up remote access to the security footage that can be called up over a web browser from any PC. Software packages are starting to come put now that even allows users to call up their DVRs right on their cell phones.

An NVR, on the other hand, is a Network Video Recorder which is hooked up directly to a network and is totally IP based. NVRs are extremely flexible since they are managed remotely over a LAN and they can simultaneously record and allow access to live video streams from the IP cameras connected to it. NVRs usually feature recording and playback capabilities, intelligent motion detection, P/T/Z camera control and a user-friendly GUI.

A NVR has some similarities to a DVR, but those similarities are limited to the fact that they both record and playback video. An NVR is a true digital system. NVRs receive digital images/video/audio over the network and record them digitally to a hard drive; while DVRs can accommodate both digital and analog cameras.

NVRs are becoming the more popular storage device because they can accommodate a larger number of cameras, they are easily integrated into existing systems, and they are incredibly flexible since they have no dedicated monitors or keyboards and all management and viewing takes place over the network on a PC.

WTI offers a wide variety of both NVRs and DVRs – check out our selection online at http://www.gotowti.com/Products_DVRs.htm or take a look at our entire line of solutions at http://www.gotowti.com/Products_Main.htm.

~The WTI Team

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WTI (Wireless Technology, Inc.)

Video Surveillance Products Dedicated to the Broadcast, Global Security and Transportation Markets!

www.gotowti.com ● www.wirelesstech.com

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Dry as a Bone – How the Sidewinder Camera Gets It’s IP67 Rating

One of the primary challenges of building an outdoor camera is trying to ensure that no water, moisture or dust is able to enter the camera enclosure and cause premature failure of the electrical, mechanical or optical components. Analyzing every nook and cranny that could allow moisture to enter the camera and then engineering an effective solution requires a little creativity and sometimes a little counter-intuitive engineering to achieve the best possible seal performance. Let’s take a look at the various water entry points and the sealing solutions that allow the Sidewinder to be able to be immersed in 1 meter of water for 30 minutes and still remain bone dry inside.

Window Glass – Sealing the viewing window glass presents a bit of a challenge, as two materials with different temperature coefficients of expansion must be joined together. A silicone adhesive with a moderate Shore A hardness of 30 and a -60C to +205C temperature rating was selected. This allows the glass and aluminum components to expand and contract without placing undue stress on the seal interface. Note the shallow groove around the edge of the glass. This groove prevents shear force from delaminating the adhesive from the aluminum surface.

Front and Back Plate to Camera Tube Seal – Sealing the window face plate and the rear plate to the camera housing tube is accomplished using -45C to +120C temperature rated, Shore 65 hardness o-ring seals. The o-rings are greased with a -40C to +95C temperature rated silicone lubricant to provide an air tight and water tight seal. The o-ring seals mate with the precision machined surfaces on the inside front and inside rear of the camera housing tube.

Tilt Shaft to Tilt Seal Housing – The tilt seal housing incorporates five different seals to provide an air and water tight interface between the tilt drive assembly shaft, the main housing plate and the camera housing tube. Wide temperature range seals and wide temperature range silicone lubricants are also used in this assembly to provide the highest possible performance. The tilt drive shaft seal will withstand a 10 PSI pressure differential without leaking over the full -34C to +74C TS-2 temperature range. The four o-ring seals provide an air and water tight interface between the tilt drive seal housing and the main assembly plate of the Sidewinder.

Pan Shaft to Pan Seal Housing – The pan drive seals are arranged and perform in a manner similar to the tilt drive seals.

Cover to Main Plate Assembly – Sealing the Sidewinder cover to the main plate assembly was the most difficult of the design challenges in making the camera capable of achieving an IP67 water immersion rating. Since the length of the edges that need to be sealed is fairly long, a highly reliable method needed to be developed. Also, a method for applying the high joining force was required to be developed. Several gasket designs were tried until the current design shown was found to offer excellent performance. Instead of a wide gasket, which would intuitively seem to offer the best sealing performance, a narrow o-ring style gasket was found to offer much higher sealing pressures along the gasket ridge sealing surface, as the force of the cover screws holding the cover to the plate is concentrated into a much smaller surface area than it would be with a wider gasket. Aluminum reinforcement strips were added behind the flanges of the cover assembly to allow a much higher mounting force to be applied to the cover screws, ensuring a better seal. A special screw sealing compound is also used to prevent water ingress around the screws.

Power Supply Base Seal – The power supply base seal was actually pretty straight forward to implement. Since the main camera base structure is very heavy duty, large bolts could be used to apply the force necessary to get a highly reliable seal. A special laser cut gasket is used to seal both the mounting rim and the mounting bolts.

Bottom Egress Cable Seal – A water tight integrated cable seal and strain relief was used to seal the cable exit point on the bottom of the camera. A silicone sealant is used to seal the strain relief to metal housing joint. The strain relief provides a water tight seal around the cable itself.

Flying Cable Seal – The connector end of the flying umbilical cable must also be sealed, to prevent water from entering either the camera or the attached umbilical cable hanging down from it. The inside of the connector assembly is potted with an electrically compatible silicone sealing compound to prevent any water from entering the cabling system.

Sealing all of the various potential water entry points in a camera with moving parts is a much more challenging enterprise than it is for a fixed camera. It was necessary to develop several different approaches to solve all of the unique material interfaces that resulted from the operational requirements of the various components. In the end, though, it is very satisfying to be able to immerse the camera entirely under 3 feet of water and know that it is completely protected from any potential water damage.

~Dale Roche, Director of Engineering

WTI (Wireless Technology, Inc.)

www.gotowti.com or www.wirelesstech.com