Outdoor Wi-Fi access point (IP cameras)

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ike5547

Senior Member
Location
Chico, CA
Occupation
Electrician
Can anybody here recommend me a product to extend, or create separately, LAN wi-fi access on an outdoor antenna? range is line-of-sight 100 meters or less. Primary function is for IP video streams from cameras, but (of secondary importance and will sacrifice this in favor of cameras) it would be nice to be able to log in cell phone devices, laptops, etc. for internet access outdoors outside the office. Gigabit speeds would be nice, but will settle for 100 Mb/s to save a few hundred dollars.

Thanks
 

GoldDigger

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Location
Placerville, CA, USA
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Retired PV System Designer
The technology would simply be to couple the coaxial cable output/input jack of a standard wi-fi access point to the feed horn of a parabolic reflector.
The more difficult problem is that that type of modification will violate FCC regulations on unlicensed operation at the frequencies involved.
However you can probably find more moderate gain licensed add-on antennas that could give you 100 meters range. Once you have the range the connectivity is simply the standard operation of any wi-fi access point with a wired Internet connection attached. You might might need to put directional antennas on some if the other equipment, but probably not.

I know that this is not the equipment list you want, but it is a starting framework.

I do not think you are going to get GB speeds on wi-fi!
 
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Rampage_Rick

Senior Member
WiFi is tricky with multiple video cameras connecting to a single AP, mainly because it's half-duplex (like walkie-talkies; only one device can transmit at once) I've worked with some Verint stuff that had special software to coordinate the transmissions of multiple cameras. You probably won't want to share with a bunch of other devices like phones and laptops, better to install a separate AP for them.

If you're talking a single point-to-point wireless bridge, that's doable. For new hardware I'd look at Ubiquiti, like a NanoBridge. I'm also a fan of old Proxim hardware that used to sell for $10-20,000 but regularly sells for $400-500 on eBay. The stuff is carrier-grade, full duplex, sub-millisecond latency, and will run for years without being touched. Definitely not plug-and-play though.
 

Sierrasparky

Senior Member
Location
USA
Occupation
Electrician ,contractor
WiFi is tricky with multiple video cameras connecting to a single AP, mainly because it's half-duplex (like walkie-talkies; only one device can transmit at once) .

Really only one device can transmit at a time. seems odd.
 

GoldDigger

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Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
Really only one device can transmit at a time. seems odd.
These are digital data transmissions on the same carrier frequency. Only one camera can transmit at once (retrying if there is a collision) but each camera czn send a second of video in a fraction of a second total packet time.
The practical problem is getting them to take turns amicably with only the access point itself to coordinate them.
There is a protocol by which a WiFi device can reserve a block of time with the access point, but it is rarely implemented.
 

Rampage_Rick

Senior Member
Really only one device can transmit at a time. seems odd.
Yup, that's why it gets slower the more devices you connect. Every device gets a "slice" of time for them to transmit. Heck, even the 11 available channels for 2.4 GHz WiFi is a lie, because they overlap. In truth only 3 different channels are available without interfering, and all the devices connected to that AP share that one frequency.

Update001-Assigning_AP_Channels.jpg

There are other wireless network products that also use 2.4 or 5.8 GHz but are not WiFi. Some of these use two frequencies so they can communicate both ways simultaneously (i.e. 5.805 GHz in one direction, 5.745 GHz the other way)
 

nhfire77

Senior Member
Location
NH
Can anybody here recommend me a product to extend, or create separately, LAN wi-fi access on an outdoor antenna? range is line-of-sight 100 meters or less. Primary function is for IP video streams from cameras, but (of secondary importance and will sacrifice this in favor of cameras) it would be nice to be able to log in cell phone devices, laptops, etc. for internet access outdoors outside the office. Gigabit speeds would be nice, but will settle for 100 Mb/s to save a few hundred dollars.

Thanks

Google Ubiquiti Nanostation or Picostation for LOS PtP. If you can, use the nanostation to send a wired connection to a POE switch. (They also sell those) then add the camera and an exterior wifi Access point. It can all be housed on a pole with the camera if you have local power or you can go solar.
 

dfmischler

Senior Member
Location
Western NY
Occupation
Facilities Manager
Think about how easy it will be for somebody to jam this WiFi signal, and the fact that this will stop the cameras from recording. I strongly recommend cabled cameras. You have wire to those locations already for power, don't you? Many ethernet-connected cameras can use POE (Power over Ethernet) directly, and that gets you to one cat5e or better cable per camera location.
 

ike5547

Senior Member
Location
Chico, CA
Occupation
Electrician
Google Ubiquiti Nanostation or Picostation for LOS PtP. If you can, use the nanostation to send a wired connection to a POE switch. (They also sell those) then add the camera and an exterior wifi Access point. It can all be housed on a pole with the camera if you have local power or you can go solar.


Thanks. This looks like the way to go.
 

ike5547

Senior Member
Location
Chico, CA
Occupation
Electrician
Think about how easy it will be for somebody to jam this WiFi signal, and the fact that this will stop the cameras from recording. I strongly recommend cabled cameras. You have wire to those locations already for power, don't you? Many ethernet-connected cameras can use POE (Power over Ethernet) directly, and that gets you to one cat5e or better cable per camera location.


I have one situation where I want to get a single camera to capture license plates about 150 meters away from the network across asphalt. There are no conduits out to there.
 

dfmischler

Senior Member
Location
Western NY
Occupation
Facilities Manager
I have one situation where I want to get a single camera to capture license plates about 150 meters away from the network across asphalt. There are no conduits out to there.

How are you planning to power that camera?

If you had conduit you might find that you can stick a POE-powered switch in the middle of the run to make the distance work.
 
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dfmischler

Senior Member
Location
Western NY
Occupation
Facilities Manager
How are you planning to power that camera?

If you had conduit you might find that you can stick a POE-powered switch in the middle of the run to make the distance work.

Haven't tried one of these, but it might help if you decide you need to run cable for power anyway. Patton Copperlink 2110. I'm sure there are other equivalent (maybe cheaper?) products on the market as well.
 
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ike5547

Senior Member
Location
Chico, CA
Occupation
Electrician
How are you planning to power that camera?

If you had conduit you might find that you can stick a POE-powered switch in the middle of the run to make the distance work.


There's power out there (120/208) but no way to get additional cabling there.
 
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