Have gone thru the previous posts (some of them 3 years old) regarding the farm security. With increasing number of “remote” / “weekend” / “part-time” farmers the need to have control of whats happening at the farm becomes much more important.
Here is one of the solutions I was thinking off but am not able to connect the dots.
[ol]
*Use of IP / Wifi based cameras
*The smaller the camera the better
*These cameras have to be powered by Solar panels
*Possibility of having two camera covering at-least 300degrees
*Based on the size of the farm have multiple access points for central wifi
*Have a central wifi router from where all the IPs can be controlled[/ol]
Majority of the devices available or I am able to see on online stores are pretty much wired setups or home security setups.
For me having live access to the farm is little lower priority when compared to having a full time recording in the farm labor house, I can review it every time I go there and clear-up to s tart with.
Can you guys please share some knowledge or recent best practices or recent solutions that can be implemented.
It needs only 12V DC i.e. solar panel will help. and they are motion sensor enabled. So they operate only when there is a motion i.e. less power consumed.
I feel integration of solar and IP CC TV camera have to be done ourselves. (you have to think on chances of getting stolen of solar panels and battery)
You will also need a DVR unit at base location which is also connected to internet to store the footage in a hard drive.
In my opinion if you install 4 cameras monthly internet bill is going to be 1250/-(individual simcards with 3G connection) or you have to use an wifi connection which is connecting all cameras. if this done you can watch CCTV footage from your smartphone.
Wifi is hard to get at a farm and 3G/4G is expensive. But the 3G/4G might have to be converted to wifi to cover all the cameras.
I tried my hand at building a biquad antenna to transmit wifi from the nearby village where BSNL wired broadband was available but never completed the project.
The best way could be to record all the footage to a local DVR but transmit limited frames over the internet to save bandwidth. Any ideas if that is possible?
Solar is the logical option but needs batteries to cover the nights.
Was planning to setup a wifi without any internet to start with and probably add an additional access point (another router) to cover the length and breadth of the field. To start with it will be a local “offline” recording for a backup to view if there is any eventuality.
Few months before when working for Fencing, was looking for Solar fencing, and they have a full kit of small battery, solar panel, and a pole with “post box” kind of box with lock. I was thinking we can use this for setting up of Solar panel and battery, and also mount 2xcameras on the same pole below Solar Panel covering both directions. This box can also host the additional router required to get them hooked to the original router in the room.
When I am on the field, I can get connected to the Wifi (offline) and get access to all the cameras and also can review the old videos just randomly.
BTW - just figured out that the camera given is way too costly (£334.80 ~35,000 INR)
IP cameras with good resolutions will be costly , better to use HD cctv cameras , please share your farm diamensions , i can help you in planning video surveillance.
Hoping to give you some useful information. I had personally(as a hobbyist) extended internet through wifi from a nearby village to a farm located at distance of 30 kms. Within the farm wifi was spread-out and connected to 8 IP cameras at different locations. No power at farm, so I used 12V truck battery. After linking to internet router it was easy to access any camera though phone or browser. Please go thorough the following for your hardware requirement for establishing wifi link. I used ubiquity (ubnt.com) products. It is a US product and one of the best and low cost, hopefully available in India.
Point to point wifi link (lets us call it base and station -both could be same unit, only settings needs to be changed) -
choose a suitable product depending on your link distance. You have to consider the elevation and fresnal zone if you attempt to link for a quite long distance. If pt-pt is fairly clear use 5 Ghz equipment (advised), if slightly covered with trees use 2.4 Ghz equipment. If you attempt link upto 5kms then Nano station would be sufficient. All these ubnt equipment are POE enabled. You can directly connect unbt outdoor ip camera to nano station with a short lan cable.
If your camera zone can pick up directly from base station, then all you need is just one base unit and required stations for each camera. These units give 100 MBPS speed easily.
Need DVR to record the video which can be located anywhere provided it has link to the network within your farm (at base or at any station).
Connect this link to Internet router and change required settings so that you can have remote access/control to base/station/cameras including viewing the video.
Remember your internet connection should have high upload speed (1 Mbs would be ok). Without station units you can use any wifi camera (not advised since its range is usually few meters -less than 100 mts)
I have mentioned only the basic information. If you could come with details such as 1) source of internet with speed 2) approx distance from base to camera location 3) route is clear or with trees, 4) whether multiple camera location can have pt to pt with base location. I would be in a position to guide you specifically.
I am afraid your requirement and budget may not matching.
4 cameras with 200’ NV capability is expensive. What is required is a good HD camera with NV capability. Although mfr mention, such range in reality is good only upto 30’ or so. Again while choosing camera two options a) with built in wifi b) without - built in wifi range is very limited may not be suitable beyond say about 200-300’. That means each camera location need a wifi equipment. Cost escalate. If all cameras are in one location then one wifi equipment sufficient.
You may consider 1 PTZ camera (quite expensive) so that you view your location zoom and focus anytime remotely.
3G data (with or without 1 GB limitation) for camera is just only to prove that ‘YES IT IS POSSIBLE’. In reality camera upload data consumes high bandwidth and would easily consume 1GB very soon. Further 3G is not stable hence not reliable. Better not consider this option.
Battery/Inverter requires maintenance, charging and expensive too.
Please go through ubnt dot com for equipment requirement. I would recommend this as the most cost effective and efficient in the world. Most of these might be available in India. It is so simple that equipment can be installed with little knowledge on networking. Other brands are expensive and yet require complicated networking and maintenance.
My suggestion for effective surveillance would be
a) HD cameras with reasonable NV and Motion detection. Wifi equipment from Ubiquity (based on the distance appropriate equipment could be suggested). DVR with 1 TB hard disk. If no regular power available then battery/inverter for 24 hours but would be difficult in the long run.
b) Internet secondary. If fiber optics/bsnl landline Internet is available in nearby town say about 20-25 kms it would be really very easy to extent to your farm with minimum cost provided access to any tower is possible.
c) wifi equipment are in open frequency and license free for public use hence no issue on licensing.
d) you may consider step by step progress considering your budget.
Can you throw some light on getting wifi from a nearby location?
I had initiated some work on a DIY biquad antenna and a cable dish hoping to get and use a connection in a village that has an aerial distance of 3-4km, but did not manage to complete the project.
I now see on some of the sites that there is more proper equipment for long range wireless transmission. Do you have insights into whether this has to be tagged on to a private internet connection or if BSNL provides such point to point connections within a reasonable cost, which would obviously be more elegant?
Welcome sir. You could do this project easily and professionally, no need to look for any third party service provider. This is like extending your home internet to long distance. Also similar to home wifi equipment.
To extend wifi 3-4 kms following equipment may be considered. These are outdoor equipment, built in antena, robust and Power Over Ethernet(PoE) enabled. It means there is no external power supply required equipment end to powerup. Internet/data and power required would be carried in LAN cable only.
Basic selection of equipment:
If there is a clear LoS then I would prefer 5GHz equipment, incase of slight bush/trees (not very thick like forest) then 2.4 Ghz equipment. (ubnt dot com), instant support available through its forum. Perhaps the seller might even offer you to install this at some cost, but believe me you could do it yourself!. For this short distance I would prefer NanoSation models which has built in antenna and very compact and appealing. Second choice would be Bullet M models (old model came into market in 2008, still in use, could be lightly cheaper then NanoStation, I am not sure)
NanoStation M series at both ends. 15+ range, plug and play type, built in antenna, this gives 150+ Mbps link speed. Actual through put could easily cross 100 MBPS. (simply put, this is like any other wifi router we use at home but installed outdoor without separate need of power). This NanoStation has another additional port where a camera could be connected without need of another PoE running to camera. One PoE is enough which would carry data+power for camera and NanoStation. However I would suggest using separate PoE for camera.
Model : Loco M9 - 900 Mhz (suitable for slightly more bush/tress) 10 kms range - Try to get good LoS and avoid this frequency band - If left with no option then this is ok
Model: Nano Station M2 - 2.4 Ghz - 13 kms - This ok
Model : Nano Station M5 - 5 Ghz - 15 kms. The best if LoS is no issue at all.
Bullet M could give range upto 30 kms with through put of 100+ Mbps. Bullet is screwed with antenna. Need to buy airGrid antennas suitable for this separately.
Model BM2-Ti 2.4 Ghz with suitable airGrid antenna AG-HP-2G16 for 10 kms range and AG-HP-2G20 for 20 kms range
Model BM5-Ti 5 Ghz with suitable airGrid antenna AG-HP-5G23 for 25 kms and AG-HP-5G27 for 30 kms range.
The above equipment are supplied with suitable power adapter and PoE adapter too.
Need to buy a ordinary ‘LAN switch’ (passive) to connect internet LAN cable and Data cable of wifi equipment.
Note: In my project I used NanoStation within farm for internet+camera purpose and used Rocket M5 with RocketDish antenna for long distance Pt to Pt link to bring internet from nearby town.
I am not familiar whether BSNL would allow to use their tower. This wifi equipment is light weight about 400 gms only and size is about 26.4 cm x 8 cm x 3cm. You may have to survey the area. Even a pole or high raise building would be sufficient if LoS is clear. I just noticed this kind of equipment is available at online portals like amazon snapdeal. You may google to find the reseller in Hyderabad. But buy this only if LoS could be achieved.
Thanks
Madhavan
I am impressed with your knowledge on this subject, and pardon my limited knowledge (as I could not understand). I think you already have given low level detail, but would you conditioner it too naive if I ask you to put up a simple work flow with product links for the problem in hand.
Example
Amazon.in/xxxxxxx.product wifi device for your farm (specifications like can connect to camera with in range of 400 mts)
Amazon.in/aaaaaa.product links your internet source and wifi
Amazon.in/bbbbbb.product Camera with NV of 30’ and day vision of 200’
Ebay.in/dddddddd.product You can use the following cables for your connectivity or powering solutions.
Also do you have any knowledge on providing continuous power supply with inverter/battery, I was thinking Solar supply for better connectivity in village as the power outage can be unknown.
I am sorry, I get the overall picture but not able to connect the dots to implement and I am seeing that it is going to be imperative for me to get one installed soon to track the accountability