Mission-critical applications that use outdoor IP surveillance systems include highway traffic control and monitoring, oil field and pipeline monitoring, power generation and distribution monitoring, as well as water and wastewater station monitoring. For these applications, asset owners place a lot of importance on the reliability and availability of their surveillance systems. This is because IP surveillance systems enhance the safety of staff, monitor critical facilities, and help streamline operations. Furthermore, in order for security managers to monitor site conditions and respond to any events that occur, HD PTZ cameras that have high power consumption and higher bandwidth requirements are often deployed to facilitate monitoring across large areas and provide uninterrupted high-resolution video.

A challenge that often occurs when operating in harsh environments, which include extreme temperatures, high environmental noise, and potential cybersecurity risks, is making sure the PoE switches can provide high power output and sufficient network bandwidth reliably. To overcome these challenges, system integrators should consider several points when integrating industrial PoE solutions into their outdoor IP surveillance systems.

Supplying High-Power PoE to Modern Surveillance Devices

In order to perform to the standard that asset owners expect, surveillance cameras are required to support a growing number of functions. A type of deployment that often encounters difficulties is when PTZ surveillance cameras are used to patrol a large outdoor area during periods of low light. Turning on additional functions, such as a heater, blower, or IR, in challenging weather conditions can require more power than usual. For project deployments that include multiple HD PTZ cameras surveilling large areas with a lot of activity taking place, it is important to have a PoE injector or switch that is capable of supplying up to 60 W, as well as a power supply that can sufficiently support any other connected devices.

Sufficient Network Bandwidth Design

When designing a network topology that will support multiple surveillance cameras in industrial applications, it is important to reserve sufficient uplink bandwidth to ensure high-quality images can be transmitted under any conditions without packet loss.

Providing Built-In Failure Recovery

For cameras that are deployed in harsh environments or hard to reach places, it is advised to use an industrial PoE solution to supply power and Ethernet to IP cameras. PoE switches should support automatic failure check and device recovery as they reduce the amount of site visits human operators need to make when an issue with the network occurs. Finally, for networks that host surveillance solutions, failure recovery is another beneficial feature.

Use Cybersecurity Features to Protect Networks

IP surveillance systems are often deployed to enhance the safety of people and monitor critical infrastructure, such as transportation systems. Those in charge of managing networks that support critical infrastructure must address cyberthreats and network vulnerabilities. Therefore, any industrial PoE solutions that are deployed should not introduce any vulnerabilities to the surveillance network. The security features of any devices deployed on surveillance networks should be given a lot of detailed consideration.

Conclusion

Asset owners need to carefully consider specific features when selecting an industrial PoE switch in order to meet their customer requirements, such as a high-power PoE, sufficient bandwidth, fault recovery features, and last but not least, cybersecurity protection. The advanced features provided by industrial PoE switches can help reduce the total cost of ownership while satisfying key technical requirements to ensure that surveillance cameras provide excellent video quality and maximize total system availability.

For more details, please download our white paper: Switches Facilitate Reliable Outdoor IP Surveillance Networks