Which Internet for online monitoring will be good?
Good Internet is the backbone and sense of most monitoring systems. Does it apply to one camera or a set of cameras together with a recorder, or to the entire huge security infrastructure with a network of cameras and recorders? It’s a good Internet – it must be … I will not be divorcing about the quality of systems, complexity, manufacturers and products that make up “monitoring”. I will focus only on the Internet connection. Its specific features that make up the image will be online fluent good quality and reliable. And the online monitoring system will make sense at all and together with the monitoring equipment will create a professional and safe whole. I invite you.
Needs and expectations.
Connecting the monitoring system to the Internet, we expect that we will have a preview of the monitored site. It can take place in the form of a preview on the application in a smartphone, computer or TV. We can also send images directly from cameras (IP cameras) connected to the internet somewhere to a remote recorder. Where data from cameras will be stored and secure.
The image on the receivers should be smooth and the best possible resolution and the link should never end or be limited to the speed limiting or even preventing viewing. Similarly with sending the image to the recorder. In such cases, it is especially important, because the thief will not come, once again show up as he stole earlier …
Types of online monitoring systems.
Monitoring systems can be roughly divided into those that only serve us for viewing (on a smartphone or computer):
- So the recorder is hidden in the place where the area is monitored and the cameras connected locally. Recorder connected by cable to the router and cameras (or the Internet directly to the recorder and cameras via the switch). Without the use of internet connection between the cameras and the recorder – the most common solution.
- Registration – that is cameras through Internet links send a picture somewhere on the Internet to our recorder. And on the recorder we view the image from the cameras.
- Remote registration and preview – a combination of both of the above cases. The image is recorded on a remote recorder, but the preview we have for each camera separately, without logging into the recorder, we preview directly on the camera.
In each of these cases, the internet is used in a similar way. For data transmission. However, it differs in the size of bandwidth required in megabits per second (Mb / s or Mbit / s) and the degree of its exploitation. As far as the preview itself, we need the smallest internet speed of a few Mbit / s. We need much more to send video from sending cameras to the recorder.
Types of internet connections. Let’s have a look:
Download/Upload
As you have probably noticed, there is much in the sentences above about sending data. Not by accident. The internet we usually have at home, that is, the budget internet (from the point of view of the whole market) at a supernatural price and a super-fast download or download speed. There is only a high speed of data downloading, but such internet will be good for us only in the place from which we will view our monitored place (eg a house or any place through a smartphone).
From that side (from the registrar) such a link will be unnecessary and even problematic. Since we are receiving data from the recorder, we have a high data download speed. On the other hand, the recorder must already have a small speed also downloading data, but vice versa, it must have high-quality / speed data transmission so-called. Upload. It is measured in the same way – Mbit / s.
And this is what we will focus on when choosing an Internet Service Provider – the speed of sending data (Upload).
Similarly, when sending images from cameras to the recorder and viewing the image on remote cameras. These cameras must have a good speed of sending data, even more than the preview itself, but on why it is and how many more bandwidth they need, I will describe further.
In the majority of Internet packages at the providers of broadband Internet access services. Packages needed for home are promoted, but probably every operator offers links called in various ways: business, high-performance, symmetrical. These are links that should interest us in connection with the location where we have a recorder or cameras. These are links that stand out due to the high speed of sending data, i.e. that the download speed is usually the same as the speed of sending. Unfortunately, the operators are aware that such a link is more exploited. It must have much better quality parameters and is rather not for home, but for larger companies and / or just for use in monitoring systems. The price is unfortunately higher.
- In the case of the preview of the place, where the recorder with connected internet is hidden. The speed of sending from the recorder to us is dependent on the quality and this is usually set on the recorder as an “extra” or “auxiliary stream” channel. We can change eg the smartphone in the settings of the transmission quality and influence the use of the link.
Speed 1Mbit / s is the minimum that we have to provide in the case of very poor quality, 4 cameras where the image preview will be rather “indicative” than detailed. In the case of increasing the quality or quantity of simultaneously viewed cameras, eg up to eight. The speed increases to 5Mbit / s (resolution 352×288 24 frames per second).
And, for example, the preview of one camera in FullHD resolution, also the sending speed at the level of 3-5Mbit/s.
Comparing this with typical “home” links offered by operators, we will not do much to connect such a link to the recorder, because the most typical home connections have a set upload speed of 1-2Mbit / s. For contact in the case of the lowest order view.
- In the case of data transmission from remote cameras and recorder to the distance of the need to use a public Internet network between the camera and the recorder. The matter is more rigorous, because in order for the quality of recorded material on the recorder to be of high quality (or at least average), we should use a link that will provide us with a preview. But what will make the picture clear and smooth enough. It translates to the speed of sending from the camera side, to receiving data from the recorder’s side.
And here, in turn, a high-speed link must be provided by the camera (we do not connect it to the recorder, as in the previous example).
The level of use of the link (upload) by the camera in such a situation. And the absolute minimum is 2Mbit / s and it is not an HD picture at all. In HD picture quality, a 4-6Mbit / s band should be provided. Then the recorder can calmly record the image sent from distant cameras. A common way to limit the use of the link without going down from the resolution. There is a limitation of transmitted frames per second. There is then a visible “time-lapse” effect, which is often enough.
Often, such solutions are used in the case of urban monitoring where there is sometimes a problem with connecting to the municipal teletechnical infrastructure and you have to use the combination of internet operators. Large companies also use these solutions for transmission, e.g. between departments.
- The last example of use is the connection where the cameras send the image to the recorder, while the preview does not appear on the recorder. Occurs directly on the camera. So the camera has just twice more work and more to send, because at the same time it has to send the image to the recorder and open for us the second session / stream of the image for live viewing.
In this case, we often need to provide such excess or reserve link, which allows for trouble-free registration and preview. But not at the expense of registration.
It can be assumed that if the camera constantly transmits the image to the recorder and it needs a 5Mbit / s link, how to open the preview session on it, additional 2Mbit / s must wait for us unused. Such a transfer buffer. And here the links at about 10Mbit / s (upload) would be a good idea. But also more expensive:)
Public and unchangeable IP address
What is this? IP address is very simply explaining, it is a number that gets every device working in the ICT network. Thanks to these numbers, devices communicate with each other and send data to a specific recipient and know to whom.
A similar example of life is our address, everyone has a different one and thanks to that we can send letters to each other, packets, enter the only address to the GPS and take us to a specific place.
It’s the same in the life of computers, everyone has a different address so much that it’s written with numbers.
Here, unfortunately, technological progress is very fast and it turned out that the total number of IP addresses in the world has long been exhausted which made it “wise heads”. Which, to deal with a small number of these addresses, decided to do something on the basis of solutions, such as putting our lives back to us. That is one address visible to the whole world and many residents, tenants, tenants and companies at this address.
Big office buildings where there is one specific address for many, for example companies in a large office building, eg Kosciuszko 25, and there are many premises sublet by various companies. And in this way many companies have one public address of the office and the administrator (or postman) inside the building already provides mail to a specific company.
This is also how it was solved, among the operators sometimes just under one public IP address, it can cover up to several dozen or several hundred internet users. Therefore, the public IP address is expensive and priceless for operators, therefore it is not offered to every user. It is only for companies or people who really need it, usually at an extra cost.
But there are also some sets of public IP addresses that have been “presumed”, usually before the crisis began. They were offered to individual clients and used by them. Unfortunately, such addresses are not suitable for sale, so they are still used for individual customers, but the operator specifically exchanges these addresses between clients every so often. lease. This is the case, for example, in the Orange network, Netia, and mobile operators, UPC, Vectra, etc. And this is the example of a public IP address, but not a permanent one. Because it changes from time to time and we are unable to connect to our recorder or camera. This problem can be partially solved, and sometimes it is a necessity. You can use the so-called DynDNS. But here I am sending you to Google master. – for a long topic:)
The criterion that will allow us to communicate freely with our equipment is a public and permanent IP address. Often saying “public” and “permanent” we mean one IP visible from all over the world only ours and immutable. Incorrectly these two words are used alternately or simply by accident. However, correctly, both should fall simultaneously!
Talking to an Internet operator who would have to provide a monitoring service, we should define it quite clearly. Fortunately, often operators, selling symmetrical / business links for monitoring know better what we want than we ourselves and this address is already included (most often) in the price of the link.
Sometimes operators use port forwarding, it is a bit worse alternative to the public IP address. But not necessarily always. Sometimes you can save some money on such a solution. From the point of view of monitoring, we need only 2 or 3 ports for correct communication with our equipment. And thanks to this, we can be safer because other ports will not be used for attacks from the world (especially Ruskie and China). Having a public IP address, I remind you that we are visible from around the world.
Internet without limiting the amount of data.
Do not be mistaken at speed! Quantity, or hmm – no amount of data transferred.
As we sometimes have a 10Mbit / s link, the amount of data can be specified, for example, up to 5GB (five Giga Bytes of data), i.e. we will send in two days more or less the contents of one DVD and the internet is in the trash. The operators, after crossing the 5GB threshold, limit the speed to such that even the site is hard to open and, what’s more, send the image from the recorder or cameras. Remember that video data “weigh” the most. During a billing month, even a 100GB data package may not be enough.
This limitation is applied to mobile network operators, therefore, if we do not want to have problems, we do not use such a monitoring link. It is best to make sure that they do not limit the amount of data transferred.
Aha! Perhaps you will be interested in choosing a hard drive for the DVR …
In short, what he needs:
It’s a bit … I do not know if I wrote too much. Therefore, a small summary of the link for monitoring:
- Symmetrical connection and / or sending speed (upload) not less than 2Mbit / s, and the more it is better, even with small needs, to suggest 5Mbit / s – unless there is really nothing to choose from or short of cash. Such 10Mbit / s is a speed usually free with which we can, even something to mix even with larger systems, you can limit the resolution or the number of frames per second and somehow it will be …
- Internet with a public and unchanged IP address or
- port forwarding, on which we will log into the recorder, or IP cameras.
- Internet without any limit on the amount of data transferred. The amount is usually determined in GB – gigabytes (eg 5GB, 10GB, 70GB, 100GB) as we can see, this unit in the offer of an operator is not the net.
Please note that the unit determining the speed and the unit determining the quantity are sometimes very similarly written eg 10Mb / s and 10GB – many people do not distinguish, do not see, do not see or do not associate differences, and this is very important in this case.
I hope that this description is useful, I hope that he made a good decision when choosing the internet. I could not have imagined that there would be so much content here but so much it came out. May be valuable and useful.
