The Wireless Video Surveillance Opportunity: Why WiMAX is not just for Broadband Wireless Access

Despite the media's predominant focus on whether or not WiMAX will "win" over LTE as the 4G technology of choice, it is important to realize that WiMAX's future is not tied to BWA alone.

If you take a look at the WiMAX headlines on any given day, you'll notice that a vast majority of the coverage WiMAX receives focuses on broadband wireless access (BWA) - regardless of whether that coverage is praising the technology for its performance and ability to provide service to underserved areas, or whether its questioning the technology's viability as the 4G technology of choice. Don't get me wrong - WiMAX is absolutely deserving of its role in shaping the 4G and BWA landscape moving forward. The WiMAX Forum itself defines WiMAX as "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL".

But, that's not the whole WiMAX story.

WiMAX can be - and often is - used for a wide variety of applications outside of last mile access. The technology was originally designed with wireless backhaul as one of the primary use cases (as opposed to the afterthought it seems to be in most coverage of the technology), and its ability to provide high-throughput wireless backhaul makes it an ideal candidate for deploying bandwidth-intensive applications.

But there is one burgeoning market in particular that WiMAX has carved out a well-defined niche in, and that is the video surveillance market. This is a market whose growth has exploded over the past 5 years, and that ABI Research forecasts will be a $41 billion a year market by 2014.

This explosive growth and continued market potential is due to an increasing need for video surveillance to help secure the world's ports, airports, cities and transportation infrastructure as well as schools, hospitals, government and other critical environments. Now more than ever, organizational demands have hastened our search for better, more cost-effective security applications, and in many instances, rapid deployment of security systems has become essential. But as critical as improved security has become, budgets to accomplish this goal are by no means unlimited.

Organizations of all kinds are being challenged to install video surveillance in areas that are too remote, too costly or physically impossible to reach with additional cabling. As a result, wireless solutions have been a boon to the video surveillance market as they enable the ability to cost-effectively leap over these barriers, allowing a virtually unlimited number of video surveillance cameras to be deployed quickly, easily and affordably.

In particular, WiMAX has emerged as the premiere solution to provide the wireless backhaul and transmission of real-time video surveillance. As a wireless WAN technology, WiMAX was designed specifically with the efficient backhaul of broadband data, voice and video at its core. Unlike wireless mesh technologies, which provide unpredictable service for backhauling streaming video, WiMAX is deterministic with built in scheduled access and Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms to ensure the reliable delivery of video.

In a WiMAX-enabled video surveillance system, high resolution, real-time video from each security camera in the network is transmitted from multiple subscriber units to a base station which is then backhauled via a wireless Point to Point radio to the regional security center which controls all of the cameras. As a result, the use of WiMAX provides the following advantages:

• Eliminates the massive costs and delays of trenching for fiber
• Quickly deployed and configured - operational within hours
• Deploys virtually anywhere - across rugged terrain, bodies of water and remote areas
• Carrier-class reliability ensures non-stop security
• High capacity, configurable and secure broadband wireless for guaranteed QoS
• Enables real-time transmission from and control of surveillance cameras
• When integrated with Wi-Fi networks, allows remote and mobile monitoring (via PDAs, PCs, laptops, etc.) and increases ROI

Cost-Effective

Fiber based networks cost significantly more to deploy than an equivalent WiMAX system, often about 5x-10x more. Deploying new broadband copper networks is as expensive as fiber networks and is impractical for medium to long range deployments. WiMAX is not only more cost-effective, but it also provides the added benefit of scalability based on bandwidth requirements.

Quickly Deployed

Availability of copper and fiber is dependent on the location, making the upgrading of existing wired infrastructure economically impractical in many areas. WIMAX, on the other hand, can be deployed virtually anywhere, including over bodies of water, rugged terrain, and remote locations. WiMAX networks can install in hours or days (instead of weeks or months), eliminating long waiting periods and right-of-way issues associated with trenching for fiber.

Flexible and Scalable

In many cases the deployment of wired solutions requires trenching, which can cause any number of problems. Not only is it much more expensive, but in scenarios where direct trenching would require tearing down a historic building or trenching through a busy intersection, it quickly becomes unfeasible.

WiMAX solutions, in contrast, provide unparalleled flexibility. If the security network uses wireless infrastructure for connectivity, cameras need not be permanently located next to the wired network connection. As necessary, cameras and subscriber units can be moved to a new location and can be reconnected within minutes. Carrier-class WiMAX solutions are available for even the most large scale video surveillance deployments, and are available in ruggedized enclosures for deployment in all weather conditions. More economical solutions are also available for smaller, more budget conscious deployments.

Highly Reliable

High-end WiMAX systems support up to 99.999% availability, enabling virtually non-stop monitoring and surveillance. A wireless system with 99.999% availability has only 5 minutes of downtime in an entire year.

High Capacity

Video is a bandwidth intensive application and imposes stringent bandwidth requirements. Wired networks often do not scale quick enough to meet the growing bandwidth demand. But with WiMAX's ability to provide 54 Mbps of bandwidth, it is perfectly suited for the quick build out of high capacity networks.

Mobile

The inherent un-tethered nature of WiMAX products simplifies deploying mobile systems. This includes the transporting of large amounts of data to vehicles for mobile video monitoring. This is achieved by deploying mobile subscriber units in law enforcement vehicles, which receive video from fixed base station units. As a result, police vehicles can view real-time streaming video surveillance of a crime scene as the drive to the scene, enabling them to be more prepared upon arrival.

Remember WiMAX's Bigger Picture

As easy as it is to get caught up in all the "WiMAX vs. LTE" hype, it is important that we remember to consider the bigger picture when it comes to WiMAX as a technology. WiMAX is not solely a last-mile access technology, and its future is not pinned solely to its success as a 4G access technology. Many high-bandwith applications - and especially the rapidly growing, multi-billion dollar a year video surveillance market - are wholly dependent on high-performance wireless backhaul and connectivity solutions, and point-to-multipoint technologies like WiMAX fit the bill perfectly for delivering those applications.

I'll be talking about other applications for WiMAX/point-to-multipoint technology in the coming weeks, too, to highlight the many market opportunities for the technology. In the meantime, as you follow the media coverage of WiMAX and its future prospects, just remember that it's a big wide wireless world out there, and last-mile BWA is not the only game in town for WiMAX.

Robb Henshaw is the Director of Marketing & Communications at Proxim Wireless, a manufacturer of end-to-end broadband wireless systems, where he oversees the company's global marketing and communications efforts.  For the last 8 years he has been dedicated to helping develop the wireless industry, with expertise in technologies ranging from enterprise WLANs, to carrier-grade wireless backhaul, to WiMAX and point-to-multipoint broadband wireless access (BWA) solutions.




 

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 in Applications  | Permalink |  Comments (10)