Project Wing – delivery of shipments with drones.

Wing company, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., has launched a pilot program for the rapid delivery of small packages (fresh food, coffee or over-the-counter medicines) with the use of flying drones. At the moment, the service is limited to the northern suburbs of Canberra in Australia, covering over 100 homes. In the coming months, the service area will be expanded.

Google has been testing shipments of small parcels by drones since 2014. Drones are subject to strict legal regulations. On the basis of successful test results, they obtained official permission from the Australian Air Navigation Services Agency for use in commercial purposes. Wing company, the successor of Google in this field, acknowledges that the inhabitants of Australia have forced changes in the functioning of drones related to with the noise they emit and other aspects. After the pilot program in Australia, in mid-2019 the project will also start in Finland.

Wing drones deliver small packages that are dropped into the customer's garden

Analysts from the Project Wing predict that by 2030 drones will take from 4 to 6 percent of the supply of small packages to areas located in the suburbs and suburban areas. The security requirements set by the Australian CASA agency prohibit drones from flying over main roads and over pedestrians. So, they cannot fly over densely built urban agglomerations.

Signal Fire Ai-8 fusion splicer – cleaning of electrodes.

Electrodes in fusion splicing machines are operating elements requiring periodic replacement. One of the parameters included in the datasheet of each splicing machine is the number of splices that can be performed with the use of one set of electrodes. This value usually varies from 2000 to 5000 splices. In fact, it depends on the environmental conditions in which the splices are made, as well as on the amount of calibration of the electric arc. It may turn out that in the case of one splicer they should be replaced after 2500 splices, and in another after 4000 such operations.

The reason why the installer should be interested in the condition of the electrodes are problems with making correct splices – usually the arc becomes too weak and irregular, which results in to low temperature and weak fiber connection. If additionally it is impossible to perform manual calibration of the electric arc, the electrodes should be cleaned or replaced.

This particular splicer has been serviced by DIPOL, and the customer informed about problems with generating electric arc during the splicing process. Even an initial analysis of the condition of the electrodes made it clear that the problem was caused by dirty electrodes. Electrodes in fiber optic fusion splicing machines collect dirt and deposits that can cause problems with proper splicing process. In this case, the electrodes should be removed from the splicer (the procedure is described in the user's manual), then the dirt should be scraped with an upholstered blade, and finally the entire electrodes have to be cleaned with a tissue moistened with alcohol. In the case of the Signal Fire Ai-8 fusion splicer, the whole process can be easily performed by the user of the machine.

Redundant recording in Hikvision DVRs/NVRs.

When archiving video from surveillance cameras on hard drives, one should remember about the risk of data loss due to a disk failure. HDD reliability is high and depends on the working conditions, make and model. It is estimated that in continuous mode of operation in a server room (stable temperature, humidity, dust level) the failure rate of the disks does not exceed 5% (data from the Backblaze tests). However, the older the disk, the higher the probability of failure.

Users can protect themselves from hard disk problems by enabling redundant recording. The video is simultaneously recorded on two hard drives. If one of them is damaged, the recordings are still available on the other one. The redundant disk does not need to have the same capacity as the primary one, as it can be used only for recording images from selected, "most important" cameras.

Optical/copper multiswitch system.

One of the main advantages of fiber optic cabling in television installations is a complete surge immunity. This fact, often overlooked in many presentations, can be the most important selection criterion. Satellite and terrestrial antenna systems, beginning on the roofs of buildings, are particularly vulnerable to overvoltages resulting from atmospheric discharges. Despite the proper grounding of all elements of the installations, some devices are irreversibly damaged. It is worth emphasizing that not only the devices included in the installation itself are subject to overvoltages, but also, in extreme cases, consumer devices, i.e. satellite receivers or televisions. Fiber optic cable provides excellent insulation for overvoltages. This means that any surges induced in the vicinity of the antennas will stop at the optical transmitter – all other elements of the installation are fully protected.

However, the most important advantage of fiber optic systems is the ability to transmit television signals over long distances without a need to regenerate them. In the case of a fiber-optic trunk, the various sizes of facilities in which the signals are to be distributed do not cause technical problems. The signals can be easily transmitted both over hundreds of meters and tens of kilometers without a need for additional equipment. This significantly simplifies the deployment of signal distribution systems in large buildings. Traditional installations, based on copper wires, allow the signal to be transmitted in the main path for several dozen meters. This distance can be increased by using amplifiers - although this also has some limitations (as well as implementation and operating costs).

Simple video monitoring with Wi-Fi IP camera.

In everyday life, there is often a situation where we want to check what is happening in the apartment during our absence or to observe a child living in another room or playing in a backyard garden. In such cases it would be unreasonable to install a professional monitoring system. Anyone who wants to build low-cost high-resolution home IP CCTV system can use Hikvision DS-2CD2420F-IW K1717 camera (the camera has to be located/installed indoors).
The Hikvision DS-2CD2420F-IW K1717 cube IP camera has been equipped with microphone and speaker, which allows for two-way communication. The built-in IR illuminator with range up to 10 m ensures visibility of scenes without any lighting, and the PIR motion sensor can provide more reliability than video motion detection, especially in the case of an environment with reflections, moving pets etc. The detection of motion by the PIR sensor can trigger e.g. recording of the video from the camera on a memory card (the camera supports microSD cards up to 128 GB). In response to various events, the implemented alarm functions, such as motion detection, crossing a virtual line, or intrusion to an area, can send notifications or start recording. The camera can be powered conventionally with 12 VDC or using PoE option (compatibility with 802.3af).

The Hikvision DS-2CD2420F-IW K1717 cube IP camera has been equipped with microphone and speaker, which allows for two-way communication. The built-in IR illuminator with range up to 10 m ensures visibility of scenes without any lighting, and the PIR motion sensor can provide more reliability than video motion detection.

The users can access the camera (connected to the local network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet port, Internet connectivity is possible after port forwarding) on their smartphones running iVMS-4500 app, or on PCs/laptops running iVMS-4200 software, or just through a web browser. They can also use free Hik-Connect service, which provides remote access to the device (without a need for port forwarding) also in the case of dynamic IP addresses, or allows for the use of domain names in web browsers.
Below there is an example of application of the camera for monitoring a child living in another room. The parent uses a smartphone running the iVMS-4500 software. The local communication is based on TP-Link TL-WR1043ND N3253 wireless router. For example, the camera installed in the child's room observes a sleeping child. With motion detection configured as alarm event, the movement of the child after wake up results in notification appearing on the phone. The parent can watch the image from the camera, listen to what is going on in the room, and even say something to the child.

The idea of using cube IP camera Hikvision DS-2CD2420F-IWK1717 for monitoring a child's room. For example, the camera can monitor a sleeping child. With motion detection configured as alarm event, the movement of the child after wake up results in notification appearing on the phone. With active audio option, the parent can hear sounds in the room e.g. child's cry and remotely soothe the baby.

Lightning protection of RF and computer equipment (3).

Sensitive electronic circuitry can be damaged not only by a direct lightning strike – it can be caused by the high potential induced in long cables. NetProtect J2830 limits the voltage in the LAN to a safe level. The device protects only the equipment to which is directly connected, does not need power supplying and does not influence data transmission.

The NetProtect application diagram

75 Ω Signal surge protector R48602 for use in antenna paths is an ideal device for everyone who cares for their TV and satellite equipment: multiswitch, satellite receiver, television, stereo.

TV-Sat Surge Protector SIGNAL R48602 (F-plug/F-socket)

The protectors are also available in ready-to-use kits to be installed at the beginning of signal paths, just behind the antennas, like R48614.

R48614 ZMZ-12 - the box contains 12 Signal surge protectors with F-m to F-f adapters

AcuSense technology in Hikvision EasyIP 4.0 devices. DIPOL offers DS-2CD2126G1-I K00413, DS-2CD2T46G1-2I K04521 cameras and DS-7616NXI-I2/4S K22153 NVR with AcuSense technology based on Hikvision Deep Learning Algorithms. This technology introduces a new approach in monitoring systems, focused on efficient detection of threatening events with minimizing the number of false alarms. Thanks to the proper recognition, the system can filter out even 90% of events that would trigger false alarms, which significantly increases the accuracy and effectiveness of alerting and contributes to lowering the workload of the operator(s) and costs of sending intervention groups... >>>more

The idea of AcuSense technology

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