Security Dealer & Integrator

OCT 2016

Find news and information for the executive corporate security director, CSO, facility manager and assets protection manager on issues of policy, products, incidents, risk management, threat assessments and preparedness.

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I n the past, I have written about wireless systems from Wi-Fi to Z Wave. Wireless has become ubiquitous in security and network installations, as it is becoming so in the smart home environment. Cellular technology has made us accustomed the reach of wire- less technology beyond our imme- diate surroundings. Verizon touts its 4G LTE wireless broadband as "Ten times faster than 3G — able to han- dle download speeds between 5 and 12 Mbps (Megabits per second) and upload speeds between 2 and 5 Mbps." For those of us who crave more, we await 5G. ere is another term you need to get used to: WiGig. e 802.11ad WiGig specification includes com- munication at 60 GHz with data transfer rates up to 7 Gb/s. Just as in today's multi-band, Wi-Fi devices will be WiGig tri-band enabled devices, which operate in the 2.4, 5 and 60 GHz bands. ere are a number of modula- tion and coding schemes employed to pack more data into signals in a given frequency range; however, get- ting another step jump in data rates requires something more, such as upping the frequency. 5G promises a couple of orders of magnitude (100x) more. In July, the FCC voted 5-0 to allocate nearly 11 GHz wide of high-frequency spec- trum to 5G services. e newly freed spectrum includes 4 GHz of licensed spectrum at 28 GHz, 37 GHz and 39 GHz as well as 7 GHz of unlicensed (free to use) spectrum from 64-71 GHz, with an eye towards early deployments in 2018. Millimeter band radio runs from 30 to 300 GHz, the term millime- ter referring to the wavelength of the radio wave. Millimeter wave (mmW) has more spectrum than all unlicensed and microwave bands, combined. Modulating carrier frequencies within this wider spectrum enables data throughput to increase enormously. e ultimate example of increasing data capability with higher frequency is the use of infrared energy (i.e., light) which, when guided through a glass fiber, provides virtually unlimited bandwidth. mmW's have smaller beam spread than most radio frequencies we use, enabling the use of reduced-size antennas as well as contributing to extensive re-use capabilities; however, with everything there is a tradeoff — with higher frequencies comes less of an ability to penetrate surfaces such as walls. Current literature suggests that new wireless infrastructure models will emerge that will include a higher density of cells (get used to terms like femtocells, picocells and microcells) with effective ranges of 10 m to 0.5 km, and in-building base stations. Although large-scale deployments are still several years away, there is a new entrant in the security mar- ket, Israel-based Siklu, which offers radio link technology that delivers carrier-grade wireless point-to-point Ethernet connectivity utilizing the 57-64 GHz license-free portion, the lightly licensed 64-66 GHz, both of the V-band spectrum, as well as the 71-76/81-85 GHz E-band. For V-band, the distance specifica- tion is 700m typical, 1300m maximum (depending on rain environment), using a pair of 6-inch square, 3.5-inch- deep radios with integrated antennas. e signal interface to the radio is a set of three GigE ports and the unit is powered by PoE+. MTBF is advertised at 90 years. Topologies, can be point- point, mesh, daisy-chain and ring. E-band radios look more like tra- ditional microwave links and offer multi-gigabit capacity. e dis- tance specification is 3 Km typical, 7 Km maximum (depending on rain environment). Siklu says this technology is par- ticularly appropriate for certain types of video surveillance networks, while offering topologies similar to those used for mobile backhaul network. "V-band radios, with their small form factor, are ideal for street-level deploy- ments where its offered range is per- fectly suited for cascading cameras," 20 Security Dealer & Integrator / www.SecurityInfoWatch.com October 2016 Tech Trends BY RAY COULOMBE What's in a Millimeter? New wireless signal transmission technology can ease bandwidth concerns of multi-megapixel and panoramic cameras E-band radios look like traditional microwave links and offer multi- gigabit capacity.

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