Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The Challenges of Unified ELV Implementation

In my recent article 5 Reasons Why Integrated ELV Systems Reduce Costs, I tried to explain briefly how a well-designed integrated and IP-based unified ELV system considerably reduces construction costs.

challenges-Unified-ELV

However, like any other good thing, this comes with its own set of challenges to tackle!
Integrating complex ELV systems into a single LAN network requires high design experience and extremely good knowledge about integrated technologies.
The network designer who is responsible for the design of the unified ELV system must have an in-depth understanding of both the passive layer (cabling/containment) and the active layer (network switches and routers).
One of the main challenges in utilizing the same network for different systems is the calculation of the required bandwidth. This is especially important to ensure that audio/video related technologies such as CCTV (surveillance cameras), IPTV (TV system) and VoIP (telephone) – systems that highly depend on IP streaming techniques – are not jittered.
Some of the design considerations needed to achieve the best results are listed as follows:

Ensuring a proper network topology with correct IP plan that allows expandability
Ensuring the usage of correct network switches to achieve the needed bandwidth while controlling the costs
Determining the correct backbone media to use for future expansion
Ensuring proper network segregation by implementing Virtual LAN (VLAN) techniques
Implementing IGMP snooping for controlling IPTV multicasts
Ensuring backbone redundancy

Another challenge to tackle at the design level of a unified ELV system is selecting the right products to use. There are so many brands for so many systems that need to be integrated into a unified, IP-based solution – and due to the diversity of solutions, there is no single brand that even claims they can cover everything.
So it becomes absolutely critical to ensure that the right products from correct vendors are determined for each specific project, based on the project requirements as well as the priorities. It is also very important to ensure that the selected solutions can actually seamlessly blend into a single, unified solution.

About Vizocom

Vizocom is a leading ICT and ELV solutions provider with over 25 years of experience in design, installation and commissioning of the complete portfolio of ICT and ELV solutions, including structured cabling, microwave, VSAT, telephony and VOIP, Video Conferencing, safety and security systems, PAGA and SMATV and IPTV solutions.

Monday, February 15, 2016

5 Reasons Why Integrated ELV Systems Reduce Costs

In this article I want to quickly go over 5 reasons on why designing integrated ELV systems considerably reduces construction costs.

integrated elv reduces construction cost

integrated elv reduces construction cost

Unfortunately, many ELV designers still base their designs on traditional systems running on proprietary networks for various building management systems, as well as separate telephony, data and television networks each with their separate/multiple cabling systems.
This results to increased costs, limited functionality, and complex management.
The solution is a modern design based on integration of all ELV systems over an IP-based network. This calls for a higher level of technical expertise and experience, and a good combination of networking and ELV knowledge. As you will see below, the results are higher efficiency at lower OPEX and CAPEX costs, and reduction in risks of delay:

1- Unified Cabling and Pathways

Unlike traditional solutions where each system would need to use its own cabling system and pathway (CAT6 for network, copper multi-core twisted pair for telephony, coaxial cable for TV systems, twisted cable for PAGA, control cable for ACS, …), in a modern IP-based ELV design, all systems mainly use the same common data network, hence considerably decreasing the costs on cabling and pathways.
Of course the installation of common cabling and pathways requires planning of the containment systems at the early stages of the project so that the optimum routes can be designed by experienced network designers.

2- Less Quality / Interference Problems

One of the key challenges of traditional analog designs especially for systems such as CCTV, telephony, and television is the complication during the design and installation to ensure that proper quality of audio and picture is obtained. Although things might look good on paper, in the course of installation and commissioning many unforeseen problems usually pop up, which cause further unexpected delays on project timelines and increase on forecasted costs. Problems can arise such as grounding problems, quality issues of cables and connectors, and electrical and ground-loop noise which directly affect analog solutions. In IP based solutions, by implementing a digital/IP based backbone these issues are no longer a concern.

3- Lower Costs for Expandability

Most of traditional ELV systems are very limited on the available means of expandability over large compounds. For example, to expand a conventional analog telephony, CCTV, or public alert system over a medium-sized compound, kilometers or miles of cables need to be physically laid. This calls for expensive, multi-core copper cables that are both expensive and hard to lay. While on new IP based solutions, the network cloud consisting of all types of connection mediums such as much less expensive fiber cables or even microwave links can be used to seamlessly interconnect remote areas at a fraction of the costs of traditional solutions.

4- Easier Management and Troubleshooting

IP-based unified ELV solutions are by far easier to manage and troubleshoot, because the maintenance staff do not need to bother about multiple cabling systems and connections, and the cabling (called physical layer in data networks) is easily managed and checked. The overall needed experience and troubleshooting time required for maintaining the systems are also considerably lower and usually a single computer would be sufficient for managing and troubleshooting the all systems from a centralized location.

5- Capability for Remote Management

Unlike traditional analog solutions, IP-based systems can be remotely managed and reconfigured, with minimum physical changes required. This saves considerably on maintenance costs while bringing many new features and possibilities

Other Benefits of Unified ELV Systems

Costs savings is not the only benefit of modern IP-based integrated ELV systems – there are more benefits such as:

Much more functionalities and features
Expandability with no need to redo the infrastructure
Software upgradability
Integration of different systems

In a future article I will explain the challenges of designing modern integrated ELV systems.

About Vizocom

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Designing the proper ELV systems – a challenge in today’s construction industry

Contrary to what we used to have 20 years ago, it is now very hard to find a new structure where ELV solutions are not part of the core requirements for construction – whether the structure is a hotel, an airport, an office, or an industrial plant.

ELV Design

This is indeed a challenge for construction designers who are not well versed with the technology concepts of the ELV and all the fuzzy technical jargon that come with it.
ELV is an abbreviation for Extremely Low Voltage. This acronym falls short in explaining the exact content and is mostly misunderstood from an “electrical” perspective, rather than what it really represents. ELV is actually a combination of data & telephony, safety & security, as well as automation technologies that are now an integral part of any modern structure in the 21^st century.

While civil, electrical and sewage designs are considered to be integral disciplines of construction design and are normally done in-house by most EPC companies, design of ELV is more like a Pandora’s box to most experienced construction designers, and they prefer to have it totally handled by “someone else”!
When it comes to “ELV designers”, you can categorize them into 3 different groups:

The first group of ELV designers come from an “electrical” background: their work usually include some general block diagrams similar to one-line drawings one finds in electrical designs and totally lack the understanding of the diverse “technological” aspects of the different ELV systems.
The second group of ELV designers come from an “IT” background. Although this group understand the technological aspect of a proper ELV solution, they can’t communicate this very well in the language and the culture that is commonly known and used in the construction industry.
There is only a small group of ELV designers – the third group – who really master this new technology whose time has come. A combination of “electrical” and “IT/technological” knowhow necessary in order to properly design the ELV systems needed for this day and age.

About Vizocom

Why hiring a single ELV designer makes no sense

I constantly encounter job advertisements where a construction design company is looking to hire a single ELV designer to handle all their ELV works. Well, for those familiar with the industry, this simply causes a bitter smile – since there is no such magic!

hiring elv designer

This wrong perception is mainly because of a simplified comparison of ELV designs with electrical designs (maybe due to the “Extremely Low Voltage” terminology)! However, unlike electrical designs, where an electrical designer can very much do all the principle LV designs that is required for a building, in ELV we’re dealing with a very broad range of diverse technologies including but not limited to data, telephony, CCTV, ACS (Access Control System), PAGA (Public Alert and General Alarm), Fire Alarm, IDS (Intrusion Detection System), television systems, audio / video solution, and home automation.
Expecting a single engineer being able to properly cover all these technologies is like referring to the same doctor as your Dentist, Allergist, Physiologist, Psychiatrist and Cardiologist!

What is the correct Solution?

Proper ELV design calls for a team of designers who cover all the needed expertise to enable them to provide an appropriate solution through combined effort and teamwork. The actual number of designers in the team and their expertise is of course dependent on the complexity and scale of the project. However even for smallest solutions, below are the key members of an ELV design team:

Team Leader: the Team Leader should have a good general knowledge of all technologies and the needed capabilities to lead the team and to make sure the provided design covers all the specified criteria.
Network Engineer: IP Networking is the foundation of any modern ELV design. Proper design of the network infrastructure is therefore the fundamental necessity to guarantee a successful solution.
Safety and Security Engineer: a good engineer with sufficient expertise and experience in designing safety and security solutions including CCTV, ACS and Fire Alarm is a key member of any ELV design team.
Audio / Video Engineer: audio / video solutions are another part of most ELV designs which have their totally separate field of expertise and hence an audio / video expert is a key member of any ELV design team.

About Vizocom

What is ELV after all? - An introduction to ELV systems in buildings such as data, security and audio-video

While up to some years ago, analog telephony systems were still commonly used in buildings and were setup by using multi-pair copper telephone cables connecting the PABX (Private Automatic Branch Exchange) to telephone sets, they are now almost totally replaced with VOIP (Voice Over IP) solutions that require no separate cabling and depend on the building’s LAN infrastructure for the interconnections.

According to the International Electrotechnical Commission, ELV (Extra Low Voltage) is defined as any system operating in a voltage not exceeding 35V AC (or 60V ripple free DC). Although the term is technically correct from “electrical” point of view, it by no means describes the broad range of systems and technologies which are known as ELV systems in buildings.

What is ELV

ELV is the terminology used in the construction world in an attempt to electrically define all the systems in a building which need electricity to run but are not part of the building’s main electrical system. ELV covers all the new modern technologies that are increasingly becoming must-have systems in every building such as data network, CCTV, fire alarm systems, public address systems, audio/video solutions, access control and intrusion detection systems, home automation, and much more!
The fact that such a broad range of technologies are collectively named “ELV” shows probably how much we are lagging behind the new demands of 21st century. Below I will very briefly explain some of the confusing abbreviations that constantly pop up when discussing ELV systems.

LAN and WLAN

LAN stands for Local Area Network – also known as SCS (Structured Cabling System). Simply put, it is the data cabling in the building to enable users to network their computer devices and possibly access to internet.
In a small building, this can be simply CAT6 cabling from an MDF (Master Distribution Frame – i.e. equipment rack) while in larger infrastructures, you usually see multiple IDFs (Intermediate Distribution Frame) interconnected by fiber optic cables. (It is interesting to know that while we have no electricity passing fiber optic cables, they are still categorized as “ELV”!)
WLAN stands for Wireless LAN which is the network of wireless access points that provide wireless network coverage within and outside the building.
As you will see below, as the technologies enhance, more and more other ELV systems depend on LAN infrastructure of buildings.

Telephony Systems

CCTV

CCTV stands for Closed Circuit TV (again a very old acronym which shows the old “electrical” roots of such systems). Simply put, these are the camera systems setup inside and outside of buildings to provide monitoring surveillance. Old analog cameras used a separate cabling of coaxial cables connecting each camera directly to the DVR (Digital Video Recorder). These are also today almost totally replaced with IP Cameras utilizing the common LAN infrastructure of the building.

ACS

ACS is the abbreviation for Access Control System. ACS systems give access to different building locations (usually implemented by automatic unlocking of doors) through different means of authentication of people (by magnetic or RFID identification cards, by finger print, IRIS or face recognition). Almost all new ACS solutions also rely on LAN infrastructure to some extent, while they also include electrical cabling to magnetic door locks, manual push buttons, and magnetic sensors installed on the doors and entry gates.

IDS

IDS (Intrusion Detection System) is the common name for a broad range of technologies which as the name suggests, alerts on any attempt for intrusion to a building or premises. They include long and short range radar systems, fiber optic cable systems connected to fences, IR motion detectors, CCTV video analyzing software, and many other technologies.

Fire Alarm

Fire Alarm Systems (also abbreviated to FA or FAS), can be divided into two main types – conventional and addressable. Most FA systems still use 2-wire electrical cables for interconnecting of the sensors (smoke, heat, combined) and beacons/alerts to the control panels. Newer fire alarm solutions also provide LAN connectivity for integration with other systems.

PAS / PAGA

PAS (Public Address System) or PAGA (Public Address and General Alarm) is the speaker system installed in buildings for making announcements, playing background music and broadcasting pre-recorded alarm notifications, sometimes automatically triggered by fire alarm systems. PAS is probably one of the few ELV systems that is still not much IP based and use twisted-pair electrical cables for connecting the distributed speakers to the power amplifiers. However most of newer PAS systems have accessories to enable utilizing LAN infrastructure for interconnecting the main components and provide a distributed design.

SMATV / CATV / IPTV

SMATV (Satellite Master Antenna Television), CATV (Cable Television), and IPTV (IP Television) all explain different technologies to provide a TV distribution system within a building, interconnecting multiple television sets to a single source (usually called Head End) so each television can select the desired watching channel from a selection list.
While SMATV and CATV have their separate cabling network based on coaxial (or sometimes fiber) cabling, they are rapidly being replaced with IPTV solutions which rely on the same LAN infrastructure jointly used by other systems.

Home Automation

Home automation systems include a very broad range of technologies for monitoring and controlling almost everything in the building from lights to doors to home appliances and audio equipment and in short whatever works with electricity in the building. Most home automation solutions are now network based and give the option of remotely controlling and monitoring the building over the internet. While in the past, most home automations were using some remote control device, with advance of technology the means of control is now moved to smartphone and tablet applications or voice recognition solutions.
Above are merely samples of ELV, and there are myriad other systems which are not discussed above that are collectively named as “ELV” in construction terminology. One wonders, isn’t it the right time that we change the name to something that better explains what all these systems are all about? What about MIT (Modern Infrastructure Technologies)?