You cause a crash, the car will call the police.

A few weeks ago in Port St. Lucie in Florida an unprecedented situation occurred. When 57-year-old Cathy Bernstein fled the scene of an accident, she was quickly caught by the police. It would have been nothing special, but the emergency services were informed about the collision not by the victim or eyewitnesses, but by ... the car driven by the perpetrator. Her Ford, equipped with SYNC system paired with the driver's phone, automatically informed the police about a collision and provided the make and model of the vehicle and location data from the GPS.

Soon, such systems will not be exclusively the domain of the top makes or models of cars. Starting in 2018, each new car sold in the European Union is going to be equipped with eCall - an emergency-call system. The automatic action taken by the system is to shorten the time of arrival of the emergency services by up to half, and what is also important, will discourage drivers to take the risk of hit-and-run incidents. EU authorities estimate that the eCall technology may save about 2500 lives across Europe per year.

Mobile access to surveillance video via Ezviz cloud service.

Ezviz (EasyVision) is a free service which can be activated in Hikvision NVRs and IP cameras. This cloud service allows less advanced users to easily get access to video from IP cameras via the Internet, without configuring the network. The P2P connection is available within the service. To get access via a smartphone, the user should install Ezviz app available for Android and iOS phones. The next step is the creation of a user account at the www.ezviz7.com website. The account can accommodate devices with activated Ezviz service, found in a local area network, or listed by the user as the respective serial numbers.

Comparison of images from Sunell and Hikvision cameras.

The links below provide access to online video from Sunell K1678 (2 MP) and Hikvision K1787 (4 MP) cameras. We have made them available for anyone who would like to compare the quality of images from cameras of different manufacturers and with different resolutions. Both cameras are operating with default settings, however the focal length of the Sunell camera has been set so that to get a similar field of view as that of the Hikvision camera with fixed focal length. Stream settings of the cameras are shown in the following screenshots:

To log in to a camera for live access to the video, click on a picture below or enter the suitable IP address in the browser window. When you first log in to the camera, you need to install plugins available at that stage. The remote access to the cameras has two limitations: the maximum number of users logged into a camera at the same time and the maximum output bandwidth available for remote connections. In the case of the Sunell camera, the number of simultaneous remote users cannot exceed 10, and the total bandwidth is limited to 20 Mbps. The Hikvision camera can be simultaneously accessed by 6 users, with the bandwidth limit of 50 Mbps. If you see information about the maximum number of users or you have a problem with viewing the image from a camera, this means that one of these parameters could be exceeded. So, you should try to log into the camera later. The access to the images from the cameras at the following addresses will be possible till the end of January 2016.

Logging data:

Gel-filled twisted-pair cables - some advice for installers.

Twisted-pair (balanced) cables are used to transmit signals in telecommunication systems and computer networks. Currently they are mainly used in telephony and Ethernet networks. Twisted-pair cables may consist of one or more pairs. The twisting strongly reduces the influence of external electromagnetic interference and mutual interference between the pairs, called crosstalk.

Gel-filled NETSET BOX UTPw 5e E1410_305 is a top quality twisted-pair cable designed for professional data transmission systems in environments with increased humidity. Its polyethylene (PE) sheath is resistant to UV radiation (sunlight) and moisture. The center of the cable is filled with gel to prevent longitudinal water penetration in the cable. The cable put into ducts or trays can be used in installations buried in the ground.

Internet via AC outlet.

A very simple way to build a home LAN is to use a powerline network. The user simply connects powerline devices to wall AC outlets and can use the network based on the existing power line. A pair or a set of powerline adapters is an ideal solution in every case where it is impossible to install Ethernet cables or the environment is not suitable for a wireless (Wi-Fi) medium. It may be especially useful for connecting a computer, television, home cinema etc. to the Internet in a place without LAN cable and poor Wi-Fi connectivity.

A typical example of the use of the powerline network is when the modem from an ISP must be placed next to the network (e.g. CATV) and AC power outlets, but a computer is located in another room.

A pair of powerline adapters is an ideal solution when it is impossible to install Ethernet cables

How does it work? Each of the powerline adapters is a transceiver. At a moment, the transmitting device sends a modulated signal and the receiving device retrieves the original data in the process of demodulation. To ensure proper communication parameters, it was necessary to develop appropriate standards of the PLC (Power Line Communication) technology. HomePlug Powerline alliance is the leading standardization organization in this field.

TP-LINK TL-PA2010KIT allows reliable network connection through existing power line in a home or office

EasySplicer - splicing 900 μm pigtails.

EasySplicer L5810 has been designed for splicing both 250 μm and 900 μm optical fibers. Generally, the black holders are dedicated for the thinner fibers and the blue ones for the thicker fibers. However, in some cases it is more convenient to use the black holders for 900 μm pigtails. It applies to pigtails in "loose tube".

Tight buffered single-mode pigtail (upper) and a similar pigtail in loose tube (lower)

In the case of the loose tube, the yellow 250 μm buffer is not firmly joined with the 900 μm outer coating - the both coatings can easily move relative to each other. In the second case, the inner colorless 250 μm buffer is tightly connected with the yellow 900 μm coating. The stripping process is then somewhat more difficult.

The positioning of the tightly buffered 900 μm fiber (blue holder) and of the fiber in loose tube (black holder)

Due to the fact that the optical fiber in loose tube can move relative to the outer 900 μm coating, we recommend to remove the outer coating over a section of several centimeters and position the fiber using the black holder dedicated for 250 μm fibers. Please note that the 900 μm coating lies beyond the black holder.

Universal TERRA IPTV headend - an example of implementation. The owner of a hotel had to choose a suitable TV system for his hotel. The typical solution with a traditional headend and the distribution of RF signals via coaxial cables was practically impossible, due to the lack of such cabling in the building and big problems with installation of new cables. However, the building was equipped with computer network based on twisted pair cables. So, the choice was simple - TERRA IPTV headend. The TERRA IPTV headend is a reliable and easy to configure set of IPTV streamers that convert terrestrial DVB-T/T2, DVB-C and/or satellite DVB-S/S2 broadcasts into IP stream. It is also possible to decode pay TV channels... >>>more

View of the TERRA IPTV headend

Industrial switches - ready to work in all conditions