OPTICAL FIBER BASED CCTV CAMERAS AND SENSORS NETWORK FOR BTS MONITORING

According to African News Agency (ANA) , In mid 2019 , The famous ?Mobile Telecommunication Networks (MTN)? Company had to shut down 53 of its cell phone towers in Gauteng , Africa due to vandalism and thefts. The company faced loss of millions; the GM Network Opera

Project Title

OPTICAL FIBER BASED CCTV CAMERAS AND SENSORS NETWORK FOR BTS MONITORING

Project Area of Specialization

Information & Communication Technology

Project Summary

According to African News Agency (ANA) , In mid 2019 , The famous “Mobile Telecommunication Networks (MTN)” Company had to shut down 53 of its cell phone towers in Gauteng , Africa due to vandalism and thefts. The company faced loss of millions; the GM Network Operations of MTN said that the damage to the towers and infrastructure is far exceeding the cost of repairing and replacing the expensive batteries and equipment. Another major problem is that these acts of vandalism are so severe that hundreds of towers around the world are at a risk of permanent shutdown, putting strain on the network and potentially diminishing the QOS provided to customers. Cellular companies have in recent times, been hit hard by rising incidents of thefts of tower batteries, causing network disruptions for customers. Similarly the towers of National Transmission & Dispatch Company (NTDC) of Pakistan have also faced similar issues where high power transmission towers are collapsed due to stolen braces holding them together. As a result the NTDC suffers huge losses of exchequer revenue and meanwhile the customers of power distribution company experience excruciating inconvenience due to resulting electricity shortages. 

Many cell phone towers and high power transmission towers have to be installed in remote areas to ensure long distance connectivity, the acts of thefts and vandalism cannot be traced in these areas and the culprits escape easily. The conventional solution would be to hire local guards to ensure security in shifts but that would be a costly and inefficient solution because a guard can provide maximum 8-Hour Service a day and to cover a full day, 3 guards would be needed to cover 3 shifts.

So keeping in view all these aspects, we took up this project whose main goal is to provide security to tower infrastructures using Optical Fiber, incorporating CCTV cameras and Sensors network which eradicates the inefficient solution of placing human supervision. This solution provides up-to-date live streaming of the area under observation (BTS to BTS) using CCTV cameras which will be remotely monitored and not only limited to this feature but also the valuable data obtained from 3 kinds of sensing setups namely surveillance, environmental monitoring and structural monitoring at regular periodic intervals. These sensors will be capable of acquiring temperature and humidity, unauthorized personnel movement and structural or vibration disturbances around the precious assets.

Therefore this solution will act as a security mechanism for surveillance around the towers and in case of any suspicious activity or an intruder prying for theft or vandalism, the detection and identification will be made by the mechanism and the law enforcement agencies can be prompted accordingly.   

Project Objectives

The Aim of this project is to implement CCTV cameras and sensors Network using Optical Fiber capable for surveillance around different Base Transceiver Stations (BTS). The aim is to play our part to save our country from communication or network blackout/damage due to evil activities such as thefts of expensive equipment or their damage.

The Objectives of our project are:

1. To achieve reliable Optical fiber connection between two BTS(s) termed site A and site B.
2. To monitor and maintain surveillance around the BTS (s) using CCTV Cameras, environmental, and structural sensors.
3. To establish a wireless connectivity between sites A & B and the remote station.  
4. To store incoming data from the sensors in a database that are monitoring the environment around the BTS

Project Implementation Method

Implementation Method:

1.  A 1.5 km Optical fiber running inter-BTS(s) would be laid underground or aerially.

Figure 1: Project Implementation Diagram

2.  CCTV Cameras will be mounted on BTS along with other sensors (including CO sensor, Vibration sensor and Temperature/Humidity sensor) installed and will be powered by the Optical fiber.

Figure 2: CCTV and sensor network using optical fiber

Figure [3]: Sensing unit

3.  A remote server will be established in order to remotely acquire the live feed from the CCTV cameras and the sensor data.

a. The mechanism from the Cameras up to a monitor screen would contain Fiber Ethernet Media Converters, PoE Switches, CAT-6 cables and fiber splitters.

b. The server will periodically acquire the data and maintain a log in a specially designed database.

Figure 4: User Case diagram

4. Both sites A and B will be connected via GSM/Cellular Internet to the remote server

Benefits of the Project

DIRECT BENEFITS :

• To participate in saving precious expensive equipment around the towers from being stolen or damaged.
• Provides new safety measures opposed to inefficient conventional human guarding.
• CCTVs with Optical fiber can be used for more than 40 km, which is far better than the copper and also the wireless counterpart.
• In case of thefts or vandalism, the culprit can be easily identified and the law enforcement agencies can be prompted accordingly.
• Sensor Network provides additional security benefit.

INDIRECT BENEFICIARIES:

• Customores of HESCO and cellular companies
• Environmental and disaster management agencies  

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The project is comprised of following phases.

P-1: In 1st phase, Optical fiber is deployed and is bifurcated with  the help of a Fiber splitter to provide connection to both Sites A and B.

P-2: In 2nd phase, CCTV Cameras will be installed, connected through Cat-6  cables and into a media converter so that they can be powered by fiber now. Live feed will be acquired from the cameras and observed from a monitor screen.

P-3: In 3rd phase, the sensors (PIR motion detector sensors, DTH sensors and structural/vibrational sensors) will be deployed along the fiber. The raw data collected from sensors will be analyzed in arduino and will be sent to database managing software such as Firebase.

The hardware set up will be enclosed in a waterproof and heatproof casing.

P-4: In 4th phase, the final implementation of the project underlie, where we will implement the integrated network, acquiring live feed from the CCTV cameras and simultaneously getting data from the sensors.

P-5: Server establishment using Firebase or IoT Thingspeak.

P-6: Wireless connection between site A and & and the remote location.

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Core Industry

Telecommunication

Other Industries

IT , Others

Core Technology

Internet of Things (IoT)

Other Technologies

Others

Sustainable Development Goals

Affordable and Clean Energy, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com