Outdoor Surveillance In a Post-COVID World (English)

Tyler Kerr (00:01):

Welcome to CONNECTED World, a podcast created for engineers to learn about the latest technology trends creating a safer, sustainable, productive, and connected future. 

Tyler Kerr (00:13): 

Hello, welcome to CONNECTED World, a podcast from TE Connectivity (TE), and your source for thought leadership and insights across the connected world. I'm your host today, Tyler Kerr. And today, we're going to be discussing the current state of the outdoor surveillance market. Some of the trends we're seeing in this area and the challenges presented by this. And so, joining me today to discuss these things is Felisa Chuang. She is a Product Manager for RF Antennas at TE Connectivity. Felisa, thank you so much for joining me. 

Felisa (00:39): 

Hello, everyone. I'm happy to talk about the topic of outdoor surveillance today. 

Tyler Kerr (00:44): 

Well, we are excited to dive into this topic and Felisa is obviously an expert. And she's going to give us a lot of fantastic insights here on the topic today. So please let's just start off with a broad question. What is the current state of the outdoor surveillance market? 

Felisa (00:58): 

Yeah, awesome.  I see that urbanization can make more cities become a smart city, and 5G capabilities can make smarter technology more accessible and can open new market opportunities for Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, such as in outdoor surveillance, physical security, government and transportation/traffic control. And this can make outdoor surveillance become more and more important. Gartner’s (Market Trends: 5G Opportunities in IoT for Communications Service Providers) report predicts that 5G IoT installed endpoints for outdoor surveillance cameras will reach 2.5 million in 2020, 6.2 million units in 2021 and 11.2 million units in 2022. 

Felisa (01:46): 

So, smart surveillance or outdoor surveillance may have a big growth because of the 5G and urbanization which can make more and more cities become a smart city. And we have observed that COVID-19 also impacts and changes people’s behavior. For example, we need to wear masks and measure the temperatures in some areas, and smart surveillance may help monitor and sense the potential infected cases to help avoid some diseases from spreading out. So, this also drives smart surveillance growth. I think that would be the current state of outdoor surveillance. 

Tyler Kerr (02:32): 

Wow. You made some really great points there. And I think that there are a lot of societal impacts that are driving this. Like you mentioned urbanization, but also COVID-19, I think you made some really great points and as we've seen different technologies emerging, what trends do you see currently taking place in outdoor surveillance and in this arena, what types of technologies are really driving the growth that you're seeing? 

Felisa (02:56): 

Yeah, I see some different technologies. For example, 5G can offer faster data transmission and the ability to connect significantly more devices at once, more cities seem to be diving deeper into the smart city trend as I mentioned, and there seems to be more needs for outdoor surveillance in the smart city. There may be more needs required for traffic control or lighting control, and as we mentioned previously, the COVID-19 pandemic impact. So overall 5G is a big driver for the outdoor surveillance trend. 

Felisa (03:41): 

And the second one would be public safety. Surveillance plays a very important role in crime prevention. For example, AI enabled cameras can detect and check potential crime in public areas and it seems to have become more and more popular in some countries like Singapore and South Asia Pacific, like Tokyo city, seems they have become more and more important for the government. 

Felisa (04:12): 

The third one would be the integration with some other components. For example, connectors combine with sensors.  Some smart surveillance cameras combined with sensors can help to monitor the air or noise pollution in cities, or monitor and adjust our street lighting, or even reduce the water consumption in some buildings and park irrigation systems. 

Felisa (04:43): 

And I think that last one would be cyber security and privacy, you know, as the outdoor surveillance becomes more and more popular. I think privacy issues remain and become very important and should be considered along with our cyber security as trends. So, when designing outdoor surveillance, I think, cyber security and privacy should be key factors to be taken into consideration. 

Tyler Kerr (05:14): 

Absolutely. Absolutely more good points that you made there on that answer, because like you mentioned, there are a lot of technologies driving the growth in the outdoor surveillance arena. And so I think that you make some fantastic points. So Felisa what are some of challenges that engineers may face in implementing these trends in technologies? What kinds of things may they be going up against? What may be challenging for them? 

Felisa (05:38): 

You know, outdoor surveillance is outside. So, I think an important factor would be the durability for the harsh environment. So, are they durable enough? How can we design some component that will withstand the harsh weather, temperatures, humidity, or UV light? For example, we need to design connectivity or sensor devices for use in surveillance applications in a desert area or polar area that will be very cold or extremely dry. So how can the component withstand all these conditions is very important. And this could be the biggest challenge when engineers design in components into their outdoor surveillance devices. 

Felisa (06:24): 

And the second one would be high data rate and bandwidth. In some cases, smart surveillance may need wireless connectivity with high data rate.  So multi band or higher bandwidth could be the second challenge when engineers do the design.  

Felisa (06:56): 

And the third one would be miniaturization. Some components need to be designed in a very small space, and face isolation problems. So, think about everything you need to put to the outdoor surveillance. Inside there is very small space, how to design and make each component have good performance? That is very important.  

And the last one would be signal integrity, also the high-speed transmission and high throughput requirement. So, the data transmit could also be very important in outdoor surveillance devices. 

Think about some criminal situation. And when smart surveillance detected it, they need to be able to transmit all data or videos back to the police station or government. So, the high-speed transmission may also be very important and very challenging for engineers.  

Those are four factors: Durability, data transmission, high speed, and some small form factor design. 

Tyler Kerr (08:12): 

Absolutely. I think those are four fantastic answers. And I want to hone in on the first one you mentioned, and that was durability for harsh environments. Do you have any experience in helping customers address this challenge for outdoor devices and how did you help them overcome the challenges of durability? 

Felisa (08:29): 

Yes, I remember one year ago there was a case: our distributor arranged for TE to visit a new customer for outdoor devices. Our team visited this new customer and we tried to promote our wireless connector and antenna solutions. The customer had some questions and challenges and didn't trust TE since it was the first time we met. Then TE offered a free sample of our MetaSpan antenna to the customer for testing.  Through this sample, the customer found TE product to have outstanding performance, withstanding harsh environment. In that customer case, the antenna needed to be in the basement where it’s very hot. The temperature is very high and kind of humid. But with TE special solution, we could provide a useful solution because of our products ‘good performance.  We won that project. TE has some know-how and some special design and solutions that can withstand harsh environment and with TE's team work, passion, understanding customers need, and our products’ good quality and performance helped TE win the project. 

Tyler Kerr (09:59): 

I think that's a good example because obviously when people make an investment in outdoor surveillance technology, they want to know that it's going to be durable. They want to know that it's going to last. And so, I think that's an important thing and knowing that TE has experience in this area, I think is a good thing to just share how you overcame those challenges. And so, in addition to that, how else does TE help find innovative solutions to navigate the challenges that you mentioned, like small form factor, things like that. To help your clients find success in outdoor surveillance? 

Felisa (10:32): 

I think integrated solution would be the key and most innovative one. And modular design. I just mentioned that in wireless connectivity, normally we require high performance, signal integrity, EMC compliance in high-speed data transfer with power and signal connectors. And with our combination with sensor, antenna, connectivity, and harsh environment expertise, TE can provide a useful combination of technical expertise with industry understanding to address to smart city and smart surveillance requirements. 

Felisa (11:14): 

TE also considers other components, you just mentioned the small form factor. So many of these components, of course, should be sealed to be functional in extreme weather, temperatures or humidity. So TE also has other solutions that can help to do the small form factor. For example, we have SMA micro coax cables & connectors, AMP CT, AMP mini CT & AMP micro CT interconnects, FPC connectors, mobile battery connectors, and the chargers that are USB Type-C compliant. So TE has many good components that we can offer to innovate its integration solution for a customer’s outdoor surveillance. Also combined with our wireless antenna, that would also fit for outdoor surveillance. And it’s very important for outdoor surveillance to consider the shape or the design itself. We can do customized design for outdoor surveillance customer.  

Tyler Kerr (12:30): 

Well, as you mentioned earlier, this is a growing trend because of a lot of the things that we have going on in the world right now. And as you mentioned, it's an important technology that is growing. And so it's fantastic getting to learn from your expertise and your insights in this area. So Felisa Chuang product manager for RF Antennas at TE Connectivity. Felisa, thank you so much for joining us today here on CONNECTED World. 

Felisa (12:51): 

Thank you everyone. I hope you enjoyed tonight. 

Tyler Kerr (12:54): 

Absolutely. And Felisa, fantastic job. And thank you so much again for your insights here on the podcast. And everyone, thank you for tuning into this episode of connected world, a podcast from TE Connectivity, where we're bringing you thought leadership from leading experts in this world of the CONNECTED World with topics ranging from Wi-Fi to 5G, to like this one outdoor surveillance and so lots going on in this world. So you're going to want to subscribe to the podcast to stay up to date with the latest from TE Connectivity. And of course, we'll be back soon with new episodes of the podcast, but until then I've been your host today. Tyler Kerr. Thanks for listening.