Satellite, CCTV, internet & webcams Ecuador

Hola! Thanks for the quick reply.

As I am just begginning on this webcam task I do not have the exact scenario for the project, but I can tell you what I know so far.

The reserve itself is a cloud forest reserve (although mangrove would also be nice!) located near Piñas and Zaruma in El Oro province.

The webcamera will most probably be placed on the outside of the vistors lodge which is very isolated as it is inside the forest 

Presently there is no internet access to the lodge but I have been advised that it would be possible to connect to the internet via satallite.

As the project is in its early stages I have not yet aquired any equipment but any recommendations you could give on hardware would be great.

Hope that is enough information for you, thanks again for your help.  Saludos, Jack

Appropriate compression is essential if the transmission medium is expensive, like satellite.

The bit rate is alterable from 9.6 kbit/s to 8 Mbit/s with variations in picture size, frame rate and image quality.

You may well find that licence free wireless LAN techniques with small dish antennas at each end will give you the range you need. Do you have line of sight between the top of a mast at each end ?.

Best regards, Eric.

For a public internet access web cam in a remote place and linked by satellite I would suggest feeding the pictures once via satellite to a server located in a major data centre.  Then allow that web server to feed out multiple streams as requested.  The price of the feed out from the data centre is significant, particularly if the service is popular, and needs to be covered, perhaps by advertising embedded in the image or audio or on the associated web page.

The North Berwick SeaBird centre system provides remote real time control of the cameras but you (the standing public) have to be there in front of the large screens using the hand controls.  You can't have multiple people on the internet all trying to simultaneously point the cameras.   The internet experience lacks the personal remote control and high bit rates and large pictures that you see if you are right there in front of the large screens.

Just a note regarding an experience.  I was called out regarding a CCTV security web cam linked to a VSAT.  I pointed out that the VSAT technology in this case was highly suitable for web browsing and  emails as it provided high bit rates to the VSAT and intermittent low bit rates from the VSAT.  The CCTV however required the complete opposite service, high steady bit rates from the VSAT and intermittent very low bit rates to the VSAT to control the camera.  It is a case of choosing the appropriate VSAT technology.  For a group of several remote CCTV cameras feeding back to a hub, the Vipersat CDM570L is ideal and can even adapt to allocate more bit rate (out of a common pool) if one camera needs more bit rate while some interesting action is occuring, so you might have 5 cameras with slow pictures and one camera at fast, high resolution, under manual control.  On the satellite you pay for the total pool bit rate and the more you pay, the more cameras can run at high resolution/high speed.  With bit rates per video stream choosable between 9.6kbit/s and 8Mbit/s there is plenty of scope for trade offs.  Remember that the space segment costs around $600 per month per 100kbit/s.

Best regards, Eric.