Wireless Bridge: The "Game Changer" for Elevator Monitoring Transmission and the "Catalyst" for Intelligent Upgrades
In elevator monitoring systems for high-rise and super high-rise buildings, traditional wired transmission solutions have long faced the dilemma of "high costs, difficult construction, and troublesome maintenance": Each elevator requires the laying of tens of meters of anti-stretch dedicated trailing cables, with wiring costs accounting for over 30% of the total project investment; Signal interruptions caused by cable wear occur on average once every two years, with single repair costs exceeding 5,000 yuan; In super high-rise buildings, the attenuation issue of wired transmission even necessitates the installation of signal repeaters every 10 floors, further increasing system complexity. The emergence of wireless bridge technology is redefining the transmission paradigm of elevator monitoring with its characteristics of "zero wiring, low latency, and high stability," driving the industry to leap from "wired dependency" to "wireless intelligence."

I. The "Triple Dilemma" of Traditional Wired Solutions: Why Does Elevator Monitoring Urently Need a Wireless Revolution?

1. Cost Dilemma: The "Bottomless Pit" of Wiring Costs in Total Project Investment
   Material Costs: The unit price of anti-stretch trailing cables reaches 8-15 yuan/meter. A 30-story elevator requires 60 meters of cable, resulting in material costs alone of 480-900 yuan;
   Construction Costs: Cable threading, fixation, and splicing require professional electricians, with labor costs accounting for 50%-80% of cable costs;
   Hidden Costs: Signal interruptions caused by cable wear occur on average once every two years, with single repairs requiring cable replacement and equipment debugging, resulting in comprehensive costs exceeding 5,000 yuan.
   Case Study: In an elevator monitoring project for a super high-rise office building (60 floors), the traditional wired solution required the laying of 1,200 meters of cable, with material and construction costs reaching 120,000 yuan. In contrast, the wireless bridge solution required only 20,000 yuan in equipment investment, reducing costs by 83%.
2. Construction Dilemma: The "Wiring Nightmare" of Super High-Rise Buildings
   Space Constraints: Elevator shaft widths typically range from only 1.5-2 meters, with wired cabling needing to run parallel to power and control cables, making it susceptible to electromagnetic interference;
   Extended Construction Periods: Cable threading must be completed before elevator installation, and conflicts with civil engineering schedules may lead to project delays of 3-6 months;
   Maintenance Challenges: Cables are fixed to shaft walls, and later inspections require the removal of part of the decorative layer, with single maintenance tasks taking 4-6 hours.
   Comparison: Wireless bridge installation only requires the fixation of equipment at the top of the elevator car and the top of the shaft, with deployment completed in 1 hour. Later maintenance only requires checking equipment status, without the need to touch cables.
3. Technical Dilemma: The "Attenuation Curse" of Wired Transmission
   Signal Attenuation: Coaxial cables experience approximately 3dB of attenuation every 100 meters, necessitating the installation of repeaters every 10 floors in super high-rise buildings, increasing system complexity;
   Bandwidth Bottlenecks: In the era of traditional analog monitoring, coaxial cables supported only one standard-definition video channel. With the advent of high-definition, upgrades to fiber-optic transmission were required, leading to soaring costs;
   Electromagnetic Interference: Strong electromagnetic fields (up to 50V/m) generated by elevator power cables can easily cause video snowflakes and frame drops.
   Data: Testing in a subway project showed that when the elevator reached the 30th floor, the wired transmission video packet loss rate reached 15%, while the wireless bridge solution had a packet loss rate of <0.1%.

II. Core Advantages of Wireless Bridges: From "Replacing Wired" to "Surpassing Wired"

1. Zero Wiring: "Rapid Deployment" Reducing Construction Periods by 80%
   Wireless bridges transmit video signals through wireless electromagnetic waves, completely freeing them from cable constraints:
   Simple Installation: Only a transmitter bridge needs to be installed at the top of the elevator car and a receiver bridge at the top of the shaft or in the machine room, powered via PoE, with deployment completed in 1 hour;
   Flexible Space Utilization: Equipment is compact in size (typically 15cm × 15cm × 5cm) and can be installed in narrow spaces such as the top of elevator cars or shaft sidewalls;
   Strong Scalability: Adding cameras only requires the addition of transmitters at the top of the car, without the need for rewiring.
   Case Study: In an elevator monitoring renovation project for a hospital, the wireless bridge solution reduced the construction period from 15 days with the traditional solution to 3 days, without affecting normal hospital operations.
2. Low Latency: "Millisecond-Level Response" for Real-Time Monitoring
   Elevator monitoring has extremely high real-time requirements: Incidents in the car must be transmitted to the monitoring center within 1 second. Wireless bridges ensure low latency through the following technologies:
   Dedicated Frequency Band: Utilizing the 5.8GHz unlicensed frequency band to avoid congestion and interference in the 2.4GHz band, with transmission delays <5ms;
   OFDMA Technology: Dividing channels into multiple subcarriers to reduce data transmission conflicts, ensuring smooth concurrent transmission from multiple cameras;
   Hardware Acceleration: Built-in dedicated video processing chips perform hardware decoding of H.264/H.265 encoded videos, reducing latency by 60% compared to software decoding.
   Test Data: When the elevator is running at a speed of 6m/s, the wireless bridge transmission of 1080P video maintains a stable delay of 8-12ms, meeting the "real-time video delay ≤ 200ms" standard in GB/T 28181-2016 "Technical Requirements for Information Transmission, Exchange, and Control in Security and Protection Video Monitoring Networking Systems."
3. High Stability: "Double Insurance" of Anti-Interference and Redundancy Design
   Elevator shaft environments are complex, and wireless bridges must address challenges such as metal wall reflections, power cable interference, and signal crosstalk from multiple elevators:
   MIMO Antenna Technology: Utilizing 2×2 MIMO antennas to enhance signal gain through spatial diversity, achieving 360° coverage within the shaft;
   Spectrum Sensing: Real-time monitoring of surrounding wireless signal strength and automatic switching to the least interfered channel to avoid co-channel interference;
   Dual-Link Redundancy: Supporting automatic switching between primary and backup bridges, with the backup link taking over transmission within 200ms when the primary link signal is lost, ensuring uninterrupted video.
   Case Study: In an elevator monitoring project for a chemical plant, where the shaft contained numerous metal pipes and power cables, traditional wireless devices experienced severe signal attenuation. After adopting wireless bridges supporting MIMO and spectrum sensing, signal strength increased by 15dB, and video transmission stability reached 99.99%.

III. Typical Application Scenarios of Wireless Bridges: From Elevator Monitoring to Intelligent Upgrades

1. Elevator Monitoring in Super High-Rise Buildings: Breaking Through the "Wired Attenuation" Limit
   In buildings over 30 floors, wired transmission requires the installation of repeaters every 10 floors, while wireless bridges can achieve "one-transmit, one-receive" coverage to the top floor:
   Solution Value: Saving on repeater costs (approximately 2,000 yuan each) and construction fees, while avoiding system paralysis caused by repeater failures;
   Case Study: In the elevator monitoring project for the Shanghai Tower (632 meters), wireless bridges covered 126 elevators, with the system operating stably for 5 years without failures.
2. Old Elevator Renovations: Low-Cost Achievement of "Full Monitoring Coverage"
   Old elevators face challenges such as cable aging and space constraints, making renovations difficult:
   Solution Value: Wireless bridges eliminate the need for cable replacement, requiring only the addition of transmitters at the existing camera end and receivers in the machine room, reducing renovation costs by 70%;
   Case Study: In a renovation project for 200 old elevators in a Beijing residential complex, the wireless bridge solution reduced the renovation cost per elevator from 8,000 yuan to 2,400 yuan.
3. Intelligent Elevator Upgrades: From "Monitoring" to "Predictive Maintenance"
   Wireless bridges not only transmit video but also carry elevator operation data, providing support for intelligent management:
   Data Fusion: Connecting to the elevator controller through the bridge's Ethernet interface to collect real-time data such as car position, running speed, and door status;
   Edge Computing: Incorporating lightweight AI algorithms within the bridge for local analysis of vibration and noise data, enabling early warning of elevator failures;
   Platform Integration: Aggregating video and operation data to a management platform through industrial switches like the USR-ISG (supporting multiple network ports and VLAN division) to achieve integrated "monitoring + maintenance."
   Case Study: In an intelligent elevator project for a Shenzhen office building, wireless bridges transmitted video and operation data, combined with USR-ISG switches for data isolation, achieving a 90% accuracy rate in fault prediction and reducing annual maintenance costs by 40%.

IV. Technical Selection: How to Choose the Right Wireless Bridge?

1. Frequency Band Selection: 5.8GHz vs. 2.4GHz
   Indicator 5.8GHz Band 2.4GHz Band
   Anti-Interference Capability Strong (fewer interference sources) Weak (dense with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microwave oven devices)
   Transmission Distance Short (100-300 meters) Long (300-500 meters)
   Bandwidth High (supports 1080P/4K video) Low (supports only standard-definition video)
   Penetration Weak (easily blocked by metal walls) Strong (can penetrate 1-2 non-concrete walls)
   Recommendation: The 5.8GHz band is preferable for elevator shafts dominated by metal walls; if the shaft contains a significant amount of glass or wooden structures, the 2.4GHz band may be considered.
2. Transmission Rate: Meeting High-Definition Video Requirements
   Standard-Definition Monitoring: 1Mbps bandwidth supports D1 (704 × 576) resolution video;
   High-Definition Monitoring: 4Mbps bandwidth supports 1080P (1920 × 1080) video;
   4K Monitoring: 16Mbps bandwidth supports 4K (3840 × 2160) video.
   Recommendation: Choose bridges supporting AC1200 (867Mbps 5.8GHz + 300Mbps 2.4GHz) or higher rates to reserve bandwidth for upgrades.
3. Protection Level: Adapting to Harsh Shaft Environments
   Dust and Water Resistance: Elevator shafts may contain dust and dripping water, requiring equipment with an IP65 or higher protection level;
   Wide Temperature Design: Shaft temperatures can range from -10°C to 50°C, requiring equipment that supports operating temperatures from -20°C to 70°C;
   Vibration Resistance: Vibrations during elevator operation may cause equipment loosening, necessitating bridges with anti-vibration brackets.

V. Future Trends: Deep Integration of Wireless Bridges and Elevator Intelligence

1. 5G + WiFi6: Ultra-High-Speed, Low-Latency Transmission
   The integration of 5G modules and WiFi6 chips will enable wireless bridges to support 4K/8K video transmission and millisecond-level control instruction feedback, meeting the demands of elevator remote control and VR maintenance scenarios.
2. AI Empowerment: From "Transmission Devices" to "Intelligent Terminals"
   Bridges equipped with AI chips can perform video structural analysis (such as facial recognition and behavior detection) and predict elevator operation status (such as wire rope wear detection), driving elevator monitoring from "passive recording" to "active early warning."
3. IoT Integration: Building an "Elevator Ecosystem"
   As the "data hub" within elevator shafts, wireless bridges can connect to temperature and humidity sensors, smoke alarms, emergency call buttons, and other devices, aggregating data through USR-ISG industrial switches to build an elevator safety IoT ecosystem.

Wireless Bridge: The "Invisible Guardian" of Elevator Monitoring
From breaking through the "wired attenuation" dilemma in super high-rise buildings to enabling "low-cost renovations" for old elevators and serving as the "data hub" for intelligent upgrades, wireless bridges are redefining elevator monitoring transmission standards with their characteristics of "zero wiring, low latency, and high stability." They are not merely replacements for traditional wired solutions but catalysts for the elevator industry's transformation towards intelligence and networking. When every elevator's monitoring footage can be stably transmitted to the control center, and every piece of operation data can provide a basis for predictive maintenance, what we witness is not only technological progress but also a steadfast commitment to "safety without dead zones"—and this is the ultimate value of wireless bridges.