In the best of all worlds we would not need security cameras, but in ours we do. Security cameras act both as deterrents to crime as well as recording devices that help reconstructing and solving crimes. Wireless outdoor cameras are seemingly everywhere these days, and most businesses use them indoors as well. We've become used to those cameras and pretty much expect them, but how are they actually being used and how do they work?

First you need to realize that the general public perception of security cameras is not accurate. When you see security camera systems in movies, it's usually some guys sitting there watching grainy black & white pictures on small CRT monitors. On TV you often see murky, low-resolution security camera footage that's barely usable at all. The general impression is that security cameras record very low resolution, low quality video on some sort of tape, for later viewing on little low resolution monitors. It used to be like that decades ago. But things have changed dramatically. Today's camera monitoring systems are state-of-the-art technology with superb imaging quality and almost endless functionality and possibilities for anyone's monitoring needs.

What has changed to bring upon all this progress? First, security camera systems no longer rely on tape. Just like film cameras have been replaced by ever more powerful and ever less expensive digital cameras, today's security cameras use advanced imaging processing and solid-state storage technologies to provide excellent video quality. And state-of-the-art compression means that hours and days of surveillance video can be stored on disk or solid-state storage media, and retrieved quickly and selectively.

Second, while security cameras used to be just that, cameras, today most are essentially computers with significant processing power, and they are networked via wires or wirelessly into an overall surveillance system. This opens up unlimited remote surveillance possibilities. The technology used is essentially the same as that for wireless business and home networks. Cameras use TCP/IP and the 802.11 protocols to wirelessly communicate with networks and computer systems.

Despite eminently affordable prices, the wireless outdoor cameras used today are technological marvels that support real-time H.264 compression, SD cards for local storage, motion detection, and embedded operating system and application software. These cameras can act as wireless web servers, network nodes, and can be equipped with rugged, weather and temperature proof housings, special antennae, different kinds of lenses and all sorts of pan and zoom mechanisms.

What all of this means is that wireless outdoor cameras have not only become enormously powerful surveillance devices, but they are available at a wide variety of price levels, from wireless standalone systems that cost a couple hundred dollars all the way to powerful commercial grade equipment that still only costs a fraction of what it used to.

The application potential for these wireless outdoor network cameras goes far beyond just security. They can be used as remotely operated high quality webcams with their own built-in web servers. Or they can be part of a sophisticated wireless security system providing superb high-res video.