Building engineering
Power supply & low-current systems
Power distribution, cabling, low-current infrastructure and network equipment.
Low-current systems are the layer of a building that every other system is installed onto. Power distribution, structured cabling, network nodes and PoE switches bring cameras, access controllers, intercoms, fire and voice-evacuation circuits together into one infrastructure that can be managed. None of them works on its own: each needs a cable run to its exact position, a stable supply and a place in a cabinet.
Cable cannot go everywhere in a building: a route follows the void above the ceiling, a floor duct or a vertical riser, where ventilation ductwork, power cabling and plumbing already run. Before the first cable is pulled, what is not allowed has been settled: signal does not share a tray with mains, a crossing is made at a right angle, an opening cut through a fire-rated wall or floor is sealed back to the rating it had, and fire and evacuation circuits take a route of their own, in fire-rated cable. Trays and conduit are sized with room to spare, because a full tray leaves nowhere for the next line. Only then are the endpoints and the power budget counted: how many devices connect to one switch, what cable section reaches the furthest point, and how many watts are left in reserve — and three mistakes recur at exactly this point: an overloaded PoE budget, twisted pair stretched past its permitted length, and voltage drop on a 12 V line.
The person who opens a cabinet is rarely the person who closed it. Only a labelled port, a marked box and a known route tell the next technician which cable goes where: in a building left unlabelled, one camera that has stopped means checking a whole floor by hand, and one new endpoint means opening a ceiling nobody can describe in advance. A measured result for a link is recorded only at the moment the link is tested; once the wall is closed and the ceiling is in, the same figure cannot be recovered. Work done properly leaves a labelled network behind it: cabinets and ports marked, routes known, and spare capacity in both switch ports and containment; on infrastructure like that the next system is added without opening the walls again, and a fault is pinned down at port level.
What it covers
- Switches and PoE switches
- Wi-Fi routers and network equipment
- Power supplies and adapters
- Network and coaxial cabling
- Connectors and distribution accessories
Where it applies
- Business centres and open-plan offices
- Multi-unit residential complexes
- Hotels, clinics and teaching buildings
- Production sites and large-area warehouses
- Server rooms and telecom nodes
- Underground car parks and outdoor areas
Standards and regulations
The requirements for structured cabling are set by ISO/IEC 11801 and EN 50173: the performance categories, the maximum length of a link and the measurements a finished link is checked by. The installation side belongs to EN 50174: route planning, bend radius, and the separation kept between power and data cabling. On the power side, low-voltage electrical installations fall under the IEC 60364 series and distribution assemblies under EN 61439, while PoE follows the IEEE 802.3af, at and bt specifications, which cap what a single port may deliver. Cable for fire and evacuation circuits is chosen on two different properties — how long the circuit keeps working in a fire, and how the cable itself behaves while burning, in smoke and gas — and what a particular building requires is checked against the fire-safety technical regulation in force in Georgia.
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Frequently asked questions
What are low-current systems and what do they include?
Low-current systems are a building's low-voltage signal and power infrastructure: structured cabling, network and PoE switches, power supplies, cable routes, boxes and distribution cabinets. Video surveillance, access control, intercoms, fire alarm and voice evacuation are all installed onto that layer. Without it a device on its own is a component, not a system.
When should low-current design enter the construction programme?
While the electrical and ventilation packages are still being designed, before partitions and ceilings are closed. At that point routes, boxes and cabinet positions go into the drawings and the cable runs inside the wall. Decide later and the route has already been taken by other services, so the same cable ends up in surface trunking.
How many cameras can one PoE switch power?
It depends not on the number of ports but on the switch's total power budget and on what each device draws. An 802.3af port delivers up to roughly 15 W, 802.3at up to roughly 30 W and 802.3bt considerably more, while a PTZ camera, a heater or IR illumination draws far more than an ordinary fixed camera. The calculation therefore adds up real consumption and keeps a reserve, so the switch does not shut ports down at peak load.
How much does low-current cabling cost?
Two numbers set most of the scale: how many endpoints are connected — a workstation, a camera, a reader, a speaker — and how many metres of cable reach each one. On the same floor area those metres differ by a factor of two or three depending on where the cabinet stands and which way the routes run. The third factor is the state of the building: in a bare shell the route is open and the cable is pulled straight through, while in a finished interior the same line adds opening a surface, making it good again and protecting the work already done around it. The same number of endpoints is a different job in a shell and in a finished building.
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