Security Panels have come a long way in the past two decades. If
you are interested in the history of the alarm industry, search for
"Electronic Security Association" and follow the links on their
pages.
Today's panels are actually a small computer designed for a specific purpose. Most users will repeat the same process daily of arming and unarming their alarm, they never think about what is going on in the background and most of them never access the other capabilities of their systems.
First let's consider what is going on in the background when you arm your system. When you enter your code the computer first checks to see that all your doors are currently shut, if not, it will provide an error indication. Next it will check to see that the code you entered is a valid code, again if not, it will provide an error indication. Next it will start beeping to indicate that you have a limited time to exit the building. Now here is the fun part, if the system doesn't see a door open and close during the exit delay it knows that you are still in the building and will automatically by pass any motion detectors on the system, if a door is opened and closed then apparently you have left the building and the motion detectors will be active. When you return and open one of your entry/exit doors it will start a steady beep on the keypad indicating that you have a limited time to enter your code. Once you enter a code, it will check to see if it is a valid code and if so it will disable the alarm system. This is just a brief description of what the "main brain" of the system is doing but it is certainly a major advancement from the days when you used a key to turn a switch outside the door to turn the system on or off.
Today's alarm panels are programmable. Zones can be individually programmed to respond in a variety of ways. The end user can put in their own codes and even the most basic panel can have as many as 15 different user codes, allowing each user to have his or her own unique code. Event buffers maintain a history of who has been arming and unarming the system as well as a history of alarm conditions. The system is constantly looking for trouble conditions such as power loss, low battery conditions, and loss of communications with components on the system.
All of this information is communicated to the user through the keypad but at the same time, the same information is reported to the monitoring computer via a phone line, ip communicator, or cell communicator.
Panels are so versatile and programmable today that almost any security situation that you may have can be addressed providing reliable detection while minimizing the potential for false alarms.
Call us with your challenges and let us find a solution for you.
Today's panels are actually a small computer designed for a specific purpose. Most users will repeat the same process daily of arming and unarming their alarm, they never think about what is going on in the background and most of them never access the other capabilities of their systems.
First let's consider what is going on in the background when you arm your system. When you enter your code the computer first checks to see that all your doors are currently shut, if not, it will provide an error indication. Next it will check to see that the code you entered is a valid code, again if not, it will provide an error indication. Next it will start beeping to indicate that you have a limited time to exit the building. Now here is the fun part, if the system doesn't see a door open and close during the exit delay it knows that you are still in the building and will automatically by pass any motion detectors on the system, if a door is opened and closed then apparently you have left the building and the motion detectors will be active. When you return and open one of your entry/exit doors it will start a steady beep on the keypad indicating that you have a limited time to enter your code. Once you enter a code, it will check to see if it is a valid code and if so it will disable the alarm system. This is just a brief description of what the "main brain" of the system is doing but it is certainly a major advancement from the days when you used a key to turn a switch outside the door to turn the system on or off.
Today's alarm panels are programmable. Zones can be individually programmed to respond in a variety of ways. The end user can put in their own codes and even the most basic panel can have as many as 15 different user codes, allowing each user to have his or her own unique code. Event buffers maintain a history of who has been arming and unarming the system as well as a history of alarm conditions. The system is constantly looking for trouble conditions such as power loss, low battery conditions, and loss of communications with components on the system.
All of this information is communicated to the user through the keypad but at the same time, the same information is reported to the monitoring computer via a phone line, ip communicator, or cell communicator.
Panels are so versatile and programmable today that almost any security situation that you may have can be addressed providing reliable detection while minimizing the potential for false alarms.
Call us with your challenges and let us find a solution for you.
SEM Security Systems
a division of Southeast Mobility
Inc