Alarm Communications Over Ip & Cellular Networks

Alarm Monitoring in the Cellular and Internet Age

Transmission Problems

The onslaught of mobile phones, Voice over Ip and Instant Messaging has changed the way we communicate. Gsm and fixed & wireless Internet is becoming more allinclusive and less expensive each year and this will have an result on the way protection systems might chronicle in the future. Consumers are ever keener to take benefit of new technologies and it is leading that the protection manufactures adapts quickly and does not get left behind.

Demise of the group Switched Telephone Network

For decades, Pstn has been the chosen transportation platform for the transmission of alarm signals. Today, many are predicting its days are numbered. Two transmission paths have emerged as the adored methods of transportation between an alarm panel and Monitoring Centre - Ip (the Internet) and Gsm. This record will seek the pros and cons of each.

Gsm Wireless Networks

In today's high tech world, approximately every person owns a mobile phone. The perception is that Gsm networks are very dependable and rarely suffer from network outages. This makes Gsm a viable platform for alarm communications and three separate technologies can be employed for signal transmission - Sms, Voice and Data.

The reliability of Sms varies greatly from country to country and delays in message delivery rule it out from being thought about a serious selection in countries where messages can often be delayed for many hours. In countries that do not experience such delays, Sms can be a good low cost recipe of alarm communication, however, it is often not favorite with alarm monitoring clubs as it opens up the possibility of self monitoring where messages can be sent directly to the end users mobile phone.

The use of a Gsm Dialer/Communicator allows an alarm panel modem to dial out and make a phone call to the Monitoring Centre over the Gsm network. When a approved analogue alarm receiver answers the call, an audio/voice channel is opened up and the alarm panel can chronicle with the receiver just as it would over a Pstn line. This technology benefits from being alarm protocol independent and manufactures experts claim a transmission success rate of somewhere between 80% and 100%.

Pros: Both Sms and Voice benefit from low equipment costs and low network rates.

Cons: Sms and Voice technologies do not allow for the cost effective management of a association to the Monitoring Centre and often the first anyone gets to know about sabotage or network failure is when a scheduled signal, or worse, an emergency signal fails to arrive.

Gprs Wireless Networks

The use of a Gprs data plan overcomes this problem and allows constant management of the connection
between the protected premises and the Monitoring Centre. A Gprs gadget uses the Gsm network to accomplish an 'always on' wireless association to the Internet. Once connected, it can chronicle using Internet Protocols (Ip) just like any other Internet enabled device. This allows the sending of regular heartbeats to the monitoring server so that any equipment failure, sabotage or loss of network can be detected within seconds.

Gprs devices do not maintain audio/voice communications, so any alarm signals using thorough protocols such as Ademco experience Id or Fast Format have to be converted from analogue to digital within the gadget itself. This is referred to as Dialer Capture. Gprs enabled devices are more expensive than Sms and Voice devices and the cost of data plans vary widely from country to country. Asian countries tend to have very cheap rates whereas rates in North America are very restrictive.

Cons: All of the Gsm technologies are vulnerable to sabotage from a Gsm Jammer which can be used to prevent devices from connecting to the network.

Ip Networks (the Internet)

Due to the allinclusive availability of the Internet, a large whole of consumers are turning to voice over Ip for voice service. For the continuity of clear telephone calls from human to human it's a simple case of unplugging your analogue telephone handset from the Pstn line and plugging it into an analogue concluding adapter to make and receive calls over the Internet. The human ear is very forgiving and even though delays and echo in voice conversations can sometimes be off-putting, both parties are commonly able to understand each other.

Unfortunately, this is not the case with alarm communications. Somewhere between converting analogue into digital, traveling over the wire and converting digital back to analogue, things like noise and latency are introduced and along with other problems with VoIp networks, can cause alarm communications to fail.

An in depth knowledge of alarm panel protocols, alarm receivers and Internet protocols has made it potential for some solutions providers to allow the use of regular low cost 'off the shelf' VoIp Ata's for the dependable transmission of alarm signals over the Internet. This obviously provides huge cost benefits to both installers and end users as devices can be sourced locally and existing Internet connections can be utilized as the transmission path.

It should be noted that these solutions do not use or rely on the services of a VoIp aid provider. A
fully controlled association direct from the VoIp Ata gadget to the monitoring server effectively creates a inexpressive network.

Cons: All fixed wire Ip solutions are subject to sabotage from line cut which prevent devices connecting to the network.

Dual Path Signaling

Even trusty old Pstn was not immune from network failure and was definitely prone to line cut attacks. The line cut vulnerability has been removed with the supervised connections incorporated by Ip and Gprs solutions but it is clear that even they cannot guarantee 100% network uptime.

With this in mind, many consumers refuse to rely 100% on a singular transmission path and insist on a secondary backup path. There are some combinations that can be used to provide a dual path solution with separate levels of security. The lowest level dual path solution is in case,granted by using a composition of Pstn and Gsm. As Pstn continues to decline and neither path allows for cost effective network supervision, this is not a future-proof option.

A more favorite composition for cost sensitive applications is the use of the Internet as the primary path and Gsm Voice as the secondary path. The Internet path benefits from network management and the Gsm path can take over if the primary path fails. determined model VoIp Ata's used in conjunction with Gsm dialer have the potential to send signals over the Internet when a panel dials the primary telephone whole and over the Gsm network when it dials the secondary telephone number.

A similar level of protection can be in case,granted by using Gprs as the primary path and Pstn as the secondary path. Some solutions providers claim a dual path potential by using Gprs as the primary path and Gsm Voice or Sms as a secondary path. Others claim dual path potential by using two Gprs Sim cards. These claims are somewhat misguided as a Gsm jammer will effectively prevent all communications over the Gsm network regardless of which recipe is used. Gsm can only ever be treated as a singular path even though it allows for 3 separate methods (Sms, Voice & Gprs) of transmission.

High protection applications examine two independently supervised transmission paths and this is commonly achieved by using the Internet as the primary path and Gprs as the secondary path. Both are fully supervised, so even if the primary Internet path fails the theory is left with a supervised alternative path.

Some solutions providers claim that by using a composition of broadband Internet, Gprs, Gsm, Pstn and
Dialup Internet their goods supports 5 paths. As both broadband and Dialup Internet commonly depend on the availability of a Pstn line and Gprs depends on a Gsm association a more exact claim would be that such a solution can use 5 separate methods of transportation over two independent transmission paths. A dual path solution with bells and whistles.

Remote Programming and Audio Verification

If it is leading for your business to maintain the potential to remotely schedule control panels or to open up a two way audio association to the monitored site then you should thought about reconsider which of the above mentioned solutions you chose. It is not potential to open up an audio path using Gprs. It is potential using Gsm voice and Pstn, however, both commonly attract call charges. You should check that the solutions supplier supports both client and server initiated remote programming connections to the panel.

Some control panel manufacturers allow remote programming over the Internet but this recipe is possession and restricted to their singular brand. The adored universal recipe is to use an audio association over the Internet from a solution that incorporates a VoIp Ata as the primary transmission device. Such devices have the potential to reliably send alarm signals, allow operators to have two way voice conversations and allow Alarm clubs to remotely schedule any make of alarm panel over the Internet.

Summary

The cost and availability of the various networks, existing equipment and infrastructure, insurance requirements and other concerns may ultimately resolve which solutions you chose to migrate from the analogue to digital world. My hope is that this record has helped cover some of the more technical aspects of the decision manufacture process and makes your transition as flat as possible.