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10 SECURITY TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE • February/March 2016 www.SecurityInfoWatch.com TECH TRENDS B y Ray C o ulo m b e I Ray Coulombe is Founder and Managing Director of SecuritySpecifiers.com and RepsForSecurity.com. Ray can be reached at ray@SecuritySpecifiers. com, through LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/ raycoulombe or followed on Twitter @RayCoulombe. have examined Z-Wave in the past, a technol- ogy that will revolutionize and grow the home automation market. Just as Z-wave is a pur- pose-built wireless technology, so too are two others that have been developed for the chal- lenging commercial/enterprise market for very different applications. Just as we see in Z-Wave, wireless technology used in commercial settings such as that offered by Inovonics and others is 900 MHZ-based and provides mesh capability. The unlicensed 900 MHz ISM band was specifically chosen for its ability to penetrate walls and floors better than higher frequencies, such as 2400 MHz (2.4 GHz). Commercial office and industrial build- ings offer particular transmission chal- lenges by virtue of their construction. Attenuation factors at 900 MHZ range from 1-2 dB through glass to 4-7 dB for brick up to approximately 30 dB for rein- forced concrete vs. a typical product link budgets on the order of 100 dB. Depend- ing on the number and type of walls and floors in the transmission path, 900 MHz represents a good approach due to the +8 dB wider link budget for this band com- pared to 2400 MHz. Most wireless devic- es of this type are battery-powered. "When it comes to commercial appli- cations of wireless, 900 MHz is the sweet spot," says Craig Dever, VP at Inovonics, which manufactures inte- grated sensor transmitters covering such functions as contact alarms, IR motion detection, smoke/heat detec- tion, glass break and personal duress. "It provides the optimal frequency for commer- cial building penetration while balancing the need for long battery life." More Wireless Transmission Techniques Other techniques are also brought into play to create a robust, reliable transmission environ- ment. Mesh networking creates redundant paths and is engineered for the addition of repeaters when additional punch is needed. The Inovonics topology is capable of managing in excess of 500 transmitters and at least 25 repeaters. The transmission technique of frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) — operating in the 902-928 MHz band — spreads its signal over rapidly changing frequencies in a pseudo- random sequence known to both transmitters and receivers. Interference from another device at one frequency will have minimal effect on the overall transmission. Conversely, the technique adds minimal noise at any single frequency to the ambient RF environment. These products have been engineered to meet the UL-2560 Standard for Emergency Call Systems for Assisted Living and Independent Living Facilities, requiring 99.99% verification of alarm capture. Is it likely that commercial wireless will replace wired systems? Probably not in the near term, because in most cases, the anticipated cost of transmitters, receivers, repeaters and battery maintenance cannot be justified. However, as integrators and end-users become more com- fortable with the performance of these systems, usage will increase because of the application flexibility wireless systems offer in addition to labor savings and bid accuracy. Further, the technology can be deployed as a supplement to wired systems to provision cover- age in areas without wires; discontinuous areas owned by a common entity; areas such as retail and museums where displays are frequently moved; asbestos abatement situations; historical or other architecturally sensitive locations; and where mobile duress alarm is a requirement. Wireless for Vehicle Identification Turning my attention to the outdoor environ- ment, I was introduced to Nedap Identification Systems about 18 months ago at SecurityX- change. What is particularly interesting to me is its long-range (up to 33 feet) vehicle identifi- cation technology, which requires a reader and vehicle tags. Tags are semi-active and operate in the 2.45 GHz bandwidth using modulated backscatter technology. Commercial Wireless Comes of Age Transmission techniques and unique applications for the emerging technology (continued on page 57)