When designing TuchControl we were very mindful of three things: rapid interoperability between different devices, unlimited scalability, and open standards.
Much has been written in these pages of the rapid evolution of open standards in respect of CCTV and soon access control through ONVIF and PSIA initiatives, and these indeed help to crystallise the requirements for interoperability between different devices, so eliminating the need to write innumerable drivers in support of conflicting equipment.
We have very much partaken of the ONVIF route in this respect.
However this is only just the start of the journey in regards to interoperability and “normalisation” of many different pieces of equipment/sensors, their output their connection to multiple databases, and the resultant dissemination of this data
Two routes
There are two routes to go in respect of this. Write an SDK/API and expect device manufacturers to write the drivers, or choose a platform with the most comprehensive set of drivers in the market.
This is the reason we chose to use Tridium Niagara for our middleware platform.
We address this through the OBIX interface which enables control systems in buildings to communicate with enterprise applications, and to provide a platform for developing new classes of applications that integrate control systems with other enterprise functions.
We then looked at a global standard for alarm alerting and after exhaustive analysis adopted CAP. International adoption enables CAP to be useful for emergency response around the world, especially for disasters that cross national boundaries. CAP is endorsed by organizations and government agencies around the world.
Three major standards
We see three major standard adoptions in this space. SIA protocols from alarm panels, OBIX and CAP. By the adoption of service orientated architecture we can marry these globally adopted standards
One possible example serves to show its application.
At an Operations Centre a computerized map of the region depicts, in real time, all current and recent warning activity throughout the region.
All major warning systems – the Emergency Alert System, siren systems, and telephone alerting and other systems – have been equipped to report the details of their activation in the form of a CAP message.
Using our advanced multitouch visualization tools, officials can monitor for emerging patterns of local warning activity and correlate it with other real time data (e.g., telephone central office traffic loads, 999 traffic volume, seismic data, automatic vehicular crash notifications, etc.).
