ATI Wirelessly Integrates Multi-Building Voice Evacuation/Fire Alarm System at Correctional Facility

Acoustic Technology, Inc. (ATI Systems), the world leader in Mass Notification Systems, today announced that an integrated, multi-building Voice Evacuation/Fire Alarm has been installed at a Correctional Facility.

The Correctional Facility has several Gamewell-FCI E3 Series Voice Evacuation/Fire Alarm Control Panels, each located in a different building. Facilities management was looking to remotely control and monitor the panels from a central location. These panels are typically networked together using fiber optics or a hardwired communication bus, which requires a costly wiring infrastructure that runs cables from all buildings to the central monitoring location.

“ATI has designed an advanced control and monitoring solution using a state-of-the-art ATI Remote Terminal Unit and an ATI Control Station with advanced MassAlert® software,” said Claudia Markovich, ATI Global Development Manager. “A Fire Alarm Control Panel Remote Terminal Unit has been installed in every building to receive information from the Gamewell-FCI panels over a serial port.”

Wireless UHF radio communication is used to send the data from the Fire Alarm Control Panel Remote Terminal Unit (FACP-RTU) to the ATI Control Station (CS) and to the MassAlert® software, which displays and documents the data. It contains fault and alarm information, including the address and location of the device that initiated the alarm. The FACP-RTU allows facility personnel to remotely control the Gamewell-FCI panels by using five contact closures to acknowledge the alarm and the trouble conditions, silence and re-sound the alarm, and reset the Gamewell-FCI panels.

This seamless integration enhances the ATI Mass Notification System’s production of intelligible voice both outdoors and indoors. “This level of system integration is paramount when designing Emergency Communication Systems,” said John Stofa, Municipal Account Manager for Honeywell Fire Safety. ATI equipment also can be used to control and interface with other emergency warning and communication systems, such as fire alarm, access control, public address (PA), and digital signage systems. “This allows us to deliver the right message to the right people at the right time using multiple channels,” added Stofa.