The importance of physical detection in a security system

Within the security industry, false alarms are the bane of any good installer so it is understandable that whenever they are proposing a new installation it is always in the back of their mind. Not only do false alarms infuriate customers, but they also have a strong impact to costs and additional workload for installers.

Experience has demonstrated that relying on one single technology often doesn’t work to deliver a complete security solution including detection, surveillance and categorisation. Detection technologies will perform reliably by detecting movement, but they can’t categorise the objects detected. On the other hand, video analytics will allow to categorise, but their ability to accurately detect trigger events will be affected by lighting or weather conditions, which can lead to excessive number of nuisance alarms.

Benefits of Sensors

Sensor-led solutions benefit the security system by significantly reducing false and nuisance alarms, particularly when deploying outdoor security systems.

With correct set up and commissioning, the detectors will reliably detect and activate an alarm accurately at their furthest possible distance and close up to the detector head. Detectors which have been asked to trigger on a particular mass size, will calibrate themselves and work out how far away the moving target is, so that it will always create an accurate alarm.

Combining Detection and Surveillance

The obvious positive of a video system is that security teams can visually see what has created the event, provided it occurs within the field of view of the camera. As an image is being captured by a camera, it can classify what the moving object is, if this falls within its threat parameters it will trigger an event.

Not every sensor will suit every application, which is why at OPTEX we have such a large portfolio of detection products and technologies, to suit different types of sites, needs and security levels. Our intrusion detection technologies work either by receiving infrared energy, infrared light being broken, lasers using time of flight or light passed through a fibre optic cable activating on vibrations. What all these sensing technologies have in common is they have been specifically developed to ‘detect’. We advocate a multi-layered approach as the most reliable and effective way to detect an intrusion, minimising risks by combining different technologies to create layers of defence that can detect early intrusions and deter them as much as possible; after all sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.