3 Main Considerations for Choosing a Telemetry System for Running Your Alarm System

When you have remote work sites, you will need to select the right telemetry unit to manage the remote sites. This process can be a bit confusing as you have to choose a telemetry unit that has the correct capacity, good interface and useful features.

With the right telemetry system, you should be able to experience immediate data visibility as well as identify gaps existing in your security system.

Below are some guidelines that should aid you in your selection of the right telemetry system:

Do a site survey

First, you must do a complete survey of the current system that you have installed and a survey of the physical sites you want to monitor.

During your survey, you should take inventory of your current monitoring system. Just because you are installing a new system doesn’t necessarily mean that any older equipment is redundant. With this in mind, shop for a mobile telemetry unit that you can plug into your current system and one that works with any existing equipment you have.

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Identify your long term goals

While looking for the right telemetry unit, you should not only work with your immediate end goal but also your future goals. The features of the telemetry unit should support your future monitoring plans.

If you don’t get a telemetry unit that will support future plans, it will soon prove inadequate and you will have to spend more money handling more upgrades. However, avoid getting into the trap of buying a monitoring system that has more capacity that you need at present.

To find a telemetry security monitoring unit that will address your goals, consider the below:

• The number of alarm points that your system will need to monitor in the short term (2 to 5 years) and long term (5 to 10 years).
• Which alarm control features suit your needs?
• The method of data transport and protocols used by the telemetry unit
• How will the telemetry units be stored?
• The alarm termination types possible
• The different methods for receiving alarm notifications

It’s more cost effective to roll out a mobile telemetry system by expanding it in a controlled manner as opposed to rushing into deploying a system that has too much capabilities at one go.

Basic features

The telemetry unit you buy should have these basic features:

• Alarm notifications

You should be able to receive notifications via SMS, email and page messages. The notifications should be detailed enough to allow office based and field based personnel to take critical decisions with speed.

• Web support

The telemetry system you choose should also support the use of a web interface to allow all members of your team to gain system access from anywhere.

• Alarm analytics function

Your system should have the ability to sort through alarms received, for better prioritization of responses.

A good telemetry system should also be capable of identifying different alarm triggers, for instance, a power out trigger, open door and others. Other important alarm analytics include trend analysis and root-cause analysis.

• Support for analog monitoring and remote control relays

By following these three main considerations, you should find a telemetry system that suits your needs.