Fire Safety – The Rise Of Digital
One of the buzzwords in fire safety is ‘digitalisation’. This is effectively the strategy or process of using digital technologies to help contribute to the shift towards smart buildings. A smart building is one which interacts with the people, the systems and the external elements around it. It uses digital technologies to create a safe and comfortable environment for occupants by learning and adapting through analysing the data provided by networked IoT sensors or devices continuously talking to each other.
But what does this ongoing development of a digital approach to fire detection actually mean in real terms? What are the benefits to the end user that those involved in designing, installing and maintaining fire safety systems should focus on in encouraging the take-up of digital solutions?
Autonomous, Silent And Intelligent
Smart, intelligent, addressable and IoT-enabled are all terms which are used to describe fire detectors. This can lead to confusion regarding what constitutes a detector that contributes most effectively to a smart building. In essence, IoT-enabled detectors provide the capability to send data via the panel to the cloud (such as function testing, soiling and danger level statistics) to provide valuable insight, particularly in relation to predictive detector exchange.
Conducting health checks on fire safety devices can impact on day-to-day operations, particularly in public buildings. A maintenance visit for a fire protection system in a hospital or hotel, for example, can be disruptive. Thanks to disturbance-free testing technology, this can now be conducted at any time, even during normal operating hours, without interruption. Remote connectivity can remove those annoying disturbances such as alarms sounding, flashing lights and the disruption caused by the presence of maintenance technicians, testing detectors or manually adjusting settings.
New fire safety systems are also available which can perform certain checks automatically, without the need for any human intervention. They work in the background, autonomously, silently and intelligently. With the back-up of skilled engineers to provide the necessary remote maintenance and support, they work 24/7, continuously measuring and evaluating their own performance, anticipating failures, and predicting the need for maintenance checks. These smart systems are easy to operate, based on user-friendly interfaces, and require no additional skill set. Their purpose is to keep people safe without operational interruptions and without compromising the building’s safety, while at the same time providing the peace of mind that everything is under control.
Cerberus PRO from Siemens is an open protocol fire protection system available through a nationwide network of approved fire alarm system partners. It offers a powerful, comprehensive false alarm free solution which optimises the potential of the cloud.
For more information, please visit www.siemens.com/cerberus
