Use your Push-to-Talk Radio to Monitor your Alarms

As you know, getting alarms into your RTU is a critical first step of monitoring. But that first step is useless until that alarm is sent to the appropriate person for action.

All RTUs will send some kind of alert when an alarm is triggered. But, the alert method is not always ideal. For instance, if you're not right in front of your computer, you may not have access to your SNMP manager. An email alert might go unnoticed.

What you need is a small RTU that is capable of monitoring your devices and notifying you of an alarm, even when you're out in the field.

The NetGuardian 216 G3 is one small RTU that gives you two good options for notifications in the field:

1. Notification using SMS/email
2. Notification using Audible Tones

Receive alarms via SMS.

Option 1: Receive a text message from your RTU or Master.

Today, everyone has a cell phone, which makes it a great way to receive alarms. With this option, your NetGuardian 216 G3 receives an alarm from a piece of equipment. That alarm is sent from the NetGuardian to the SMS Interface Box which converts the alarm to human-readable text. The SMS Interface box then sends the alarm via LAN to a cell phone in text message format. (It's also possible to send SMS messages directly from the NG 216 G3, but this architecture is easier to manage when you have more than 10 sites)

With this system, techs can receive alarms on their phones while in the field, minimizing wasted driving time. The only limit is cell coverage.

Use the NetGuardian 216 G3 to send alerts via push-to-talk radios.

Option 2: Receive audible alerts over your push-to-talk radio.

This system is similar to the first option, but replaces the SMS Interface Box with your pre-existing push-to-talk radio system. This eliminates the uncertainty of cell coverage, even in the most remote locations. You'll be able to receive alarms in your private radio coverage area. Using short tones to alert of an alarm, this system also eliminates lengthy alarm descriptions transmitted over the radio. Instead of hogging the channel, the short tones notify your techs to access the web browser when there is a problem to read details.

Radio alarm tones are fully customizable:

• Audible tones transmitted for any standing alarm (door, power, etc)
• Frequency of alarm signal is configurable (i.e. every 20 min)
• Two distinct sounds supported (1200 Hz and 2300 Hz tones)
• Different tone patterns supported (i.e. single beep, double, etc)
• Tone duration supported (i.e. 250 msec, 500 msec, etc)
• Behavior fully user configurable