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MiriAD 2000 Modules |
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Radio Modems |
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Applications |
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Fire & Security Applications
Select this link for NTFAST Contact information.
The MiriAD 2000 units have been applied as a unique solution for a fire and security monitoring applications. The Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service has installed a wide area network of fire monitoring systems for buildings in Darwin, Jabiru, Nhulunbuy, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Yulara and Alice Springs.
The NTFAST system is a distributed alarm acquisition, monitoring and reporting system. The NTFAST system is a collection of radio telemetry devices based on the MiriAD 2000 modules connected to local Fire Indicator Panels (FIP's) transmitting FIP status to a Master Base Station, telemetry device. The Master Base Station is connected to a PC based NTFAST Alarm Server. The function of the NTFAST Alarm Server is to scan the information collected from the local RTUs and to report the relevant alarm information.
If a FIP is in alarm then the alarm must be raised and the NTFRS members in that Emergency Response Area (ERA) must be notified. Other FIP status information such as FIP standby, isolate and test signals will be reported to the responsible bodies.
The NTFAST system is distributed throughout the Northern Territory in a hierarchical structure. Each local centre operates independent of other centres throughout the Northern Territory. As the system is connected to the NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services (PFES) WAN; the local NTFAST Alarm Servers are monitored by the communications centre NTFAST global client workstation in the Peter McAulay Centre located at Berrimah.
During the course of monitoring and reporting events the NTFAST Alarm
Server interfaces with various databases, mobile data terminals, PA systems, radio system and printers. The system
is a real time mission critical application developed specifically for the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service
and serves to ensure protected buildings are monitored on a 24 hour a day basis. It provides significant enhancement
to Firefighter safety through detailed knowledge on each site monitored and provides ease of reporting through
Mobile data Terminal usage into the Fire Service reporting system - AIRS. Clients, building owners and Fire Alarm
Contractors also receive an enhanced level of service through the systems advanced reporting abilities thus leading
to reduced levels of false alarms and fire alarm system faults.
Graphics Display System
All FIP data collected is represented graphically on the Graphics Display System. This is based on the Human Machine Interface (HMI) software package Citect (using Version 5.21). There are several different types of graphics pages used and the map overview is detailed below
Screen Types
The NTFAST screens are divided into six main categories, ERA Maps, FIP Mimics, Site Status, Control, Menu and Alarms.
ERA Maps
ERA Maps are geographic layouts of an NT Fire and Rescue Emergency Response
Area. Each site is displayed as an icon located on the ERA Map. The Map screens consist of a background bitmap
Map of the NTFAST response area. The background bitmap is overlaid with dynamic icons. The icons represent an FIP-
RTU site installed in the NTFAST response area. The icons are animated using a Cicode function.
NTFAST System Layout
All the NTFAST systems have the same basic system configuration as shown
below.
Citect - PFES LAN/WAN Network
The link between the Citect Alarm server and the NT Police, Fire and
Emergency Services (PFES) network is used to transmit alarm and status information from the rural NTFAST workstations
to the an NTFAST workstation, AIRS and other logging data to the AIRS SQL Server on another NTFAST workstation.
The network protocol used is TCP/IP. The Darwin Alarm Server communications layout is shown below.
A typical remote centre layout is shown below.
NTFAST MDT Functions
When the NTFAST system detects a Full Code Fire alarm (Automatic Fire Alarm - AFA) the subscriber information is transmitted to the Mobile Data Terminal mounted in each of the fire station's appliances.
The MDT job screen on NTFAST displays the current fire alarm job as sent to MDT. There is a separate job sent to each vehicle for a single AFA call, that is if there are four nominated vehicles there will be four MDT jobs sent. The MDT communications status is also displayed on the top right hand corner of the page. "MDT Base Station Comms OK" is displayed if there is error free link to the BIU or "MDT Base Station Comms Failure" is displayed if the link has failed.
The information is transmitted as a 'job' from the Fire Station Alarm and MDT Server to the Memo Base Interface
unit through a radio transmitter to the MDT. The current subscriber information is sourced from the FMS database.
The MDT communications is via a RS232 link from the MDT server communications
port to a MDT Base Station Interface Unit (BIU) (manufactured by Memo Communications). The BUI is linked to a UHF
radio to communicate to the MDT mounted in the Fire Station vehicles. The transmission uses a proprietary protocol
developed by Memo Communications.
The MDT has a 4 line x 40 character LCD and uses scroll buttons to view messages longer than 4 line long. A typical
MDT message is as follows:
NTFAST Contact Information
This article is a very basic overview of the NTFAST monitoring system, further information can be obtained by contacting Miri Technolgies or Divisional Commander Grant Hamon AFSM of the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service on (08) 89 464 102, Jim Hickey NTFAST Senior Technician (08) 89 464 142 or go to the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service web page for further information available on the NTFAST system.