Flare ® Personal Alarm Location System Operator Manual IP-based sensors T1DA1702-001, Rev.
® Flare Operator Manual Senstar Corporation 119 John Cavanaugh Drive Carp, Ontario Canada K0A 1L0 Tel: +1 (613)-839-5572 Fax: +1 (613)-839-5830 Website: www.senstar.com Email address: info@senstar.com T1DA1702-001, Rev. A First edition January 19, 2015 Flare, Senstar and the Senstar logo are registered trademarks, and Flash is a trademark of Senstar Corporation.
® Flare Operator Manual Table of Contents 1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 4 1.1 SCOPE ............................................................................................................................................. 4 1.2 APPLICABILITY .................................................................................................................................. 4 1.
® Flare Operator Manual 1.0 INTRODUCTION Flare is a Personal Alarm Locating System (PALS). Flare detects and locates the activation of small portable radio frequency transmitters carried by personnel. The system generates location information in near real-time and can process transmissions in rapid succession. The ID of the transmitter and its location on a site and floor plan are presented on a PC display.
® Flare Operator Manual 2.0 SYSTEM OVERVIEW The Flare Personal Protection Device (PPD) is a small, portable belt-worn UHF transmitter that is assigned to facility personnel such as correctional officers and health care professionals. Flare transmitters are also available as Fixed Point Alarms such as panic and duress buttons. In alarm situations the PPD is activated and transmits a signal, which is received, decoded, and processed by a distributed network of RF receivers (sensors).
® Flare Operator Manual Figure 2.2 – Conceptual Flare System Block Diagram 2.2.1 Personal Protection Device (PPD) The PPD is an RF transmitter that transmits an administrator programmable modulated code ID when activated. Optionally, the PPD can include man down and pull pin activation. It also transmits a low battery alarm when its battery voltage drops below a certain voltage. PPD IDs range from 0-4095. 2.2.
® Flare Operator Manual facility. When an SU detects a PPD alarm transmission, it measures the strength of the received signal and provides a normalized Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI). A single PPD transmission is received by many SUs, which, through the Network Manager, provide RSSI information to the Flare software for location analysis. Each sensor is connected to a class 3 PoE switch, and each sensor must be located within 100 m (328 ft.) of that switch.
® Flare Operator Manual 2.3.1 Protection Zones (PZones) Protection Zones typically represent logical and physical groupings of rooms and other areas within the facility. Examples include: Cell Block B, Administration First Floor, Food Service - Dining Room, Outdoor Zone 3, Building 1 - A Wing, etc. Flare database creation and PZone definition require knowledge of Flare function and must suit the facility’s needs. 2.3.
® Flare Operator Manual C:\Flare\prison1, the main map emf is C:\Flare\prison1\prison1.emf and the main database file is C:\Flare\prison1\current\prison1.emf. However, with FlareV1710 and later the file structure can be customized using the new ini file settings for sitename, MapPath (e.g., C:\Flare\sitename\maps) and ArcPath (e.g., C:\Flare\sitename\arcs) for a more definitive structure: C:\Flare\ FlareVxxxx.exe Flare.ini sitename\ maps\ map files (sitename.emf and floor system emf files) arcs\ type 0 da
® Flare Operator Manual The arc files are stored in a single folder. For the default site name, prison1, the main database arc file is prison1.arc. The arc files contain PZone information and PZone calibration data. There is one file per PZone. Type 1 – mdb file: The mdb file holds all PZone and calibration data. The default file naming convention is sitename_yymmdd.mdb. 2.4.3 Configuration Settings File The file C:\Flare\Flare.ini contains various configuration parameters for the Flare system.
® Flare Operator Manual 3.1 Main Operator Screen Figure 3.1 presents the operator screen in the normal mode. Here, no alarms or warnings have been received and the system is stable (required hardware is functional). Refer to the message box, which contains the columns Date/Time, Type, and Message. Date/Time: Presents the date and time when the system activity occurred.
® Flare Operator Manual Figure 3.1 - Operators Screen Normal Operations 3.2 Alarm Received and Located When an alarm is received an audible alert will sound and the alarm type and PPD ID and descriptions (if defined and enabled) will be listed in the message box. Next the alarm location is resolved and is presented as a red outline around the building or out door zone on the site plan. Figure 3.2 presents the operator screen when an alarm has been received and located.
® Flare Operator Manual Figure 3.2 - Operators Screen Alarm Received 3.3 Zoom to Alarm Display Screen The display zoom in is activated by clicking the left mouse button inside the highlighted outline of the building or out door zone in alarm. This zoom in alarm display screen presents the Protection Zone and Calibration Zone of the resolved alarm location. Protection Zones are typically defined by personnel access and response team path.
® Flare Operator Manual Figure 3.3 shows the zoomed in alarm display. The system zooms in to present the Protection Zone under alarm and indicates the Calibration Zone point (red dot) resolved closest to the origin of the alarm transmission. The alarm audible alert sound is still active – the alarm has not yet been acknowledged as indicated by the fact that the Protection Zone is still outlined in red. Figure 3.
® Flare Operator Manual 3.4 Acknowledge Alarm The active alarm is acknowledged when the operator clicks the left mouse button within the red highlighted Protection Zone. The audible alert alarm sound will cease. The highlight has changed from red to yellow on both the zoomed in PZone view and on the minimized site plan building outline (Figure 3.4). At this time, the operator should dispatch the response team to the location shown on the screen.
® Flare Operator Manual A Clear button is now available in the Alarm Dialog Box and the alarm state is shown as clearable. Selecting this button completes the alarm processing, and the green outlines are cleared. The operator may return to the full screen site plan by clicking the left mouse on the Site Plan button in the Alarm Dialog box. The message box will contain the chronological log of all alarms, active and cleared. Figure 3.
® Flare Operator Manual 3.6 Multiple Alarms Multiple alarms can occur, originating from the same or a different Protection Zone. In the case of the same PZone another Calibration Zone point is displayed on the zoomed-in alarm display screen and the Protection Zone alarm state returns to active. Figure 3.6 shows the screen that is displayed when a second alarm is received from a different PZone while the operator is zoomed in to process a current alarm.
® Flare Operator Manual 3.7 Other Operator Functions There are three buttons on the lower left of the operator screen (Figure 3.2). These provide processing of other system events. 3.7.1 Clear Warning Low Battery Warning When a PPD detects its battery condition is low, it automatically activates a low battery warning transmission. This condition is listed in the message box showing the alarm type as low battery and the PPD ID of the unit (Figure 3.7.1) and an audible alarm will be annunciated.
® Flare Operator Manual System Unstable Warning The Flare system regularly performs background self-tests of all elements of the system. The Minor Self Test (MiST) and Major Self Test (MaST) events are listed in the message box when they occur. Any resulting minor error conditions are not displayed on the main operations screen and are instead logged to a maintenance diagnostic file.
® Flare Operator Manual 3.7.3 Network Reset This button will cause reset messages to be broadcast throughout the Flare hardware network. This will soft reboot all devices that receive the communication and remove all queued alarm and stored device statuses. This is very similar to the reset performed at system initialization. This can be used when sensor(s) communications are restored and the sensors have old alarms queued. This function will invalidate any current alarm location processing.
