Advanced Wireless Access Control (AWAC) Installation Installation of an AWAC cannot be more simple. Below are some scenarios which may occur and descriptions of how the system operates including solutions available to meet required needs. |  | An example site with 35 emergency devices over 6 buildings can be seen in Figure 1. For the wireless network to operate correctly, a connection between all emergency devices back to an Advanced Wireless Access controller (AWAC) is needed. In this example the connections need to travel between 6 buildings at varied distances, as well as between the 35 emergency devices. For this example only one AWAC is required. The AWAC can be positioned in any building as long as it is in range of one or more emergency devices. Because of the large distance between each of the buildings, signal boosters will be required. The solution for this example requires the following parts - 1 x AWAC [1 AWAC is required per 128 emergency devices]
- 35 x Emergency devices fitted with Wireless Daughter-boards
- 3 x Signal boosters
| | Signal Boosters
The Zigbee protocol is implemented on the 2.4GHz wireless range; as this shares the same frequency as WiFi, numerous products exist that are available to boost performance of the wireless network. Using a signal booster and larger antennas the wireless signals can be significantly amplified. Figures 2 and 3 show how the range of three emergency devices can be boosted to connect devices that were out outside of the standard range . Typically, with other solutions on the market, connecting these three buildings would have required cabling to be run between the buildings. This would significantly increase the installation cost in this application.
With correct Antennas and boosters the wireless network can be adjusted to traverse kilometers between two devices. Click here for more information on Zigbee repeaters, boosters and splitters |  |  |  | How Wireless Devices Connect The wireless devices on a network form a parent-child connection. A parent can have multiple children connected to it; the number of children connected to a parent is limited by a setting on the AWAC Figure 4 shows an example of how devices could connect to each other to create a network. Using the AWAC software you can easily control how many devices are able to connect to each other as well as change other vital information such as changing the wireless channel and security key. The connections between the wireless devices are made automatically and conditions like signal strength, connection time and number of children are taken into account. Click here for more information on Zigbee Networks | | What Happens if a Device Fails
In the event of a device failure, connected devices will sense the loss of connection and will then try to connect to another connected node and self heal. This allows the network to continue to function when a parent node fails. When the fault is rectified or the device is replaced, the network will return to the original structure
Figure 5 shows a device that has failed. The two red lines indicate a connection that can no longer be found. The child nodes of the failed device will then try to connect to the network through another parent node. In this case both children devices have reconnected to the same parent device. These new connections are shown in orange lines Click here for more information on Zigbee Networks |  |
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