Today’s technology has brought society many tools that help make lives more convenient. Security technology is following this trend in a big way. As perimeter security technology becomes more and more advanced, monitoring and controlling these systems remotely is a lot easier.
“A lot more owners want to be able to remotely view everything and even completely control their facilities from a remote location,” says Richard Cleveland of The Industrial Company (TIC), a heavy industrial construction company in Freeport, Texas. “This is especially essential to large utilities.”
A good example of this is a project Cleveland and his firm completed for Lafayette Utilities System, a subsidiary of Lafayette Consolidated Government in Louisiana. Lafayette Utilities System is an electric, water and wastewater utility. It has more than 55,000 retail customers and an annual peak of about 411 MW.
“For this specific project we basically put in two power-producing systems at 100 MW each for Lafayette Consolidated Government,” says Cleveland. “We installed turbines and associated equipment as well as all the security system for the owner to be able to manage the facility remotely.”
Long-Term Performance
As the engineer and builder of the Lafayette Utilities project, TIC handled the perimeter security and access control systems. System longevity was an important consideration.
“When you’re dealing with a facility this size, you definitely want to make sure the owner has something they’ll be happy with for years to come,” explains Cleveland. “We’ve designed a 20-year lifespan project.”
Along with lifespan, Cleveland and his team worked to ensure that the system met all of the facility’s needs. “We tried to determine Lafayette’s needs and ascertain what its exact requirements were-what did Lafayette’s personnel want to see specifically,” Cleveland stresses. “We recommend perimeter intrusion to make sure no one can access the site undetected. We set up cameras to monitor the fence line, strategically locating those cameras so Lafayette could monitor the entry and egress points of the facility.
“What we had was a complete plant control system, a PCS system with integrated security alarms,” Cleveland says.
Remote Monitoring Built Right In
Because remote monitoring was so important to Lafayette Utilities System, TIC made sure everything was configured for easy access off-site. The monitoring points connect via a private network over fiber. The plant can control everything, including cameras and gates remotely.
TIC worked closely with a security systems integrator for Royal Security, on the security system’s installation. Southwest Microwave’s INTREPID MicroPoint system was a big part of the system. TIC installed the INTREPID fence-tied intrusion detection system and integrated it into the camera system as well.
“We used the INTREPID intrusion system, which notifies and alarms the cameras. The cameras then automatically point to the specific location,” Cleveland says. “The alarms are fed through dry contacts into the PCS system.”
Doing More With Less
Integrating the INTREPID system with the other components of the system wasn’t difficult and it simplified security operations by allowing the installers to reduce the necessary cameras from 12 to four.
“We were able to reduce the number of cameras by strategically locating them,” says Cleveland. “We didn’t utilize existing lighting poles. Everything is pan/tilt/zoom.”
Cleveland appreciates the fact that the INTREPID system is so precise. This fence-tied detection system locates disturbances along the fence to within three meters (10 feet). This precision location technology makes it easy for the pan-tilt-zoom cameras to point to a potential intruder automatically.
““Also, when someone’s at the gate and the gate opens, the closest camera automatically pans over to the gate,” Cleveland says. “It’s pretty efficient.”
Another aspect of the Southwest Microwave technology that attracted Cleveland to the system is the reduced nuisance alarm rate. “We haven’t had a tremendous amount of nuisance alarms,” he says. “The system is easy to customize and allowed us to configure out a lot of those nuisance alarms. Sensitivity adjustment like that is great.”
Excellent Feedback
Lafayette Utilities has been quite happy with the performance of the security system and the remote monitoring component, says Cleveland. “As a matter of fact, I plan to implement an identical security system on another facility for this owner.”
Technologically advanced security systems like this one provide the ultimate in convenience and customization.