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7-8-16-ALP-Guidelines.pdf (5 downloads)
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ABSTRACT:
Nuances that were anticipated with Advanced Locating Protocol (ALP), but ones we were unsure how they would manifest themselves are the reasons for this week’s tech bulletin. We will discuss several fingerprinting and installation guidelines as well as several small improvements that make the implementation of Gen 4 and ALP smoother for the installers and for the end users.
TECH SUPPORT SUMMARY:
The key to understanding Response Care’s Wireless Network functionality, as well as ALP, requires one key component of the black magic that is Radio Frequency: variability. Think of it as a highway where cars are traveling at light speed, each lane corresponds to a specific frequency range to avoid hitting each other. There are bends, construction zone barriers, other cars, and rush hour traffic within each lane. Some of the other cars aren’t allowed to slow down, and some of them may be bad drivers. Third party devices represent other cars that sometimes need to share the same lanes. Building Designs are the bends in the road; building materials like concrete, steel beams, metal duct work, or elevator shafts all represent construction barriers. G4 is the presidential escort that allows our system to navigate through these obstacles in an extremely efficient manner. ALP uses RSSI, which is detecting and measuring the speed and location of each of the cars in our escort. The more barriers there are, the harder it is to get accurate data. Some barriers we can’t avoid we need to work around, there are others we can.
Tips of Locator Placement –
1) Don’t stack locators, even if there is a floor between them. Stacking won’t cause receiving problems, but it could prevent ALP optimization. It is best to use a zigzag pattern rather than alternating stacking.
2) Avoid installing locators next to barriers. i.e. caging behind duct work, near elevator shafts, or poor quality coax cable that cause interference. G4 locators themselves have a high likelihood of cutting through these sources of interference; however, putting these locators in worst case scenario will cause inconsistent RSSI values. This of course will lead to inaccurate data and inaccurate points.
3) If there are any other wireless communication systems in place at the facility, err on the side of caution and do an RF test of the facility with a spectrum analyzer to determine the source, and if that source can be removed. If it can’t, a plan of action involving an external Master Receiver and/or Repeater(s) may need to be drawn up to work through it before the install, not during. Waiting to find out there may be an issue during install will delay the date of the facility going live, and this makes everyone look bad.
4) If there are drop ceilings with metal frames, do not simply rest the locator on these frames, get them away from metal wherever possible.
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Tips of ALP Mapping –
1) Don’t stack locators, even if there is a floor between them. Stacking won’t cause receiving problems, but it could prevent ALP optimization. It is best to use a zigzag pattern rather than alternating stacking.
2) Avoid installing locators next to barriers. i.e. caging behind duct work, near elevator shafts, or poor quality coax cable that cause interference. G4 locators themselves have a high likelihood of cutting through these sources of interference; however, putting these locators in worst case scenario will cause inconsistent RSSI values. This of course will lead to inaccurate data and inaccurate points.
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ALP Upgrades – Since we first rolled out ALP we have learned several ways to make it easier on the installers.
1) Multiple Pendants – You will now be able to assign individual fingerprinting pendants to a location. This will allow multiple individuals to fingerprint multiple locations at once. Each location can only get one pendant assigned to it. So, you cannot learn multiple pendants into one location and activate them with one individual. Additionally, each pendant can only be activelyassigned to one location. If you try and assign it to multiple locations at once, the system will give you an error message.
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2) Enable Teach – This feature now allows installers to go back to an area and add presses if the original quantity doesn’t seem to be accurate enough. Previously, once you added a new location, there was no way to go back to a previously fingerprinted area. Now there is. The current fingerprint location will now be activated by turning the Enable Teach option to “ON” at the appropriate location.
3) Edit Entry – By selecting the Edit Entry box and then selecting the edit button at the bottom of your table, you will be able to edit the pendant assigned to the location as well as the location description. The Location ID and Floor number are not editable.
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CONCLUSION:
We continue to take recommendations sincerely and several of these changes were a direct result of requests from installers. We’ve also seen several ways that installers have made it more difficult for ALP to function optimally. Nothing in life is guaranteed 100%, but these guidelines and changes will allow for the prevention of extra work at the time of installation.
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