24/7 Evacuation System Monitoring

When an emergency occurs and an evacuation system is called into operation, it is vital, and often key to saving lives, that the system immediately and effectively gets the message to the right people.

Not knowing when such an emergency may happen, the system must be checked at regular intervals to ensure that each of the installed loudspeaker systems, the audible alarm signals and the microphone in the control room, that is used for verbal announcements, are operational. NTi Audio provides an automated Evacuation System Monitoring solution with the FX100 Audio Analyzer.

The FX100 verifies the proper operation of the connected PA loudspeaker lines, the electrical alarm signal generator and the microphone in the control room, with automated acoustic and electrical signal testing. The FX100 communicates with external Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) which handle the scheduling and triggering of the individual test procedures.

Monitoring Network

The FX100 Audio Analyzer is the heart of the monitoring network. The FX100 signal generator component is linked to the loudspeakers through a switcher matrix. At the same time the FX100 analyzer component is connected to the speaker lines where the speakers are tested using impedance measurements. Furthermore, the FX100 analyzer component is connected to the NTi Audio M2010 Measurement Microphone for monitoring the audible alarm signals which are periodically triggered by the PLC and analyzed by the FX100. The NTi Audio TalkBox is used as the signal source for the control room microphone test, while the FX100 once again measures and analyzes the results.

As the performance of speakers is dependent on environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity, additional environment sensors can be connected to, and simultaneously monitored by, the FX100 analyzer component.

Custom-tailored software extensions for communications with the host controller via TCP/IP interface are provided.