-------------------------------------------------------------------------- WatchALERT Signals and Services Bulletin 1070 05/24/93 Copyright (C) 1993, Coastal Security Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WatchALERT service provides an added measure of security to any system. It is provided by the central station and Southern Bell and is available in most areas throughout south Florida. The service consists of a subscriber terminal unit (called a STU) installed in the subscriber's alarm panel. The STU is polled by a SCANNER at the telephone company exchange office about twice a minute. This polling is audible and is commonly called a chirp. During a normal poll, two chirps are heard. The first is the SCANNER's poll and the second is the STU's response. In most installations the chirp is not desired while the telephone line is in use. This is accomplished by disabling off-hook polling which somewhat decreases security and is discussed more fully below. Each STU has one or more pins to which alarm outputs or other triggering devices may be wired. On some STUs these outputs can be configured by programming a prom chip on the STU. The subscriber account number is also either programmed on the prom chip or established using dip switches on the STU. The subscriber account number is also called the hard id. Each STU has a hard id and a soft id. The soft id consists of the SCANNER number and the port on the scanner. For example, the STU connected to port 3 of SCANNER 12 will have a soft id of 12-3. When an account is activated or "upped", the STU receives the soft id from the SCANNER and the SCANNER receives the hard id from the STU. From then on, all communications between the STU and the SCANNER contain both id's. The system detects line cuts by reporting to the central station whenever a STU does not answer a SCANNER's polling for about ninety seconds. The signal received at the central station is a code zero, zone zero. The codes which may be transmitted by a STU include: Code Description ---- ----------------------------------------------- 0 non-responding STU, possible line cut 1-11 user defined, connected to terminals on the STU 12 tamper 13 a.c. power failure 14 low battery 15 STU diagnostic trouble signal No zone information is transmitted so the zone number in the alarm log will always be zero. The central station strongly recommends that only one account be created to receive signals from both the WatchALERT STU and the digital communicator. Therefore, you must carefully program the digital communicator not to send the same signals the STU will send. This is easily accomplished using 4 X 2 or point id formats. The central station will help you design a signal template consolidating the signals from a STU and a digital communicator if you wish. To consolidate an account you must use the same account number for both the STU and the digital communicator. Digital communicator accounts are frequently modified by the central station computer. This is necessary since many different alarm companies program the same account number sequences in their alarm panels: Company # Programmed # at Central ------------ ------------ ------------ ABC Alarms 1234 51234 XYZ Alarms 1234 22234 The central station is able to change the account numbers because each company sends digital communicator signals on a different telephone line. All WatchALERT traffic is received on a data circuit from the telephone company computer center. Different alarm company accounts cannot be distinguished the way digital account numbers are. There are three methods available for making the digital communicator account number and the STU account number identical: 1. Program the digital communicator using one of the central station "house" lines. No modification of account numbers occurs on these lines so the account number actually programmed in the digital communicator and STU can be the same and will be the final account number. This is the preferred method. 2. Use a hexidecimal number in the STU. For example, account 51234 is C822 in hex and account 22234 is 56DA in hex. Warning: this will only work if the hex number contains B, C, D, E, or F. If it only contains the digits 0-9 or A it will be interpreted as a decimal number at the central station and this method will not work. This method is also no good for account numbers greater than 65,535. 3. Instruct the central station to ignore the STU's programmed account number. The central station can ignore the account number contained in the STU's prom or dip switch settings and use a number assigned to the soft id. Warning: this method reduces the security afforded by the system and cannot be used for U.L. listed installations. When the hard id is ignored the system can be compromised by substituting another STU for the one protecting the premises and alarm panel. ----------------------- Degrees of Security WatchALERT can provide varying degrees of security depending upon how it is configured and installed. In order to provide the greatest protection against tampering or destruction of the subscriber's alarm control equipment: 1. The STU should be powered by the alarm control panel. If the STU has its own power supply there is no guarantee that the destruction or loss of all power of the control panel will result in a signal to the central station. 2. The STU should be located inside the alarm panel's enclosure with the tamper contacts wired to a tamper switch on the panel door. This will prevent anyone - whether the system is armed or not - from opening the panel and disconnecting the STU from the panel's alarm output without sending a signal to the central station. The tamper signal should require follow-up action in the form of testing to make sure alarms are still reported via WatchALERT. 3. The burglary output from the alarm control panel should be wired to one of the pins on the STU so that alarms will be reported via derived channel as well as via digital communicator. This assures the central station will receive alarms even if the digital communicator cannot transmit because of malfunction, tampering, or the suspension of the subscriber's telephone service. Configuration of WatchALERT for varying levels of security is also a concern. For maximum security, the hard id programmed in the STU must not be bypassed at the central station and off-hook polling must be enabled. Off-hook polling may be disabled, partially enabled, or fully enabled: DIS Each STU emits a low frequency tone whenever there are no alarms to report. When off-hook polling is disabled the SCANNER will not poll the STU if low tone is present on the line and the line is in use. This provides the lowest degree of security since low tone and off hook condition can be duplicated. DLY When off-hook polling is partially enabled it is said to be enabled with delay. When the line is not in use, polling occurs at 30 second intervals. When the line is in use (off hook), polling occurs at four minute intervals. This is a reasonable compromise between the low security of disabled off-hook polling and the aggravation of audible chirping (polling) every thirty seconds while the subscriber is on the phone. ENA When off-hook polling is fully enabled the SCANNER will poll the STU every thirty seconds around the clock whether the telephone line is in use or not. This is the highest degree of security afforded by the system. ----------------------- Central Station Reports The central station produces a number of reports which are essential for the proper maintenance of derived channel accounts. The standard central station procedure for non-responding STU signals is as follows: 1. The central station computer is normally instructed to report a non-resp STU as a trouble condition and that it must restore within three minutes. 2. When the non-resp trouble signal is received, the central station operator "ups" the STU. "Upping" the STU instructs the SCANNER to re-establish contact. If necessary, hard and soft ids are exchanged again between them. When the up command is entered, the dispatcher completes the event. If a non-responding STU signal is cancelled because the system is on test, on runaway, or in storm mode the operator will not be presented with the trouble signal and will not "up" the STU. If the STU does not restore on its own it will appear on the daily subscriber trouble report. 3. If the STU responds to the "up" command, a restore is received and no further action is taken. 4. If the STU does not respond to the up command, a fail to restore event is produced by the central station computer within three minutes. For this signal, the central station operator will normally call the premises to verify. Failing to receive a proper cancel code, the alarm is dispatched and a call out is notified. 5. If the STU continues to fail to respond, the event is reported on the Subscriber Trouble Report every day for ten consecutive days. As an additional service, the central station produces a derived channel status report about once every week. This report contains a listing of all STU's which are either down or not responding. The report is transmitted the same way (fax, down load or mail) that the Subscriber Trouble Report is sent. The report includes the STU number, account number, subscriber name and status remarks about all non-working STUs. The central station database is compared automatically to the host database at the telephone company computer center just before the report is prepared. ----------------------- Ordering the Service The subscriber must sign a WatchALERT Service Authorization form which is available as bulletin number 7030 on this system. The bulletin includes an order processing checklist. If you are an authorized dealer you may order the service directly from Southern Bell. If not, the central station will handle the order for you.