Third generation C3A system technology

Modern security systems are requiring ever more sophisticated command, control, communications and assessment (C³A) systems. The issue is one of managing increasing complexity, and doing it in a manner that makes the system easy to design and install and simple to operate and maintain. The paper describes a third generation C ³A system that is under development to meet this challenge. Starting with a review of the operational need, the problem is defined from both an operator and system integrator perspective. This is followed by a description of the history of the development, including major lessons learned from actual operating applications. The overall intent is to summarise the fundamental operational and technical factors driving the system design requirements. The choice of operating platform, not only hardware-but also operating system software is discussed. The approach recognises that hardware technology will change often. Accordingly, to match specific applications, the system is designed to be readily configured using available hardware and industry standard interfaces with minimal effort. The choice of operating system software is most critical and major factors driving the selection, such as the need for real time multitasking and virus immunity, are presented. Although technology is changing rapidly, the standard operating procedures (SOPs) critical to an effective security system do not. The paper describes how the overall system design is based on these SOPs so that they are platform independent