Radio frequency communication networks are a cornerstone of modern technology. Traditional radio and TV broadcasts use radio waves to deliver content to our homes. Mobile phones rely on radio frequency to communicate with cell towers. Wireless internet and short-range data exchanges, like those between your phone and wireless earbuds, use radio waves to maintain a connection without physical cables. Police, fire departments, and other emergency responders use dedicated radio frequencies to coordinate their efforts, ensuring reliable communication even in critical situations.
Orisent’s evacuation and nurse call systems use radio frequency to establish a wireless network on site without the need for repeaters.
Why Radio Frequency?
Radio frequency communications have several advantages that make them indispensable:
- Mobility and Flexibility: Since radio waves travel through the air, there’s no need for cables. This wireless nature provides great flexibility in connecting devices.
- Long-Distance Communication: Radio waves can cover vast distances, making them ideal for broadcasting and communication over large areas.
- Reliability: Even in challenging environments, radio frequency signals can often penetrate obstacles, ensuring that communication remains uninterrupted.
- Cost-Effectiveness: With relatively simple infrastructure compared to wired networks, radio frequency communications can be a cost-effective solution for connecting remote and rural areas.
How The Technology Works
At its heart, radio frequency technology uses electromagnetic waves to transmit information without the need for wires, connecting devices over distances both short and long. They send information from one place to another, which can be anything from voices and music to data.
Orisent’s evacuation and nurse call triggers have a simple button that, when pushed, transmits the emergency alert to other devices on the network via radio frequency. What happens next depends on the type of system your business has installed:
- Standalone: the evacuation alert is transmitted to all evacuation sirens on the network, which sound for the default system length (6 minutes).
- TCU managed: the evacuation or nurse call alert is transmitted to the TCU (control panel), which is acknowledged. A signal is then transmitted back to the originating trigger, activating a light to let the worker know the alert has been received. Connected evacuation sirens sound for the programmed time.
- Full system: similar to TCU managed, the alert is transmitted from the trigger to the TCU. If the TCU is connected to the internet, then the alert is also transmitted to the smartphone app. Evacuations can be triggered from the app, TCU, or user portal, which then activate connected sirens via the radio frequency network.
Transmitters and Receivers
With Orisent’s emergency alert systems, the radio frequency transmitter on site is a physical evacuation or nurse call trigger, or the TCU.
- Encoding: once the Evacuate or Call button is pressed on the trigger, or the Evacuate button is pressed on the TCU, the alert is encoded and converted into an electrical signal.
- Modulation: next, this electrical signal is used to modify or “modulate” a carrier wave, which allows the information to be “imprinted” onto the carrier wave.
- Broadcasting: once modulated, the signal is amplified and sent out into the air through an antenna, which is inside the trigger’s module or TCU. The antenna converts the electrical signals into radio waves that travel through space at the speed of light.
The signal is received by the closest device on Orisent’s system network, which then transmits to the next closest device. If the system incorporates a TCU and subscription services, the TCU receives the signal and pushes it to Orisent’s cloud server via an internet connection, which pushes the alert through to the smartphone app and user portal.
Telemetry
A unique feature of Orisent’s emergency alert systems is the telemetry graph that’s available on the user portal. This is a real time display of how each device on the network is connected to one another. Orisent’s nurse call triggers, evacuation triggers, evacuation sirens, and the TCU automatically check in with Orisent’s systems every hour.
The Future of Radio Frequency Technology
As technology advances, the potential of radio frequency communications continues to grow. New developments in modulation techniques, antenna design, and signal processing are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. For example, 5G networks are leveraging higher radio frequencies to deliver faster internet speeds and support a growing number of connected devices. Orisent continues to explore how radio frequency can be used to improve emergency event triggering, communication, and response.