Design and Development of Software Interface for Multi-Door Access Control System

Abstract

Multi-Door Access control is the management and control of people through secured areas. These areas could be within a building or a group of buildings, or even through a parking lot. Unlike keys and locks, access control defines the times and days of the week that persons are allowed access and provides a record of who went where and when. XPIP-SEC Panel is Fully Networkable. A host computer (where software is loaded) communicates with remote workstations and XPIP-SEC panel via your existing LAN/WAN using TCP/IP protocol. This greatly simplifies wiring. XPIP SEC Panel uses a distributed processing system. This allows decisions to be made at individual panels instead of having to tie the panels to a dedicated computer for decision-making. All the Card Numbers, Time Zones, Relay Pulse Times and Alarm Point Shunt Times are loaded into the memory of the remote control panels from a computer or a dumb terminal. After the Control panels are loaded, the computer may be taken OFF-LINE and used for other applications.

The XPIP-SEC Panel will scan the attached readers and wait for a valid card read. When a card is passed through one of the card readers, the number is checked in memory at the control Panel for verification of location and Time Zone. If the number is valid the Panel will give access otherwise deny access that allows entry/egress through a portal. Panel stores these activities records on panel database and send to host machine connected with it.

A DCOM Service running on host machine is able to communicate with firmware installed on panel. The DCOM Service sets panel parameters like Facility Code, Holidays, TimeZone, Access Point, Relays, Timed Activity and User Database. All Transactions occurred at panel side are stored in the memory buffer of the panel in form of LOGs. The LOGs stored at panel can be received by host system through DCOM Service. The DCOM Service can receive LOGs from multiple panels at the same time. The Client System can communicate to DCOM Service through RPC (Remote Procedure Call). The Client has to call just Methods of DCOM Service to set panel parameters and to receive the data, received from firmware. The Administrator of the system can monitor the activities happens at panel side. Main goal of the system is to build DCOM Service which can communicate to firmware of the panel. The service can be separately installed on the most reliable host machine so the data loss can be minimized. The service can be started automatically when host machine is started by setting startup type AUTOMATIC”. So the common mistakes like sudden system close can be avoided.