Elevator Integration
Keeping people moving
Protege GX is not limited to controlling access to doors. Buildings that have elevators often require access to floors to be controlled as well. Elevator integration links elevator control systems with ICT’s Protege system to increase building security and improve the flow of people.
High Level Integration
Protege GX offers a high level integration with modern, destination based elevator systems, delivering a complete multi-floor access control solution that provides access control to a building’s individual floors, while improving the flow of people within a building.
Most modern elevator systems provide a destination based dispatch solution where a passenger presents their card to a display panel inside or outside the elevator and selects their desired destination floor. Protege GX verifies that the cardholder has the required permissions to access the floor (through access levels, schedules or area status) and grants or denies the request. When a cardholders request is verified, the elevator system directs them to the elevator that will provide them with the shortest travel time to the floor. By grouping all passengers to specific elevators, the number of floor stops for each passenger is minimized and overall congestion is reduced, especially during peak traffic.
High level integration also significantly reduces your overall installation and running costs. Without the need to wire relays and inputs between the two systems, the need for additional hardware is minimal.
Low Level Integration
Low level elevator integration is available across the Protege software range and enables cost effective access control of almost any elevator system, regardless of age or capability.
Basic elevator control is commonly achieved by installing a card reader in each elevator car. When a user badges their card at the card reader, the floors that they have access to are unlocked for a short period of time. During this time, the user is able to select a floor.
In older elevator systems, elevator control was achieved by modifying the elevator system wiring to prevent a button press being received by the elevator controller. Modern elevator control systems are microcontroller based and access control is achieved by wiring inputs and outputs between the elevator control system and the access control system.
Although basic elevator control suits most installations, some require further security. When basic elevator control is used, there is no record of which floor (or floors) a user has selected. If a situation arises that needs investigation, the event log can only show when access was granted to a user, but not which floor the user selected.
Where this level of security is insufficient, destination reporting can be implemented. This involves providing a set of isolated inputs to the elevator control system which receive feedback on which floor buttons are pressed. When a user badges their card, none of the relays are energized until a floor is selected. When a floor is selected, the system sees the button press and in response pulses the appropriate floor relay and logs an event showing which floor the user selected.
