Automated Visitor Management Systems 

Remember when you used to be greeted by someone at the desk in the lobby. They would ask your name and who you wanted to see. Then you would sign in and enter other information into their logbook. Maybe you even got a visitor badge.  Oh wait, many organizations still do this.

You may have also noticed that the world is changing. There are economic and health pressures that have motivated many organizations to use digital visitor management systems.

Today’s heightened interest in security and health has resulted in the need for better digital visitor authentication. With the addition of access control panels and kiosks, you can even provide temperature monitoring and protective mask detection.

This article reviews how the latest visitor management system controls entry, provides a record of people entering the facility, and how the systems can integrate with other access control systems.

Continue reading →

What is Contact Tracing?

Contact Tracing Concept

According to the CDC, contact tracing is key to slowing the spread of COVID-19.  It helps keep you, your family, and your community safe. In general, contact tracing involves identifying people who have a contagious disease (cases) and people who they encountered (contacts) and working with them to interrupt disease spread. This includes asking people with COVID-19 to isolate and their contacts to quarantine at home voluntarily.

This article reviews the best ways to provide contact tracing.

Continue reading →

Wiring the IP Reader-Controllers

The latest access control systems are much easier to install than the older systems. Of course, it’s only easy if you know exactly how to connect everything. The devil is in the details, and this article provides the wiring diagrams you need to make your access control system work.

As a review, the advantage of IP access control systems is that everything is located at the door. The following diagram shows an example of an IP access control system that uses a reader-controller.

Continue reading →

Technology Review

So far, this year has been quite tumultuous.  It is the year of the great pandemic and the year of social change. The turbulence of our time has created demands on technology. The use of face recognition provides touchless access control, and temperature scanning with face mask detection helps to limit the spread of disease.

The latest IP cameras include artificial intelligence and can detect people who are too close together. Automated contact tracking has been introduced to help reduce the spread of disease.

The article discusses some of the new technology that can help in these difficult times.

Continue reading →

The New Face of Face Recognition

The pandemic of 2020 has caused all of us to think differently. More than ever, we are concerned about the spread of disease. Some people believe that this concern will last well beyond today’s pandemic. Just like the changes that occurred after 9-11, the world will be different in the future.

One way to control the spread of disease is to reduce the amount of surface contact. Biometric systems that use fingerprints, palm recognition, or finger-vein are being replaced by face recognition. This has the advantage of providing contactless or touchless door entry control. This article reviews several new products that use face recognition to control door entry.

Continue reading →

The Pros and Cons of Thermal Cameras That Measure a Person’s Temperature

Thermal imaging cameras have been around for many years. They were first used in the 1940s and 1950s by the military.  Long-range camera systems use thermal cameras to help with detection, recognition, and identification (DRI) of targets. They have also been used in previous pandemics.

Today, thermal imaging cameras have become popular because of the outbreak of COVID-19.

Some of the older thermal cameras have been repurposed to measure a person’s temperature from a distance. The latest systems are designed for measuring people’s body temperature and have been integrated with door access control.

This article reviews the various technologies used to measure a person’s body temperature, and how they can help monitor people as they enter a secure area.

Continue reading →

Long-Range IP Camera Object Detection

If we want to detect an object that is miles away, is the magnification of the lens the most important, or is it the camera resolution? It turns out that many factors determine the effectiveness of a long-range camera.

The things that determine the performance of a long-range camera system include the magnification provided by the lens, motion of the object, camera resolution, atmospheric clarity, lighting, and contrast.  All these variables are inter-related.

This article discusses all the factors that determine how successful you will be in detecting an object (target) that is very far away.

Continue reading →