Network Applications
... for The Pipeline Industry
Pipelines run everywhere - through deserts and under cities.
Virtually all pipelines carry flammable liquids or gases and anyone with
a backhoe is a threat.
The long and narrow danger zones of pipelines make most emergency warning methods unwieldy. Why alert a whole city when you only need to alert a few hundred people along a section of pipe?
Another issue is whether an alert may make matters worse. Using sirens for a gas leak may cause smokers to walk outside to see what the fuss was about, greatly raising the danger of an explosion!
Our Warning System ...
... is Effective and Simple to Use
Our network uses a specially designed clock radio to wake people up and send them messages that they can read on the display. As the system owner, you choose what to send, to which group of radios and at what level of urgency over a simple web interface to our server. There is no equipment to buy other than the radios themselves. The system is thus easy to set up and affordable whether you need 100 radios or a million.
Scenarios
Sudden pressure drop in main gas line in Atlanta - you don't know why.
Solution:
Send an alert message only to to local pipeline staff and firestations telling them of the alarm. This is quick and easy with our system - the "pro" model of our radio has a relay output so it can be hooked into the firehouse alarm.
If they report a major leak, then you can send out another message to everyone living within 2000 ft of the leak telling to extinguish all flames and stay inside - or evacuate.
How it works
You logon to a special website to compose and direct your messages. These warning messages are then sent to our network of commercial FM stations and broadcast using the Radio Data System (RDS) channel. The infrastructure is already there and the high power and coverage of FM make it ideal for reliable distribution of such warnings. RDS is used worldwide and is a very robust data channel.
The Receiver
The RDS Early Warning Receiver looks and acts like a normal FM clock radio until it is triggered. Then it loudly announces your message and scrolls it across the screen for all to read.
It is equipped with two tuners. One is for the alarm-clock radio - the second tuner locks to our network station and listens to the RDS-emergency-channel continuously - even if the radio is "off". The clock is kept updated by the network so it is extremely accurate.
The receiver is equipped with a rechargeable backup battery so it will alert many hours after power is lost. The receiver is designed to reach everybody, and it is loud enough to alert everyone even if they are not in the same room.
There is also an enhanced "professional" version with even more features for first responders and the disabled.
Additionally external devices like large-scale displays (billboards), lamps, flashing lights, etc may be hooked up to the professional version triggered by relay or its serial interface.