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Wireless Access Control the Future of Physical Security
How to strategically deploy wireless electronic access control systems to improve building security while lowering costs.
“Wireless access control” is without any doubt the simplest and most cost-effective approach to extend access control further into a building. Choose the wireless technology that works best for you to make the most of your existing infrastructure and secure additional opportunities.
An Overview of Wireless Access Control
The access control techniques for advanced businesses might differ considerably even today. In many installations, the same metal keys have been used for hundreds of years to monitor access to their buildings and other high-security places are still in use.
Although many companies could find these solutions to suit their objectives adequately, there are several critical characteristics, includes an audit trail, the ability to revoke access if a key is misplaced, and connection with a centrally controlled security management system As a result, the installations must cope with significant rekeying costs and a generally lower level of safety.
Previously, the only option was wired electronic access control (EAC) systems, in which each door lock is connected to a central Electronic Access Control (EAC) host via panel-based infrastructure, giving facility and security managers the ability to administer and track access at every connected opening. Because the necessary wiring may be done in combination with other wiring and plumbing before walls and ceilings are built.
Installing wired access control in older structures, on the other hand, might be significantly more difficult. Replacing mechanical locks and wiring doors and locks can take 5-10 hours of effort for each opening, with the accompanying labour expenses quickly piling up in a bigger facility. Furthermore, walls and ceilings must be opened and eventually restored, which adds to the disturbance and cost. Workflow can be dusty and noisy, forcing temporary relocation of employees, students, patients, and other inhabitants, as well as the additional expenditure of tenting and safety accommodations, particularly in hospital and healthcare settings.
Fortunately, wireless electronic access control systems give another alternative that provides most or all of the same benefits as wired solutions, as well as several new ones not available with wired solutions.
With wireless technologies, you may increase security fast, conveniently, and inexpensively.
Wireless electronic access control systems are an ideal option or complement to both low-security non-networked solutions and wired electronic access control solutions for businesses of all sizes and industries. Whether in an existing building or a new one,
Wireless solutions provide:
- Potential cost reductions in installation and operation
- Downtime and operational interruption were kept to a minimum.
- The capacity to safeguard non-door apertures and doors that would otherwise be too difficult or expensive to secure
The Benefits of Wireless Access Control
- Excellent degree of security with less complexity
- Most of the time, they can be placed without the assistance of a professional and are extremely quick to install.
- Cost-effective, as it is wireless and uses less labour and fewer materials
- Scalable – with respect to increasing in number of devices and related installations
- More Robust – as it is fully wireless and very fewer chances of damages
- Interoperability between various devices across the building
- More Sustainable as there is very minute e-waste involved
Wireless BLE-Mesh Access Control Technology
Bluetooth mesh technology, which was created for IoT applications, may be modified for novel use cases. One of them is access control. Bluetooth appears to be becoming a standard component of all access control devices, and utilising it to create a mesh network creates a revolutionary technological platform that alters how access control systems are used and implemented.
The Bluetooth mesh makes advantage of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) advertising signals. BLE advertising takes place on channels in the 2.4GHz (ISM) spectrum’s inter-band areas. As a result, these signals are extremely resistant to the impacts of noise generated by Wifi and Bluetooth Classic. This increases the robustness of the BLE mesh in the presence of additional 2.4GHz signals. TTL (Time to Live) and caching are other aspects of Bluetooth mesh that ensure messages take the fewest number of hops to reach their destination.
To protect messages, BLE mesh employs different degrees of encryption, including AES-128 bit encryption. As a result, the network is one of the most secure IoT networks for data transmission.
Bluetooth mesh is self-healing, which means it allows for the addition and removal of devices from the network on the go. Even if a network device fails, the network automatically reconfigures itself and messages continue to flow without interruption.
Other Wireless technologies for Mesh
Other than BLE-mesh there are other wireless technologies that are strong contenders for enabling a fully wireless network for access control.
- Zigbee: Zigbee supports a mesh topology and operates on 802.15.4 physical radio specifications. Zigbee can operate in various unlicensed bands like 2.4GHz, 915MHz and 868MHz.
- Z wave: Z wave is another wireless technology that supports mesh topology and operates in the 900MHz frequency band. Its low frequency gives it a better range.
- Sub GHz mesh: Various solutions have been developed on the sub GHz ISM band using proprietary mesh protocols. These work well in standalone applications and do not scale well where interoperability is required.
- Thread or Open Thread: This is by far the strongest contender for a wireless mesh topology for access control and smart buildings. Like BLE mesh it is scalable and interoperable. The added advantage with Thread is that it can operate as an IP based network and hence can work seamlessly with existing IP based network nodes. It is built on 802.15.4 physical radio specifications.
- 5G or 6G Cellular: This is an elegant long term solution for connecting each and every node directly to the cloud without worrying about forming a mesh network. With the current state of cellular networks, this approach is not feasible. But with a widespread roll-out of cellular networks and improved battery-friendly radio architectures, this approach could transform the smart buildings space.
Why Spintly
Spintly is a pioneer in BLE-Mesh technology for access control and the first one in the world to develop a fully wireless access control platform.
Spintly is transforming the physical security industry with its fully wireless, cloud-based access control system. It removes the complexity out of the process of deploying an access control solution in a building. With absolutely no wiring the installers can save more than 60% of their time and cost and be more productive.
Our Vision is to make the built world smarter and simpler by providing a frictionless access control experience to users and to make the building smarter with our fully wireless mesh platform for smart building devices.