Analysis of the application characteristics of access control systems in American universities

In the past few years, manufacturers, integrators and users have jointly promoted the application of smart card technology in China - the application of the one-card system. The wide application field, rich content and rapid technological progress of the one-card system are not seen in many places outside China. In domestic universities, the one-card system has long been used in access control, attendance, dining, consumption, library management and water and electricity bill payment. It can be said that the effectiveness of smart cards has been maximized. In foreign countries, such cards are mainly used for the most basic applications, namely access control and attendance, while transactions related to money are handled by credit cards and banking systems.

Like China, access control systems are also widely used in American colleges and universities. In order to adapt to the specific market of American colleges and universities, access control systems also present characteristics different from those in the Chinese market, specifically: the combination of electronic systems and mechanical hardware, the combination of online and offline devices, and the focus on safety, escape, and convenience of daily use. The following will discuss these issues separately.

Combination of electronic systems and mechanical hardware

Access control system integrators may have had this experience: after get off work, on weekends, or even on holidays, they receive calls from users informing them that a certain door cannot be locked safely or cannot be opened smoothly, and they are strictly required to send someone to the site immediately to solve the problem. However, when the technicians rushed to the site in a hurry, they found that the access control system they provided was normal, and the reason why the door could not be locked normally was that the door itself was deformed, or there was a problem with the floor spring or hinge supporting the door, and these devices, including the door, floor spring, and hinge were not provided and installed by them. However, since users often do not have the ability to analyze faults, they only put the "board" on the system integrator based on the final result, that is, the door cannot be locked normally, which not only makes them suffer unjust accusations, but also increases the cost of manpower and financial resources for no reason.

To solve this problem and reduce disputes, the access control system and the door hardware controlled by it must be considered and planned in a unified way in the project. In the United States, its national standards ANSI156.1~156.31 basically cover the requirements for all door hardware products, while ANSI UL294 and FCC regulations set standards that need to be met for all aspects of the access control system.

The access control system in American colleges and universities takes the frequency of door use into consideration at the beginning of system design, based on the school's goal setting. Appropriate door hardware products are selected based on relevant standards, and requirements are set for the quality, size, material, and opening method of the door itself. Ensuring that the electronic system can operate in conjunction with high-quality mechanical products is the key to ensuring that the access control system maintains stable operation over a long period of use in the future.

Although high-quality door hardware will increase some initial equipment investment, it will definitely reduce the subsequent maintenance costs, obtain longer system effective use time, better security, more reliable data and higher personnel utilization. Combination of online and offline equipment

Online devices have the characteristics of powerful functions, convenient management, real-time knowledge of the status of users and doors, and convenient upgrades or changes to settings, while offline or independent electronic locks have the characteristics of easy installation, exquisite appearance, labor saving, less interference to users during installation, and excellent mechanical performance. Many universities in the United States have a long history, and many buildings have a profound cultural and historical heritage. Their internal and external appearances are not allowed to be changed at will, and wall operations cannot be broken. These factors have led to the widespread application of offline electronic locks in American universities.

[page]

The unit price of wireless access control system is more expensive than that of ordinary access control system, but its low construction and debugging cost, short construction period and environmentally friendly characteristics are enough to make up for this defect. In 2006, the annual growth rate of wireless access control in the United States reached 65%. Among them, access control in colleges and universities basically adopts this method, but in domestic colleges and universities, online access control system is still the main one. If wireless access control is to enter China, the first thing to solve is to change its working frequency to the allowed frequency band. Through market promotion, users can fully understand the working principle of wireless access control system, especially the encryption technology and anti-disassembly protection measures adopted to ensure the safety of the system, so as to dispel people's possible doubts. It is estimated that a well-designed wireless access control system can save 25% of the cost and shorten the construction period by about 90%, which is also consistent with the characteristics of college students being densely populated and not conducive to construction and tight funds.

Focus on both safety and escape

In addition to controlling the entry and exit of internal personnel in designated areas during certain periods of time, installing an access control system can also prevent unrelated personnel from entering controlled areas. If the access control system is combined with an alarm and video surveillance system, the school's security level can be greatly improved.

In China, the current consideration is more about whether the system is "safe". In the United States, system safety is as important as personal safety. It is not enough to only consider security during design, but also the safety of people in the controlled area. To ensure that people in the building can escape safely in the shortest time in an emergency, one method is to install an escape device at the escape door, and the electric escape device is a device that can well balance security and safety. Internal personnel can read the card outside the door to retract the lock of the electric push bar to open the door. When a fire occurs, they only need to use their hands or bodies to push the active part of the escape device in the direction of escape to escape as soon as possible, avoiding the failure of the electronic system that makes people unable to evacuate quickly. Especially in a densely populated area such as a school, "safety" should be paid more attention.
Convenience of daily use

Whether at home or abroad, users do not want their daily work to be tedious and prone to mistakes, nor do they want to face multiple subsystems to manage online, wireless and offline devices under their access control systems. The settings of offline locks, such as setting personnel permissions, access time periods, holiday arrangements, etc., are not as convenient and fast as online systems, and daily changes to personnel and equipment and summary analysis of different data are even more daunting. If online devices, offline and wireless access control and access data analysis can be included in the same management platform, its "convenience" will be greatly improved! The access control systems in American universities try their best to integrate them into a unified platform, and the one-card system has also been widely recognized in China for its convenience.

In short, although the application of access control systems in American universities is different from that in the Chinese market, the application characteristics they focus on tend to be consistent. We also hope to promote the development and improvement of access control systems in universities by learning from each other and drawing on each other's ideas and technologies.