Fire alarm system design with Safety Systems Designer

Planning and designing safety systems are often complex projects with multiple stages, practical factors, limits and preferences to consider. In addition, manual specification of requirements for a system’s design can involve tedious tasks which consume valuable time and pose high risks of human error.

Safety Systems Designer is intuitive to navigate and use, and allows consultants and system specifiers to plan and configure fire safety systems quickly and precisely with automated steps. It allows users to design entire systems without the need for software-specific training.

The tedious manual steps of fire alarm system planning are time-consuming. Having to start from scratch every time a new customer presents their required system parameters is an inefficient use of resources for consultants and system specifiers.

The Safety Systems Designer offers a large array of predefined templates which simplify the whole planning process. Completely new planning documentation can be produced and exported to an Excel spreadsheet in a few quick clicks.

Whether office towers or sprawling complexes, customers’ buildings are unique. They demand precise designs to address the requirements of all aspects of fire safety. Planning consultants and system specifiers must customize each of their systems to address very specific needs.

With the Safety Systems Designer Quick Start feature, required parameters and specifications of systems can be rapidly selected from a generic, manufacturer-neutral list of fire safety devices. With just a few clicks, the selection is imported to the program. Devices are evenly distributed across the minimum number of loops and panels automatically.

It is difficult to predict the issues that might occur when there is a lack of overview for a system, such as its capacity and potential system limits in the future regarding fire alarm system configuration.

With Safety Systems Designer, key indicators are clearly visualized. This transparency allows safety system designers and specifiers to view the maximum capacity versus the current situation. This is updated at every configuration step, so an overview is provided the entire time, indicating any exceeded limits and providing direct links to any sources of error.

For larger and networked fire alarm systems, an overview of all networking devices needed, including Ethernet switches, media converters, and related housing components, is difficult to compile and maintain. However, clear, consolidated view of the networked systems is essential to predict potential conflicts or technological limits.

Safety Systems Designer provides automatic calculation of all necessary networking devices with minimal input and effort. The software reports any system conflict with a direct link to its source to the user. A clear network overview can be exported with one click in multiple formats.

Safety Systems Designer is convenient and intuitive enough to navigate immediately without the need for specific training. A simple Setup Assistant provides installation guidance in a few steps and activation of local admin rights are not needed. Terminology is generic and available in 17 different languages. With the user-friendly interface, and ready-to-use templates which ease the burden of repetitive work steps, designing a fire alarm system has never been faster or easier.

Safety Systems Designer provides a continual clear overview of the latest status of planning, configuration and specifications. As designing a fire alarm system involves input from diverse parties, this transparency helps all personnel work effectively together to establish the safest fire safety solutions. Everyone, from planners to specifiers and their customers, is on the same page and can advise or intervene when needed, so all fire protection projects can run smoothly.

All key indicators are displayed with clear visuals on the Safety Systems Designer interface. The maximum capacity is shown at each configuration step and the current state of the configuration instantly updated when adding each new element, for instance:

• system level – total number of detection points and loop elements
• panel level – total number of detection points, loop elements and panel modules
• loop level – total current consumption, quantity of loop elements, loop length and used loop cable diameter

Continuous monitoring on the backend performs feasibility checks on configured products in real time to avoid configuration errors. If any system limits are exceeded, users are instantly alerted with a direct link to the source of error.