False alarms often bring unnecessary trouble to security personnel and users, affecting their normal work and life. Especially for police and security personnel, when burglar alarm security system alarm, a large number of police forces or security personnel need to be mobilized, resulting in a significant waste of time, manpower, and material resources. The greater cost is that over time, false alarms cause them to lose their sense of urgency towards danger, ultimately leading to catastrophic consequences. The consequences of underreporting are even more unimaginable. If the alarm fails when an intrusion actually occurs. Not only does it cause personal injury or property damage, but the user’s confidence in the burglar alarm security system will also be greatly reduced.

1 Reduce false alarms caused by human factors

The reasons for generating false alarms are complex, such as damage to components and poor production processes. It is related to the selected equipment, installation method, angle, and position, for example, selecting vibration detectors near the earthquake source (airport, railway side), selecting ultrasonic detectors in areas where bats frequently appear and false alarms, etc. Affected by the environment, such as air flow, pet movements, etc. There are also human factors, such as improper user operation, accidental triggering of alarms, accidental intrusion, and entering already fortified defense areas.

According to authoritative statistics, over 95% of false alarms are caused by human factors. Therefore, in order to reduce false alarms, it is essential to start from the perspective of human factors.

(1) Establishing an alarm information confirmation mechanism can reduce the rate of false alarms. After receiving the alarm information, the alarm monitoring center should first send a confirmation signal to the alarm control panel, indicating that the alarm monitoring center has received it. If the alarm control panel does not receive the confirmation signal, it should send it again.

(2) Regulations related to false alarms can be formulated, and measures such as inspections, fines, and punishments can be taken against alarm users or security companies. If the number of alarms exceeds the prescribed limit within a certain period of time, fines will be imposed. This can have a certain restraining effect on human false alarms.

Of course, establishing an alarm confirmation mechanism and regulations is only a measure to human false alarms. There are still many issues involved in reducing the false alarm rate of the burglar alarm security system, including missed alarms.

2 The key to reducing false alarm rates is to reduce the complexity of the burglar alarm security system

Based on the maintenance of various network alarm monitoring centers and their experience with alarm monitoring centers, the first reason of false alarms is operation. If the user does not disarm in a timely manner after starting work in the morning. The reason for the missed alarm is mainly due to installation, such as incorrect installation of the detector, which leads to a large blind spot in the detection.

(1) The key to reducing false alarm rates is to reduce the complexity of the burglar alarm security system. Make it a habitual behavior in people’s daily lives. We also need to solve the contradiction between the convenience of user and burglar alarm security system, so that the burglar alarm security system can be easy to operate.

(2) False alarms caused by product technical issues are mainly generated by detectors and alarm control panels.

For wireless alarm control panels, the main reason for false alarms is that the wireless coding method used for the alarm control panel and detector is duplicated, and detectors outside the protected area and detectors in the area have duplicate codes, resulting in false alarms. Therefore, attention should be paid to or the use of automatic skip code rolling coding technology during installation and debugging (but the cost is high and currently only used for high-end wireless devices).

For wired alarm control panels, the main reason for false alarms in wired alarm control panels is design defects, which mainly rely on detecting the current changes in the zone circuit to determine whether the zone has been triggered. If strong interference is found in the circuit of the zone during actual testing on certain construction sites, it is required that the filtering of the alarm control panel is done well enough, otherwise false alarms will continue and the cause will generally not be detected. Some wired alarm control panels use open circuit alarms to avoid noise interference and reduce costs, which is very unacceptable. Even if human destruction is not considered and an open circuit alarm is used as a zone, once a short circuit occurs in the wiring of the circuit, the zone will become ineffective and the fault will be extremely hidden. The alarm control panel itself cannot detect faults, and it is difficult to solve them in practical use.

(3) The behavior of the country should be limited to the introduction and implementation of regulations, such as the introduction of regulations on the construction of network alarm monitoring centers, deepening and increasing the intensity of product certification work currently being carried out, implementing industry engineering acceptance standards, and assessing the performance of employed companies.

3 Improving the performance of infrared detectors from multiple aspects

At present, there are several main reasons for false alarms in the burglar alarm security system:

• Wireless detectors have poor anti-interference ability, manifested as co frequency interference, which can easily cause false alarms
• Infrared detectors lack accurate judgment of intrusion behavior, resulting in false alarms
• Infrared detectors are susceptible to false alarms caused by environmental factors such as temperature and light
• When the power supply system of the wireless detector is out of power or low, it fails to effectively transmit information, resulting in a shorter detection distance or non-work of the detector, leading to missed alarms.

(1) Performance issues. The most important way to reduce the false alarm rate of the burglar alarm security system is to improve the performance of infrared detectors from multiple aspects. This includes the selection of the detector’s sensor, the design of the Fresnel lens, microprocessor programs, multi detector technology, and other comprehensive factors that determine the performance of the detector.

(2) Anti interference capability issue. It can allow the alarm control panel to have a priority queuing process for the signals sent by the detector. Because it is impossible for each detector to emit at the same time, the alarm control panel recognizes two different signals sent by the detector from the start time, and temporarily stores and processes their signals in a priority queue. This can greatly reduce co frequency interference and lower its false alarm rate.

(3) Infrared detectors have poor ability to judge intrusion behavior, leading to false alarms and susceptibility to environmental factors such as temperature and light. Possible measures include:

• Secondary delay judgment confirmation, that is, when the detector detects an intrusion signal, it first makes an initial judgment on its behavior without immediately sending a signal to the alarm control panel. Once the intrusion behavior is confirmed again, an alarm signal is sent to the alarm control panel. If the intrusion behavior is not confirmed again, the initial judgment result is cancelled and the detection state is returned, thereby reducing the false alarm rate.
• Multi detector sensor composite detection technology. Equip multiple detection sensors (dual infrared or infrared with microwave) to send alarm signals to the alarm control panel only when multiple detection sensors simultaneously detect intrusion signals, thereby reducing the false alarm rate.
• Microprocessor program judgment. Analyze the signals collected by the detection sensor through the program to further confirm whether someone has invaded.
• Add a filter to the infrared detection sensor to filter out most of the spectrum of non human emitted infrared wavelengths, especially visible light.

(4) The issue with the power supply can enable the wireless detector to add an under-voltage reporting function to remind users to replace the battery in a timely manner. Using detector inspection technology, it is required that the detector sends a working status report signal to the alarm control panel every few hours to let the alarm control panel know whether the detector can work normally. If the alarm control panel does not receive the inspection signal for a period of time, it indicates that the detector cannot work properly. At this time, the alarm control panel can remind the user to repair it in a timely manner through some means.

In addition to the above points, users should choose products produced by reputable manufacturers when purchasing burglar alarm security system, and have a detailed understanding of their specific functions, performance indicators, and after-sales service content. When installing, it is necessary to hire professional personnel, such as the manufacturer’s engineering personnel or professionals with professional work experience, to avoid errors caused by improper installation. The installation of detectors should avoid places with high wind, rain, electromagnetic interference, and high temperatures, and choose appropriate detection angles. If any problems are encountered, they should be reported to the manufacturer in a timely manner.

4 The technological lag of the detector is the weakness that causes false alarms in the burglar alarm security system

In recent years, advanced and reliable digital processing technology has been fully used in the receiving equipment of alarm control panels and alarm monitoring centers in burglar alarm security systems, and the technology is gradually maturing. However, the front-end devices of the burglar alarm security system, such as detectors, have not made significant technological breakthroughs. They have only improved the stability of the burglar alarm security system through signal post-processing technology or the combination or accumulation of several detection technologies. From this, it can be seen that the technological lag at the source of the burglar alarm security system (such as the detector) is the weakness that causes errors in the burglar alarm security system. So solving the problem of detector errors is the fundamental way to reduce the error rate of the burglar alarm security system.

Before the breakthrough of traditional infrared detection technology, it is impossible to talk about solving the problems of false alarms. Firstly, we should seek the source, which is to break through from passive infrared sensors by transforming the infrared source from constant current source detection to constant voltage source detection, thereby enhancing the signal strength and greatly improving the signal-to-noise ratio.

In addition to solving the technical problems of the product itself, users should also consider factors such as the technical background of the enterprise, the production process of the product, after-sales service, and technical support when making purchases. At the same time, attention should also be paid to the installation environment and the technical level of construction personnel.

Only by selecting high-quality products, providing a good application environment, and cooperating with good construction techniques can we truly and effectively reduce the false alarm rate of the burglar alarm security system.