Emergency GSM
Telephone System
TLS-GSM ®
Emergency SOS telephones on
GSM network:
Cost-effective and reliable
solution for roads and many other
applications
1.0 - INTRODUCTION
Posing copper cables and/or fiber optic cables on long distances can be very expensive. Not only for the pure cost of the cables, but mainly for the cost of cable-ways and relevant manpower. In fact the cost can be of many thousands Euro per km, depending by the type of cable and by the characteristics of the territory of the site. Consequently, sometime the installation of emergency telephones on roads is suspended waiting for a suitable financial budget.
Some important roads. highways and pay-roads are still not equipped with a suitable emergency telephone system, or they are equipped with obsolete and unreliable systems. Actually, many highly dangerous roads should be equipped with emergency telephones, and the respective public administrations are looking for a cost-effective solution.
This is why in 1996 we presented to the market the first Emergency SOS Telephone on GSM technology TLS-GSM®, connected to the pan-european cellular network, powered by a small solar panel, totally independent by any kind of cable.
The TELEINDUSTRIA TLS-GSM® allows a quick installation, it is highly reliable and remotely controlled. It can be used in many areas, such us highways, railways, remote sites, parkings, public areas.
2.0 - DESCRIZIONE DEL SISTEMA TLS-GSM E VANTAGGI PRINCIPALI
Of course, the TLS-GSM® is not a simple GSM telephone installed in a weather-proof case. It is really an Emergency System with remote control (through a main maintenance PC) designed to cover all the very special requirements of an emergency telephone to be used by simple persons in a probably panic-generating situation.
Each TLS-GSM® is an autonomous and fully independent entity, able to connect itself on any GSM network as like any standard GSM mobile telephone. A fault can affect just a telephone, not certainly a group of telephones, and the real unavailability period is very reduced because of the remote control system TelDia® which is producing a daily report on the status of all the GSM telephones of your system.
Each telephone is remotely programmed to originate a call when one of its call button is activated, to any telephone number you need. Each telephone can be easily re-located in case of works in progress with a simple two-person team in less then ½ an hour.
A typical EMERGENCY SOS TELEPHONE SYSTEM TLS-GSM® is composed with:
One or several TLS-GSM® distributed on a wide territory
A Call-Center for emergency calls reception (optional)
A maintenance center (optional)
3.0 – THE EMERGENCY SOS GSM TELEPHONE TLS-GSM®
The emergency telephone TLS-GSM® is composed by a stainless steel (INOX) front plate fixed on the supporting pillar/column by 4 screws. It is completed by a rear closing case, with protection degree IP65, equipped with IN/OUT cableglands.
The tailor-designed body makes easy the installation of the TLS-GSM® on any pillar/column manufactured by TELEINDUSTRIA (fiberglass or INOX) or, by proper matching plates and accessories, on any other column manufactured by third companies.
On the front plate are disposed the weather-proof and vandal-proof loudspeaker and microphone, together with 4 emergency push-buttons for activating the calls to the different call centres. All the electronic circuits are fixed on the rear part of the front plate, for a easy substitution of the whole telephone in case of default.
A separate case is supplied to locate the power-supply circuits, while the antenna is generally mounted in the pillar.
The activation of any of the 4 emergency push-buttons generates the dialling of a telephone number to any telephone user reachable through the GSM-PSTN local network.
If there is no electrical power locally available, the telephone can receive the power trhough a solar panel and a battery equipped with a specialized battery-charger. All these circuits can
be installed in the pillar or in a separate case.
On the rear part of the front panel, there are the following devices and parts:
• The Telephone & Control card controlled by a
microprocessor. This card supports the firmware supervising the entire functions of the telephone. It is designed to exchange data with the remote maintaining software at the centralized remote maintenance centre.
• The GSM transceiver: a high quality GSM module interfacing
the GSM network. It is continuosly supervised and managed by the Telephone & Control card. It can be offered with single or double SIM card.
Inside the pillar/column are generally fixed the auxiliary circuits:
• The power system: composed by a sealed Pb battery
charged by means of an electronic up-to-date managed by the Telephone & Control card.
• The terminal board for cables connection: to connect the
optional alarm sensors and detectors of the pillar (such as opening doors, extinguisher presence etc.)
The auxiliary circuits could be fixed directly in the pillar, or in a dedicated IP65 case as in the photo beside should the pillar be not weather-proof.
All the connections between the parts are made with MIL connectors weather-proof IP65.
The power-system is generally sized to offer a minimum of 10 minutes per day of continuous transmission and 24 hours per day of stand-by (sleeping mode), for a period of not less then 10 consecutive days in case of missing mains power.
The energy to keep charged the battery can be obtained both from 230Vac or from an external solar panel 12Vdc.
4.0 THE MAINTENANCE CENTRE TEL-DIA®
The remote maintenance centre is a PC equipped with a Voice/Fax modem connected on a PSTN network, completed by a data-base including all the data and information relevant to the TLS-GSM® telephones. The software TelDia® periodically updated the information receiving status reports from each TLS-GSM®.
The real unavailability index of the whole system is very low, because all the data of faulty telephones are available in real time, so that it is enough to organize a good maintenance service to reduce the fault-time.
The main data available at the Maintenance Station for each emergency telephone are:
• open/close front plate
• Faulty microphone or loudspeaker
• Electronic card check positive/negative
• Low battery
• Presence/absence of solar panel
• Anomaly inclination of the structure
5.0 – THE CALL CENTRE
The CALL-CENTER can be:
a) A simple analogue DTMF desk telephone connected on a PSTN line or through a PSTN/GSM inteface; in this case of
course you can not receive simultaneous calls from the emergency telephones. This solution si limited to low-profile very small applications, with no more then 10 – 20 emergency telephones.
b) A PABX with 2 to “n” incoming PTT lines PSTN (FXO), with its digital operator console equipped with large display
and dedicated keys+LEDs. In this case is easy to manage simultaneous incoming calls from emergency telephones, and the system can integrate automatic recording of the conversations, interfacing maps on PC, interfacing supervision systems. This solution match the typical requirements of a high-profile professional application.
c) A PC connected by a Voice/Fax modem on a PSTN line, equipped with TelDia® software interfaced to the PABX via
TAPI language to obtain the following functions: • Caller identification
• Description of the physical location
• Telephone number associated to the SIM cards
• Maps
6.0 – OPERATING DESCRIPTION
6.1 – Status of the emergency TLS-GSM®:
The TLS-GSM® operates in three modes:
• Sleeping mode
• Stand-by mode
• Active mode
Sleeping mode:
When this mode is active, the electronic circuits of the TLS-GSM® are not powered. Just the Control Card is working at low consumption, allowing the micro-controller to survey the alarm sensors on the key points of the telephone. If the status of one or more sensors changes, the telephone enter in “active mode”, originating an emergency or maintenance call. When in sleeping mode the telephone can not receive incoming calls. The sleeping mode can anyway be excluded by user programming if the emergency telephone must receive incoming calls.
Stand-by mode:
When this mode is active all the electronic circuits are under voltage, including the GSM transceiver so that the SIM card stay under registering of the network. The consumption of energy is still rather low. The TLS-GSM® switches itself to the stand-by mode from active mode at the end of a conversation, remaining in stand-by mode for a pre-defined time in order to be available for incoming calls.
Active mode:
The TLS-GSM® enters in active mode from stand-by mode when an emergency button is activated, or one or more alarm sensors are activated. In this mode the transceiver is working. Dependently by the cause which originated the entering in active mode, the telephone originates maintenance or emergency calls, or SMS transmission.
6.2 - Type of calls:
Dependently by the cause which generates the call (a user press an emergency button, or the sensors detect a anomaly, or is time to call the maintenance station according to the personalized program) the TLS-GSM® makes some automatic operations. The possible type of calls are:
• Programming calls
• User calls
• Receiving calls from maintenance centre
• Alarm calls
• Authorized calls from maitenance people
Programming calls:
The TLS-GSM® can immediately originate calls one time it is under voltage, but it needs to be programmed to send to the Maintenance Centre its periodical reports. The programming session is automatically done by a simple call to the Maintenance Centre, during which the TLS-GSM sends and receives essential data (telephone number of the maintenance centre, of the Emergency Centre or Centres, period of maintenance calls etc.). Of course the first initialization program can be easily changed anytime by authorized personnel.
User Call:
This is the emergency call originated by a persoin who press one of the emergency buttons. The microcontroller activates the GSM transceiver calling the memorized number of the Emergency Call Centre. Should the user press the emergency buttons while a Programming Call is under progress, this will be cancelled and the call to the Emergency Call Centre will be sent. The programming call will be re-started one time the emergency call will be terminated.
The Call Centre can detect the telephone number associated to the SIM card of the calling TLS-GSM®, obtaining information on the place where the telephone is.
Incoming Calls for remote maintenance:
The TLS-GSM® receives periodical calls from the Maintenance Centre, and send a package of data for evaluating the status:
• Front plate Open/Closed
• Microphone/Loudspeaker Working/not working
• Battery voltage Low/Normal
• Autotest positive/negative
• Solar panel good/default
• Structure inclined/vertical
• Residual autonomy
• Optional parameters
Alarm Call:
The micro-controller Control Card verifies in real time several sensors detecting the status of the equipment. Should it detect a condition incompatible with the proper operation of the telephone, an alarm call is automatically sent to the Maintenance Centre sending an alarm report. This function can be limitated to some of the sensors or inhibited by user programming. The main sensors originating a maintenance call are:
• Open equipment
• Inclination of the structure
• Low battery
• Solar panel default
• Personalized sensors
Call on authorized dialling:
The maintenance authorized personnel can orginate calls to programmed help numbers.
Automatic switch to the 2nd SIM card:
If the TLS-GSM® is equipped with dual SIM, it will automatically pass to the 2nd SIM when it is no more possible to work
through the 1st priority SIM. By programming is possible to change the priority from 1st to 2nd SIM.
6.3 – Text messages (SMS)
The TLS-GSM® can send and receive SMS messages, linked to the activation of emergency buttons or to activation of local sensors. Some functions are programmable by user.
6.4 – Speech Messages
If equipped with optional Speech Synthesis Card, the TLS-GSM® can issue speech messages on its loudspeaker (courtesy messages) or send speech messages on the telephone line after calling an emergency number (speech identification).
6.5 – Remote Activated Relays
The TLS-GSM® can be equiped with the otional Relay Card remotely activated, so that is possible to activate special functions or auxiliary local devices directlu from the Call Centre.
7.0 – ADVANTAGES
TLS-GSM® operates everywhere a GSM covering is present.
1. Reducing installation costs
2. No authorization demanded
3. No service interruption due to local works
4. Easy relocation of the emergency telephones
