SALTO smart access system keeps University College Dublin students secure

(25/03/2011)

University College Dublin (UCD)'s new Roebuck Castle Residence Hall provides 133 beds of student catered accommodation. Each unit is made up of 12 single en suite rooms with a shared kitchenette, lounge and a quiet shared study room. The units are “catered” that is they include a cooked breakfast and evening meal in the rental price for a current charge of €7.50 a day.

University College Dublin (UCD) has implemented a smart access control solution from SALTO Systems in its new Roebuck Castle student accommodation facility.

Richard Brierley, Manager of Residential Services at University College Dublin, said “Further to the renovation of accommodation at our Merville Student Village apartments that we did last year and a second phase of refurbishment we did earlier this year, Roebuck Castle was a brand new build offering something new to UCD students. Having used SALTO in many other buildings on campus, we had no hesitation in choosing the system again for this building. Incorporating the latest in wireless access control technology, it helps us to provide for the safety of our student residents as well as offing good flexibility and security access.”

"As specialists in the field of university access control systems, the SALTO solution was ideal for Roebuck Castle student accommodation" comments Stephen Foley from Doorware Ltd SALTO’s Irish distributor who carried out the installation. "Working in consultation with Richard and his team at UCD we designed a highly secure and flexible networked access control system to meet all of the requests of the university. The advanced system design incorporates wireless XS4 E9451U85IM48W RF electronic mortise locks as well as standard E9450U00IM48 units, together with wireless gateways and repeaters, standard CU50ENSVN units, WRM9001 wall readers and WRM9001E wall readers.

These all help to provide a system that combines the efficiency of both on-line and off-line applications in a single system and provides real-time wireless communication with SALTO stand alone battery powered escutcheons that simplfy security management within the accommodation building and provide unrivalled levels of access control flexibility.”

Providing real time access control without the need for wiring is at the heart of the SALTO wireless system. Any number of doors can be equipped with the solution at a much lower cost than a conventional wired access control system and it is so efficient that battery power consumption is close to that of standard battery powered electronic escutcheons.

It uses AES128 bits encrypted radio frequency communication based on IEEE 802.15.4 at 2,4Ghz to transfer information from escutcheons to the PC through strategically located gateways or repeaters. These gateways and repeaters are sited in various points throughout the building and act as antennas, collecting and sending information from the PC to the stand alone wireless locks. One gateway can manage several repeaters and electronic escutcheons, minimizing infrastructure costs and maximizing flexibility.

This provides users with real time audit trail information – they can view door access in real time without having to visit the door. It provides real time door control – they can view door status in real time. It provides real time battery control – enabling users to monitor battery maintenance by viewing the lock battery status in real time. And key management is made easy – access card issues are resolved in real time as the locks receive updates as soon as they are generated.

The SALTO wireless system is compatible with most common RFID technologies including
Mifare/DESfire, Inside Picopass, Legic and HID iClass which means integration is easy, and in most instances users, as is the case with UCD, can continue using their existing cards for all their applications – providing unrivalled flexibility.

Related topics:  Building access control system   Door entry systems and locks   Smart card 

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