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Kestrel Emergency Telephone System – KETS

Kestrel Emergency Telephone System – KETS

20/04/2012 | Channel: Security, Business Improvement, New Products & Services

KETS has been designed primarily to provide a secure, reliable emergency telephone system for level crossings

KETS has been developed to provide an alternative to the existing Public Emergency Telephone System (PETS). It is an entirely different method of operation from the existing system but it has been designed to present information to the control room or the signal box in the same way. Comprising a concentrator sited in a signal box and one or more telephones sited at a level crossing connected back to the concentrator via a single copper pair, the system provides emergency telephone communication between the crossing and the signal box, as well as comprehensive diagnostic and status reporting functions. The system has been designed by Kestrel Telecom, who has been delivering products and solutions to Network Rail, London Underground and Transport for London for over twenty years.

KETS has been designed primarily to provide a secure, reliable emergency telephone system for level crossings and works directly into the Hawk concentrator. Kestrel has developed its own version of Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signalling to provide a more secure technique with the ability to operate through higher levels of noise than the standard achieved for normal telephone communication. The design includes extensive frequency analysis to overcome mis-recognition of DTMF tones generated within speech patterns. It also has the facility to interface to other concentrators and PBXs; each KETS circuit can interface with an external concentrator via an auto line or an exchange line port.

GAI-Tronics was a natural choice to partner with; they are a UK manufacturer with design and engineering capabilities all under one roof and over 30 years’ experience of delivering weatherproof telephones into the rail environment. As a result, the mechanics of GAI-Tronics’ Network Rail-approved Titan weather-resistant telephone is utilised, with the specialised internal electronics manufactured by them, under licence from Kestrel.

At the level crossing, up to four telephones may be installed with each one self-monitoring its condition and reporting back within one second of any change of state. Change of state may be either a call status or an alarm condition.

The system operates over a single telephone pair using an omnibus type of solution but with very secure control ensuring that only one phone is allowed to converse with the signal box at any time. Subsequent call attempts from any of the other phones while a call is in progress are reported to the signal box within one second.

The system has two modes of operation:
  • Common calling to all outstation phones on the line pair with common presentation of incoming calls to the signal box.
  • Call out to an individual phone and presentation of the individual phone calling at the signal box.
KETS could be installed at Automatic Half Barrier (AHB) crossings, occupational crossings and security gate systems as a replacement for trackside magneto phone applications to provide secure communications where local copper pairs are in limited supply. It can operate over suitably configured 64kB bearer channels when the distance between the control, signal box or the outstation location precludes the use of copper pairs.

Sales and marketing of the Hawk product and the KETS system is undertaken by Fone-Alarm Installations Ltd (FAI), who is also able to provide full support for the product. As approved installers to Network Rail and London Underground in particular, they are also ideally placed to provide installation and commissioning services for this product when required.

FAI, Kestrel and GAI-Tronics have worked jointly on the development of the KETS system, which is currently going through final stages of approval.

The KETS system offers many advantages:
  • No need for local UPS power at the outstations (central battery form of power, i.e. all crossing phones line-fed)
  • Reliable, weather- and vandal-resistant phone from GAI-Tronics
  • Simplicity of installation – basically the only site installation consists of the GAI-Tronics telephones together with a small termination unit
  • Faster response times to call attempts – typically around one second from set-up
  • Ability to call back even if the outstation handset(s) are left off hook
  • Ability to work over exceptionally noisy telephone lines
  • Visual plain language display unit providing system status at all times
  • Facility to interface to PBXs and other concentrators
  • Constant alarm monitoring, allowing for outstation telephone status to be advised at all times
  • Site visits on a regular basis not required, thus saving significant maintenance costs. (No local UPS and active monitoring of the outstation telephones presents the status of the system at the signal box at all times).

Come & visit GAI-Tronics at Infrarail on Stand B54

For more information about the KETS system or to organise a demonstration please contact:

GAI-Tronics (Harry Kaur)
Tel: 01283 703 387
Web: www.gai-tronics.co.uk

Fone-Alarm Installations Ltd (John Hazell)
Tel: 01737 223 673
Web: www.fonealarm.co.uk

Kestrel Telecom Limited (Reg Athill)
Tel: 01258 471 773
Web: www.kestreltele.com