Specifications

346 Module 136: System Monitoring | Contact ID Monitoring
Contact ID Monitoring
Offsite monitoring can be achieved using either ContactID or SIA over a PSTN phone line and / or via any of the
supported IP protocols across the internet.
Monitoring Station
PSTN
Internet
Both options are built in to all Protege controllers and do not require any additional hardware or licenses.
Traditional Analog CID Monitoring
When alarm systems first started reporting to a central monitoring station they often used a third party alarm
dialler. This device had one or more inputs onboard, which would initiate a phone call to a central monitoring
station. The dialler would use either a series of pulses or beeps, or DTMF tones to communicate a message to
an alarm receiver at the monitoring station, much like morse code.
Alarm Transmitted
Kiss off sent
Contact ID Alarm Transmission
Alarm Panel
Phone Line
(PSTN)
Telecom Exchange Phone Line Alarm Receiver
As alarm monitoring became more popular, more and more alarm panels came out with onboard diallers, and
the industry started to settle on a number of standards or protocols for the communication of alarms.
Contact ID seems to have become one of the most popular of these protocols, and is supported be most
modern alarm systems.