The very first burglar alarms were fairly unsophisticated things. Even once people had moved on from the simplicity of having a dog to bark at intruders or placing a bucket behind the door they used simply bells and wires.
A system of bells and wires can be pretty effective if the burglar isn’t expecting it, but once it becomes known that some houses use this sort of system the thieves can avoid it pretty easily. Thankfully, the last few decades have seen incredible advances in the technology used in home security devices, and here are some of the benefits that a system from a top firm like ADT brings with it.
We have all seen the classic image of a baddie cutting a home’s phone line to leave the place unprotected. This is not going to do them much good with the modern wireless type of alarm system though. By using a broadband connection instead of a conventional phone line there is no risk of them rendering the system useless with such a simple tactic.
Passive Infra Red
So how does a modern burglar alarm detect that someone is in the house? Surprisingly, most people don’t know that many of them now work by picking up on the subtle temperature change caused by the presence of a person near the sensors. This is far from the only method currently in use but it is a sophisticated and reliable method of finding out whether there is any degree of unexpected movement in the property.
Another way of locating intruders without using bells and wires is by using ultrasonic sound waves. Of course, humans can’t hear these but they are extremely effective in allowing movement to be detected. These sound waves are reflected back off the surfaces of the house but are distorted by anyone who gets in the way of them. This means that the sound which gets back to the alarm device will be slightly different from the one which was sent out by it. Well, if it’s good enough for bats to fly by…
No More False Alarms
There are a few different technologies now being used to cut down on those dreaded false alarms. Perhaps the easiest one to explain is the one which involves the dual verification system. For example, the passive infra red detectors may pick up what appears to be the movement of a person in the protected property. However, before the security firm will move onto the next stage of the alarm process they will check video footage or still pictures which were automatically taken when the alarm was activated. This means that they can confirm the situation through both methods of intruder identification.