The purpose of the Facilites Monitoring System is to monitor and log a large number of signals that can be distributed through an entire laboratory or even a building complex.

The application uses Fieldpoint Ethernet modules for distributed I/O. The built-in logging and security capabilities of LabVIEW DSC are used in the server application. Users can check the status of the system remotely using a web-browser. Alarms can also be suspended remotely from a web-browser.

Monitoring consists on verifying at a regular interval that the measured value is still within the programmable range. An alarm state is generated if the measure value is out of range. Monitored devices that are missing a sensor (from disconnection, short-, or open-circuit conditions) will also generate an alarm. Programmable delays prevent outgoing alarms for temporary disruptions.

Each alarm-status has an associated color and symbol:

	The signal is good.
	The signal is below the acceptable range, but the delay time has not yet expired. An Alarm status has been logged.
	The signal is above the acceptable range, but the delay time has not yet expired. An Alarm status has been logged.
	The signal is below the acceptable range past the delay time. An Outgoing Alarm is generated and logged.
	The signal is above the acceptable range past the delay time. An Outgoing Alarm is generated and logged.
	An operator has temporarily suspended the alarm, presumably to analyze and fix the problem that occurred.
	Alarm checking on this signal has been disabled, presumably because the monitored device is not in use.
	The system has detected a bad-status condition, such as a network outage.

Using the web-interface, two views are available.

The main view represents the physical layout of the system, modeled on the building floor plans. This facilitates assessing the global state of the system, and provides an intuitive means of navigating through the facility to access the configuration and state details for individual devices & sensors. Clicking on a particular location in the floor-plan view will "zoom" to a more detailed floor-plan, indicating the locations of each of the devices that are being monitored, and their status


On the server machine, additional views are available:

Device View
Clicking on a device/sensor in the location view "zooms" to the corresponding Device view, (assuming the user is logged in as either an Operator or an Administrator) which will display information about the monitored device.

Trend View
Trend views display an interactive chart that plots past data retrieved from the Citadel historical database. These views can be customized to show data for a given time span, and range.
In addition, the system allows viewing of the current alarms and the alarm log. Administrators can also modify user accounts. Alarms can be suspended remotely, but need to be acknowledged on the server. Comments need to be entered each time an alarm is suspended or acknowledged.

Standard Features:

• Monitoring of distributed signals at a regular interval, as fast as once per second.
  
• Logging of signal levels and alarms for 10 years.
  
• 15 different alarm levels tied into the building alarm system
  
• remote access through a web-browser for at-a-glance view of the overall system and individual device-status
  
• remote suspension of alarms with user login and comments.
  
• configurable user-accounts, divided in three groups: Administrators, Operators and Guests.
  
• Acknowledge of alarms with user login and comments.
  
• Graphical display of signal trends.
  
  

Optional Features:

• Email and/or pager notification of alarms
  
• Remote viewing and/or control of device parameters
  
• Remote viewing of signal trends
  
• Customized Report generation
  
• Web Enabled Cell Phone access to the system
  
• Scheduled suspension of signal monitoring
  
• Customized alarm notification per signal or group of signals