“Research: the distance between an idea and its realization” – David Sarnoff, Pioneer of American radio and television
This was the quote used by Rodger Reiswig of JCI last week in his keynote to kick off the Detection portion of the 18th Annual SupDet program hosted by the Fire Protection Research Foundation in Atlanta, GA.
The Fire Protection Research Foundation hosts a technical conference held annually called “SupDet”, which focuses on specific research applications in the Suppression (hence “Sup”), and Detection (“Det”) industries.
Mr. Reiswig continued to highlight the impact research has made in the in the fire protection industry. This year, the detection portion of the conference focused on research in several critical areas including detection and signaling for First Responders, Residential Spaces, Wildfire and Smart Technology Systems.
Maria Marks, of Siemens, and Jason Webb, Potter Electric Signals, presented on Fire Prevention and Code Compliance in the Age of Information and Automation. As the Internet of Things and the Cloud continue to evolve, the Maria and Jason discussed the impact to life safety systems. Their passion was evident as they described the methods in which systems are being monitored, inspected, and tested, via unmanned equipment such as drones, and robots, as well as handheld devices such as tablets and smartphones. Maria and Jason further explained the benefits and concerns associated with such tasks and even went into how specific NFPA codes and standards (provided below) address automated inspection, testing, and maintenance.
- NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems
- NFPA 14, Standard for the Installation for Standpipe and Hose Systems
- NFPA 20, Standard for the Installation of Stationary Fire Pumps for Fire Protection
- NFPA 25, Standard for the Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems
- NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code ®
- NFPA 915, Standard for Remote Inspections (proposed standard)
If you missed SupDet, the slides from the presentations will be posted shortly on the SupDet website!
