Sensar Stellar and QNX
Maximum Reliability for Maximum Security

With the unfolding of world events in recent months,there has never been a greater focus on securing and safeguarding critical facilities such as airports, military bases, government institutions, and utilities. Many of these high-security installations rely on outdoor intrusion detection systems built by Senstar-Stellar Corporation to reduce the risk of sabotage, theft, damage, or personal injury.

Senstar-Stellar's state-of-the-art systems rely on the company's unique, proprietary coaxial sensor cable technology. To maximize the effectiveness of its systems, Senstar-Stellar also provides a sophisticated alarm monitoring and control system -- known as Senstar 100 -- which integrates an entire network of exterior and interior security sensors and sensor systems. This central controller oversees realtime monitoring using standard computers.

Given its focal position in a security system, Senstar 100 needed to be stable, accurate, and reliable. For Senstar-Stellar, only one operating system could match the exacting demands of Senstar 100: the QNX realtime operating system (RTOS).

Quick Facts

• Senstar-Stellar's Senstar 100 control system provides
  centralized monitoring of interior and exterior intrusion
  detection systems.
• System at work in airports, military bases, correctional
  institutions, and other high-security facilities.
• The QNX RTOS was chosen for its industrial-strength
  performance and reliability.
• The POSIX compliance of the QNX RTOS simplified
  and accelerated system development.

“Our applications are critical to the security of our customers, so there is no room for errors,” explained Susan Ball, development manager. “Going with the QNX RTOS was a natural choice for its industrial strength and unmatched reliability.We were astounded by the QNX RTOS's performance, which surpassed all other OSs.”

At the main control center, every aspect of an interconnected security system feeds into Senstar 100. With 64 customized color maps and touchscreen control, every corner of a Senstar-Stellar-protected facility is visible 24/7 to security teams. Any disturbance to the smart sensors of Senstar-Stellar intrusion detection systems will prompt a map to pop up on a computer screen, alerting security stations to the exact location of the breach. Menu-driven response sequences help security teams act fast and immediately.

“Senstar 100 is a very powerful product, thanks to the QNX RTOS,” said Ms. Ball. “QNX products perform exceptionally well and are extremely reliable and fast. Senstar100 also takes advantage of the QNX RTOS's built-in networking capabilities.”

Ms. Ball also found that the QNX RTOS was very easy to learn because of its Unix roots and its POSIX API. “If you know Unix, then the QNX RTOS is a natural. That, combined with the ease of writing drivers and a rich GUI, makes the QNX RTOS a very reliable and rapid development platform.”

Today, after 18 years of using QNX technology, Senstar- Stellar continues to deploy QNX in new projects. Ms. Ball adds, “We pair QNX with industrial PCs. We had one customer report that their system ran for 10 years without ever crashing. That's unmatched reliability.”