|
False Alarms
A false alarm, also called a nuisance alarm, is the deceptive or erroneous report of an emergency, causing unnecessary panic and/or bringing resources (such as emergency services) to a place where they are not needed. False alarms may occur with residential burglary alarms, smoke detectors, industrial alarms, fire alarms and in signal detection theory. False alarms have the potential to divert emergency responders away from legitimate emergencies, which could ultimately lead to loss of life. In some cases, repeated false alarms in a certain area may cause occupants to develop alarm fatigue and to start ignoring most alarms, knowing that each time it will probably be false. Intentionally falsely activating alarms in businesses and schools can lead to serious disciplinary actions, and criminal penalties such as fines and jail time. Overview The term "false alarm" refers to alarm systems in many different applications being triggered by something other than the expected trigger-ev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alarm
ALARM (Air Launched Anti-Radiation Missile) is a British anti-radiation missile designed primarily to destroy enemy radars for the purpose of Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). It was used by the Royal Air Force, RAF and is still used by the Royal Saudi Air Force. The weapon was retired by the UK at the end of 2013. History The Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence received offers for a new anti-radiation missile in late 1982; BAe Dynamics, British Aerospace Dynamics offered ALARM while Texas Instruments teamed with Lucas Aerospace offered its AGM-88 HARM, HARM missile. Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine announced the selection of ALARM on 29 July 1983. The initial order was 750 missiles for the RAF. The selection process was controversial; the battle between the contractors was bitter, the Ministry of Defence favoured ALARM to retain UK industrial capabilities while the Treasury favoured the cheaper and proven HARM. In early 1986, BAe recognised th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1983 Soviet Nuclear False Alarm Incident
On 26 September 1983, during the Cold War, the Soviet nuclear early warning system Oko reported the launch of one intercontinental ballistic missile with four more missiles behind it, from the United States. These missile attack warnings were suspected to be false alarms by Stanislav Petrov, an engineer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces on duty at the command center of the early-warning system. He decided to wait for corroborating evidence—of which none arrived—rather than immediately relaying the warning up the chain of command. This decision is seen as having prevented a retaliatory nuclear strike against the United States and its NATO allies, which would likely have resulted in a full-scale nuclear war. Investigation of the satellite warning system later determined that the system had indeed malfunctioned. Background The incident occurred at a time of severely strained relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Responding to the Soviet Union's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burglar Alarm
A security alarm is a system designed to detect intrusions, such as unauthorized entry, into a building or other areas, such as a home or school. Security alarms protect against burglary (theft) or property damage, as well as against intruders. Examples include personal systems, neighborhood security alerts, car alarms, and prison alarms. Some alarm systems serve a single purpose of burglary protection; combination systems provide Fire alarm system, fire and intrusion protection. Intrusion-alarm systems are combined with closed-circuit television surveillance (CCTV) systems to record intruders' activities and interface to access control systems for electrically locked doors. There are many types of security systems. Homeowners typically have small, self-contained noisemakers. These devices can also be complicated, multirole systems with computer and network surveillance, computer monitoring and control. It may even include a two-way voice which allows communication between the pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2018 Hawaii False Missile Alert
On the morning of January 13, 2018, an alert was accidentally issued via the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts, Wireless Emergency Alert System over television, radio, and cellular networks in the U.S. state of Hawaii, instructing citizens to seek shelter due to an incoming ballistic missile. The message was sent at 8:08 a.m. Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone, local time and the state had not authorized Civil defense siren, civil defense outdoor warning sirens to sound. 38 minutes and 13 seconds later, state officials blamed a miscommunication during a drill at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency for the first message. Then-Governor David Ige apologized for the erroneous alert. The Federal Communications Commission and the Hawaii House of Representatives launched investigations into the incident, leading to the resignation of the state's emergency management administrator. Background 2017–2018 North Korea crisis, Escalating tensions between North Korea a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2005 Connecticut False Evacuation Alert
On February 1, 2005, the Emergency Alert System was activated in portions of Connecticut calling for the immediate evacuation of the entire state. The activation was in error. Later studies showed that residents did not evacuate, and that the most common response was to 'change the channel' or seek other confirmation. Background The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a public warning system in the United States that allows designated government authorities to suspend and preempt terrestrial radio and television broadcasts when needed to issue urgent public safety alerts. The highest priority alert that can be issued is an Emergency Action Notification (EAN), sometimes called a "presidential alert". An EAN sets into motion a series of events that causes all of the United States' television and radio stations to become networked together to simulcast the President of the United States, or another federal official. An Emergency Action Notification has never been used for an actual even ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alarm Fatigue
Alarm fatigue or alert fatigue describes how busy workers (in the case of health care, clinicians) become desensitized to safety alerts, and as a result ignore or fail to respond appropriately to such warnings. Alarm fatigue occurs in many fields, including construction and mining (where vehicle back-up alarms sound so frequently that they often become senseless background noise), healthcare (where electronic monitors tracking clinical information such as vital signs and blood glucose sound alarms so frequently, and often for such minor reasons, that they lose the urgency and attention-grabbing power which they are intended to have), and the nuclear power field. Like crying wolf, such false alarms rob the critical alarms of the importance they deserve. Alarm management and policy are critical to prevent alarm fatigue. Healthcare The constant sounds of alarms and noises from blood pressure machines, ventilators and heart monitors causes a "tuning out" of the sounds due to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seton Hall University
Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest Diocese, diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall consists of 9 schools and colleges and has an undergraduate enrollment of about 5,800 students and a graduate enrollment of about 4,400. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The university is known for its Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball, men's basketball team, which has appeared in 13 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournaments after making it to the final of the 1989 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, 1989 tournament and losing 79–80 in overtime to the 1988–89 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team, Michigan Wolve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanislav Petrov
Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov (; 7 September 1939 – 19 May 2017) was a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces who played a key role in the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident. On 26 September 1983, three weeks after the Soviet military had shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, Petrov was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko nuclear early-warning system when the system reported that a missile had been launched from the United States, followed by up to four more. Petrov judged the reports to be a false alarm. His subsequent decision to disobey orders, against Soviet military protocol, is credited with having prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its NATO allies that would have likely resulted in a large-scale nuclear war. An investigation later confirmed that the Soviet satellite warning system had indeed malfunctioned. Because of his decision not to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike amid this incident, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constant False Alarm Rate
Constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detection is a common form of adaptive algorithm used in radar systems to detect target returns against a background of noise, clutter and interference. Principle In the radar receiver, the returning echoes are typically received by the antenna, amplified, down-converted to an intermediate frequency, and then passed through detector circuitry that extracts the envelope of the signal, known as the ''video signal''. This video signal is proportional to the power of the received echo. It comprises the desired echo signal as well as the unwanted signals from internal receiver noise and external clutter and interference. The term ''video'' refers to the resulting signal being appropriate for display on a cathode ray tube, or "video screen". The role of the constant false alarm rate circuitry is to determine the power threshold above which any return can be considered to probably originate from a target as opposed to one of the spurious sources. If ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smoke Detector
A smoke detector is a device that senses smoke, typically as an indicator of fire. Smoke detectors/alarms are usually housed in plastic enclosures, typically shaped like a disk about in diameter and thick, but shape and size vary. Smoke can be detected either optically (Photodiode, photoelectric) or by physical process (ionization). Detectors may use one or both sensing methods. Sensitive detectors can be used to detect and deter smoking in banned areas. Smoke detectors in large commercial and industrial buildings are usually connected to a central fire alarm system. Household smoke detectors, also known as ''smoke alarms'', generally issue an audible or visual alarm from the detector itself or several detectors if there are multiple devices interconnected. Household smoke detectors range from individual battery-powered units to several interlinked units with battery backup. With interlinked units, if any unit detects smoke, alarms will trigger all of the units. This happens eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Detection Theory
Detection theory or signal detection theory is a means to measure the ability to differentiate between information-bearing patterns (called stimulus in living organisms, signal in machines) and random patterns that distract from the information (called noise, consisting of background stimuli and random activity of the detection machine and of the nervous system of the operator). In the field of electronics, signal recovery is the separation of such patterns from a disguising background. According to the theory, there are a number of determiners of how a detecting system will detect a signal, and where its threshold levels will be. The theory can explain how changing the threshold will affect the ability to discern, often exposing how adapted the system is to the task, purpose or goal at which it is aimed. When the detecting system is a human being, characteristics such as experience, expectations, physiological state (e.g. fatigue) and other factors can affect the threshold app ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
