When going home, swipe the card to open the front gate. When driving to a public place like a shopping mall, hospital, school, etc, the bar is lifted after reading your license plate. The system behind the doors is the access control system, shorted for ACS, its purpose is to control the entry limits of authority, and to makes sure the security of the community.

What devices are used in the access control system?
For a small building like a private house or an office, the system only controls one or two doors, a simple system could be packed in a small box, such as an electric door lock and access control keypad/card reader and power supply. sometimes, more extra accessories are also required, like a doorbell, remote control, RFID, etc.
For public places, like a hospital, shopping malls, whole skyscrapers, or other places that need special control, like a prison, banks, and government buildings. The huge system is made up of hundreds of access control/card readers and locks, and each lock requests a specified entry authority. It’s controlled by the control panel, usually with detectors for monitoring near each door. Usually, the complicated ACS also integrates the function of the data process, like recording the time of entry, counting times of entry in a week of each authority, etc.
How does access control work?
First, identify the access authority, transfer the electric signal to access control, which could determine if the authority could enter/exit, and last send a signal to lock for opening or keeping close.
Neither simple systems nor complex systems, they both need a signal transfer. There are 3 common ways of communication methods, RS-232, RS-485, and TCP/IP.
RS-232: the transfer distance is less than 15M, only for small systems, now it’s almost out of the market.
RS-485: the transfer distance is approx. 1000M, and could achieve one computer control multiple access control keypad. Long-distance transfer doesn’t affect the speed, max. 10M/second. Enlarge the control space and improve working efficiency.
TCP/IP: it’s the standard communication protocol, with no limit on transfer distance and load controller, and also could achieve very fast speed.

Which way does access control use?
Now as the electrical and Biotechnology develop, the operation of access control is not only the traditional password and RFID card- IC/ID/HID/Mifare cards tapping, but Bluetooth, NFC, WIFI, fingerprint recognition, face, iris recognition, QR code recognition, etc.

Who can get the access authority?
The access control or computer of the control panel could authorize entry, and enter the right info into the system. In this part, biotech is safer, cards and other devices could be lost and steel, face, and fingerprint are unique.
Off cause, the price is directly proportional to the complex and new tech, wish everyone could choose the right access control.