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Appendix C
Software Integration of APUs
To assist with the integration of APUs with other systems, Fiber SenSys provides a Software
Development Kit (Device SDK) for the Windows® platform that hides the details of the APU
communications protocol behind easy-to-use interfaces. The Device SDK comes with a nearly-
complete middleware application that, in many cases, requires only the code necessary to
output the messages required by the existing system. The Device SDK can be downloaded from
Software developers using the Device SDK
do not
need to understand the communications
protocol used by the APU. Moreover, Fiber SenSys reserves the right to modify and adjust the
protocol itself over time. However, the rest of this section provides information that can be useful
in constructing software that attempts to communicate with APUs using the protocol. Information
given in this section requires the reader to be familiar with XML encoding.
The APU communicates via XML (extensible markup language); specifically, a standard XML
language known as SEIWG ICD-100. This standard is defined by the Security Equipment
Integration Working Group of the United States Department of Device for interoperability
between Command and Control Display Equipment (CCDE) and related devices such as Fiber
SenSys APUs. Using ICD-100, the APU sends status messages to the network such as alarm,
tamper, and fault conditions, and can receive device configuration settings.