Kaba ILCO FDU, User Manual, Page: 19 / 276

Chapter 2
8
Kaba Ilco Lodging Access Control System
Guest Common Area Doors accessible by groups of guests, using the same
keycard that also gives them private access to their
own room or suite. Staff access can also be permitted.
Examples: pool, parking, elevator.
Staff Common Area Doors accessible by groups of staff, using the same
keycard that gives them access to the doors they
require for their work. Examples: locker rooms,
cafeteria, staff lounge.
Restricted Area
Doors to sensitive areas such as computer rooms,
General Manager's office, liquor storage rooms, etc.
2.3 Front Desk Unit
The Front Desk Unit (FDU) is a portable computer console that runs the system. The
FDU contains a 128 x 64 dot LCD display screen, a keypad, and a manual swipe card
encoder for writing information to, and reading information from, magnetic stripe
keycards. The encoder has no moving parts and requires very little service other than the
occasional cleaning. The FDU operates on 9VDC power, which is supplied by the power
pack provided by Kaba Ilco for either 110VAC/60Hz or 220VAC/50Hz electrical lines.
For use away from a source of electricity or during a power failure, the FDU has an 8-
hour battery backup.
Depending on the requirements of the property, there are different types of FDU available
for use with either low coercivity or high coercivity keycards
(refer to Section 2.1 –
Keycards) , and for encoding keycards on 3 tracks together (triplewide) or on individual
tracks (triple track), if the hotel wishes to put POS information on the keycard.
All keycards are made on the FDU. Once an Authorization keycard has been swiped
through the encoder to activate the FDU, the user has access to the functions that are
allowed for their security level. Additionally, a PIN may be assigned to specific users to
provide the same functionality for encoding keycards
(refer to Section 4.2.6 - PIN Usage
as an Alternative to Authorization Keycards) . The FDU requests information for making
a keycard using simple questions on the screen. The user enters their choices (e.g. the
room number), and passes a blank keycard through the encoder at an even speed.
Successful encoding is indicated by a confirmation message on the screen.