This issue should be first viewed from the perspective of the history of guard tour systems.

• The earliest guard tour systems are based on paper. Located at each guard tour checkpoint is a mailbox-like locked metal box with a deposit slot. Once a patrol personnel reaches the checkpoint, he/she would write down the time of arrival and his/her ID on a piece of paper and deposit it into the box. Managers would perform random check-ups at the checkpoints to read the paper slips and find out who has been there and who hasn't. This method is not only inconvenient, but also difficult to accurately assess job performances.
• Later, the paper-based system was replaced by guard tour punch card clocks. The punch card clocks work in the following way: the patrolling personnel carries a specialized clock on the patrol routes. After arriving at a checkpoint, a special key is taken from a box installed there, and turned inside the clock. A punch card has been previously installed inside the clock, and a mark different for every key is printed on the punch card together with the time. The manager will then collect the cards and assess the performance level of the patrollers. The punch card clocks were inconvenient to carry, broke down often, and the many punchcards collected made calculating accurate employee performance statistics a cumbersome job.
• With the advancement of technology, electronic guard tour systems based on contact-type TM cards came into use. The TM cards contain integrated circuit boards that get their power when the guard tour readers make contact with the cards. This way, the readers are able to read the unique identification numbers stored within the cards' circuit boards, and save them together with the time of reading inside the reader's internal memory. When the patrol routes are completed, the readers are connected to data transfer units to upload their contents onto a computer, where the data will be recorded and verified. There are many advantages to the TM card-based guard tour systems compared to earlier solutions: the Guard Tour readers are small in size and easy to carry, and computerized data collection and verification are much faster and more accurate. Since then, contact-based TM cards were popularly used not only in guard tour systems, but also in fields such as consumer product storage management, access control, and time attendance management. These types of systems, however, are not without their flaws, such as:
  • Wear and tear on the contact points of both the cards and the readers.
  • Having exposed signal checkpoints make them vulnerable to the effects of weather, as well as human sabotage and theft.
  • The need to physically make contact with the cards make them difficult to use in some situations.
• Most recently, contact-type signal cards were replaced by non-contact type signal cards based on radio frequency (RFID) signal. In most of the fields described above, RFID signal cards have become the standard. However, the guard tour systems industry has remained the exception by being still largely dependent on contact-type TM cards.

Why is it that TM cards are still used in guard tour systems around the world? That's because two major technical obstacles had to be overcome before non-contact type guard tour systems could be widely adapted:

1. Energy consumption. Because non-contact cards need to be given power via radio waves, the energy spent by the non-contact card readers are much greater than contact-type readers.
2. Durability and waterproofing. Because of electromagnetic compatibility issues associated with RFID signals used by the non-contact readers, it has been difficult to install sturdy and waterproof casings on them.

A few years ago, Bluecard successfully overcame these two obstacles, leading the guard tour industry toward a new era of non-contact type systems. Currently, contact-based guard tour systems around the world are rapidly being replaced by non-contact systems. The reason for this can be summed up in these reasons:

1. Their need for physical contact meant that TM type contact-type cards must be exposed when installed exposed to the elements, making them vulnerable to the effects of rain, snow, fog, and other weather conditions, increasing the rate of breakdown. This also makes contact-type systems unusable in places where the contact points are easily blocked, such as low-temperature areas where ice can form on the surface of the signal cards, and also in dirty environments where the contact points can be blocked by dust.
2. The fact that contact-type cards mused be exposed meant that they often become targets of human sabotage and theft.
3. The contact points on both the TM-type cards and readers can easily wear out because the guard tour readers must physically make contact with the signal cards to perform readings. High-volume and haphazard usage can easily break down the readers this way and make them unusable.

These are all past problems that become eaily resolved once RFID-based non-contact guard tour systems were put into place. Because data from the signal cards are read without contact, they can be buried inside walls, making them invulnerable to the effects of weather (rain, snow, fog, dust, etc.) as well as to intentional sabotage and theft. In addition, neither the RFID signal cards nor the guard tour readers have contact points, eliminating the possibility of contact-based damages.

As more problems with contact-type guard tour systems become exposed and the users become ever more sophisticated, Bluecard continues in its developmental efforts, making products that are ever more reliable and with more capabilites. Contact-type guard tour readers are exiting from the stage of guard tour products, just as paper and punch clock-based systems have done in the past, making room for the much more reliable and convenient non-contact type products. The proof is that most new installations of guard tour systems today are done with non-contact type equipment rather than contact type.

In off-line type guard tour systems, the patrolling personnel bring with them a card reader (also called "guard tour reader") to read from cards installed along the route. The data is later passed onto the central computer via a communication cable. In this system, each checkpoint is composed of a signal card.

The following chart compares some of the differences in characteristics between the two system types.

Bury below surfaces: used with round type and cylinder type cards, can bury signal cards inside walls up to a depth of 2cm. Tube type cards are especially easy to install. Simply bore a small hole at a checkpoint, insert the card inside, then seal the borehole with concrete or other material.

When subsurface installations are inconveniont, they can be affixed to the surface with a screw: used with round type cards with center hole.

Since guard tour systems were designed to manage personnel, those being managed will naturally have the urge to resist, with the readers being the most likely targets of intentional damage. Some malicious guards might submerge the readers in water, then say that they were damaged during rain; other might intentionally drop them or hit them against surfaces. Whatever the method, the motive is to escape the responsibilities of their jobs.

Guard tour reader devices are usually used in environments where the conditions are hostile to the functioning of sophisticated electronics. Devices designed for everyday use would not last. Some of the capabilities they must have include being completely waterproof, shock absorbent, usable in extremely low temperatures, have long battery lives, and are able to guard against intentional battery drainage. Therefore, the quality of guard tour readers must be military-grade for them to be useful in the real world.

In complete guard tour systems, even though the card readers are what their users see the most, they are only a part of what is needed for the system to work. For managers, it is also extremely important to be able to record and verify the patrol data conveniently and accurately. Since all mangers may not have the same level of computer literacy, the software that is designed for their use must be as easy and intuitive.

The software also must be able to accurately process large volumes of complicated data, and automatically generate reports based on verification results. For these reasons, a well-designed management software is a crucial component of a modern guard tour system. Many guard tour system manufacturers have only emphasized the development of hardware but neglected their software, resulting in guard tour systems with readers that function only as the equivalent of ID recorders, making it neccessary for verification to be done by hand. This is contrary to the original intention of electronic guard tour systems, which is to make the assessment of the job performance of patrol guards efficient and accurate. A good management software is able to assist in the analyzation of collected data, in addition to being easy to learn and use. In other words, it can be said that the successful deployment of guard tour systems is heavily dependent on the good design of its management software. (click here to try out our software)

The earliest guard tour management systems are fairly small in scale, making the use of computer networks unnecessary. As computer networks become more popularized and managers become more capable, there appears the need for network-based guard tour management systems. This was when those types of software systems were created.

Network-based guard tour management software are able to pass the data collected through computer networks for central processing. This way, managers can remotely assess the status of patrols. They are a product of more detailed management methods and computers becoming ever more networked. Network-based software can significantly improve the work quality and volume that can be handled by managers. Today, most guard tour systems manufacturers do not yet have the resources to product network-enabled software of high quality. However, it is believe that as more software companies enter the field of guard tour management software development, well-made network-based guard tour management software will become more common.

During the development of Bluecard's guard tour systems, the company gathered some of the best talents in industrial design, electromagnetic engineering, software engineering, and other related fields, all having many years of experiences in their respective fields. Our development team based their work on thorough market research and references to the latest technologies in the industry, and created products with the characteristics of:

1. Systemized design: from the management software to the hardware of the guard tour readers, all of our products are designed to be cooperative parts of an integrated system. They are also designed with the users' needs in mind, allowing for customizations and connections to the users' own software and hardware.
2. Highly reliable, with a wide range of capabilities. Specialized electromagnetic circuit designs produced revolutionary savings in energy usage, enabling practical applications of non-contact type guard tour readers. Waterproofing and shock-absorbing designs reduced the rate of breakdown.
3. Network enabled and specialized management software. Contains all of the features users would want and none of the features they wouldn't want. Simple yet powerful, and designed in accordance to the managers' work habits. In ensuring their quality, our products are designed and manufactured according the ISO9001 specifications, and sold only through ISO9002 certified resellers.

Since non-contact signal cards rely on electromagnetic waves to transmit power and data, their effective reading distance can be shortened when used on metal surfaces. When placed on less conductive metals such as iron, the effect is minimal, and the cards can be used normally. The effect is more pronounced when they are used on more conductive metals such as aluminum and copper. In these circumstances, the cards can be elevated from the metal surfaces by 5-10mm using card installation seats. Specially designed cards that are not affected by metal can also be used, which can be installed on or beneath metallic surfaces.

There is also available a sepcial signal card model (BLC-07) that can be embedded directly inside metallic surfaces. These are generally used to keep track of equipment usage.

Comparisons Between Bluecard Guard Tour Systems and Imitators

Although it is easy to imitate the appearance of Bluecard's products, it is very difficult to copy its functional qualities. Some of the reasons include:

1. Low-power designs. Proprietary system boards consist of complex circuits and specialized parts, making them difficult to imitate.

2. The specially developed operating software inside the guard tour readers.

3. Highly reliable design. High levels of manufacturing skills are required to produce the devices that are waterproof, shock-absorbent, and small in size.

Non-contact type guard tour readers are durable in design and convenient to use. Currently, there are no GPS products made specifically for use as guard tour systems, and have problems such as being fragile, having short battery lives, and malfunctioning at high rates under adverse environmental conditions.

GPS-based products are easily affected by weather conditions such as snow, and cannot work indoors or anywhere else where their line-of-sight with the satellites are blocked.

GPS-based guard tour products are generally more costly than non-contact type guard tour products.

The advantage of GPS-based guard tour systems is that they do not require the installation of signal card check points.