Peripherals is our take on bringing in digital input signals, such as glass break detectors, smoke detectors, and panic buttons, to enhance security operations. For a long time, the security industry has suffered from an unfortunate lack of unity between such traditional alarm components and visual evidence, such as video and radar.
We believe that security needs a broader lens to provide holistic situational awareness. AI-driven video surveillance, augmented with traditional alarm detectors that see the unseen, will tell a more detailed story when an incident is being investigated, especially when combined with other digital inputs for informative purposes. This is a very cost-efficient way.
In addition to input signals, peripherals also come as output signals to allow control of sirens, strobe lights, office lights, appliances, and more. Strobe lights and sirens are great means of deterrence for an alarm operator reacting to an incident in real time, and having the ability to control door locks, office lights, and appliances can be a powerful integration for virtual guard tours.
“At YourSix, we’re firm believers that physical security should follow the principles of layered security and security in-depth; principles often adhered to in cybersecurity. Peripherals and cameras are great complements to each other, together providing holistic situational awareness”, says Johan Fagerström, Director of Products
Beyond Security
While security tends to be focused on alerting, YourSixOS Peripherals also come with informative inputs. Informative inputs can be used to monitor whether the office lights are on or whether some machinery is running.
Consider a smoke detector peripheral going off and triggering an alarm; relevant cameras will help an alarm operator verify if there’s smoke and get an understanding of what’s going on at the site, especially if that alarm operator can also see that the welding rig or some other dangerous equipment was powered on and that the panic button had also been pressed.
Since peripherals produce events, and YourSixOS provides the ability to log events, peripherals can also be used to save an audit log of:
- Appliances that have been turned on and off
- Lights that have been turned on and off
- Doors, windows, etc, that have been opened
- Doorbell buttons that have been pressed (pro tip: let the doorbell button trigger a D4200 strobe speaker!)
Saving those events in a log will help a manager, janitor, or investigator tell the entire story in hindsight.
Beyond Video Surveillance
Input peripherals can also be a great complement in environments where video surveillance is somehow not desirable, e.g:
- Low-light environments
- Harsh or dusty environments
- Privacy-sensitive zones (rest rooms, locker rooms, etc.)
Traditional sensors outperform video analytics in many of these environments. For instance:
- PIR detectors can detect in complete darkness
- Glass break detectors can monitor for disturbances, and PIR detectors can monitor for occupancy where cameras can’t legally go
- Simple contact switches offer definitive point-of-entry alerts without visual ambiguity
- Panic alarms in accessibility restrooms can be connected and monitored
Conclusion: It’s not either/or – It’s both
Modern security should be about integration, not replacement. Peripherals will not replace cameras, and cameras will not replace digital signals; they complement each other. If you’re designing a security system in 2025, make sure you don’t overlook the silent sentinels that still get the job done. With YourSixOS, that combination happens entirely in the same platform, providing the user with a single pane of glass into the security of their premises