History

Alpha Zaicon Technology Inc. (AZTI®) is an Electronics Systems House specializing in providing solutions to the security and detection needs of military, industrial, transit and government clientele.

In 1983, the Joint Project Office (JPO), a conglomerate of engineering consultants in Canada, was engaged in designing and engineering for the Vancouver (Canada) Skytrain. The Vancouver City engineers, insisted from the start of the project that a method of detecting passengers accidentally falling onto the tracks from the station platforms was an essential safety requirement. This detection system was to be able to stop the automated train if an intrusion was detected.

Alpha Zaicon Technology Inc, (AZTI®) became involved in the project and delivered the systems.

The passenger intrusion at platform areas were designed in accordance to the following specifications:

• Detect human beings on the guide way, but not the trains;
• Be immune to the Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) generated by the trains and control systems; and
• Be immune to environmental effects such as rain, wind, hail etc.

AZTI® designed a system that utilized a series of flexibly mounted sensor panels located between the running rails in front of the station platforms and attached a strain sensitive cable to these sensor panels and developed electronic circuitry to eliminate environmental effects while still detecting human intrusion or motion. This system was named the Platform Intrusion Emergency Stop (PIES®), which is the trademark name for this safety system.

1985, PIES® was then successfully installed on Vancouver Skytrain for 20 stations.