Alarm: check that everything is closed before arming, and be able to ignore a sensor

The Need

With around fifteen opening detectors, it regularly happens that a window is left ajar when arming. Today, Gladys arms without saying anything. Two possible outcomes, both bad: either the siren goes off immediately, or — worse — the house is armed with an unprotected opening and no one knows.

A classic alarm system refuses to arm in this case and states why.

What is Expected

  • Before arming, Gladys checks the status of the sensors concerned by the requested mode.
  • If one of them is not available, arming is interrupted and the list of faulty sensors is displayed, with the name and the room.
  • Three outcomes: cancel, retry after closing, or arm anyway by disabling these sensors.
  • A sensor thus ignored remains visible as long as the alarm is armed — it’s a hole in the protection, it must not be hidden.
  • The disabling is temporary: it disappears at the next disarming, it does not get forgotten in a corner of the configuration.

What it Would Look Like

┌─ Armement impossible ────────────────────────────┐
│                                                  │
│  2 capteurs ne sont pas disponibles :            │
│                                                  │
│    Fenêtre cuisine        Cuisine     ouverte    │
│    Porte garage           Garage      ouverte    │
│                                                  │
│         [ Annuler ]        [ Réessayer ]         │
│                                                  │
│         [ Armer en les ignorant ]                │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Alarme — Maison                       │
│                                        │
│  ● Armée — Absence                     │
│                                        │
│  ⚠ 1 capteur ignoré                    │
│    Fenêtre cuisine                     │
│                                        │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────┐│
│  │             Désarmer               ││
│  └────────────────────────────────────┘│
└────────────────────────────────────────┘

Questions to Decide

  1. Blocking or Warning? Refusing to arm by default is safer, but may be seen as annoying by those who have a capricious sensor. Should there be a setting?
  2. Who has the right to force? Everyone, or should a code / an administrator account be required to ignore a sensor?
  3. When does the disabling fall off? Only at disarming, or also as soon as the sensor becomes available again — the window is closed ten minutes later, it goes back under surveillance?
  4. And if no one is there to respond? When arming comes from a scene or a keypad without a screen, there is no dialog box possible. What does Gladys do: arms by ignoring, refuses, or notifies?
  5. Does an offline sensor or one with a dead battery count as « not available »?

Complexity and Dependencies

Medium. Depends on the request Alarm: declare monitored sensors and choose which ones are active in each mode.


This request is part of a set from the discussion Gladys Alarm System (need F05).