Highland Springs, located just outside of Springfield, Mo., has more than 500 residents and various contracting workers for landscaping and infrastructure upgrades. For these residents and contracting workers, the luxury community needed a system for secure vehicle access. An important requirement was that congestion at the gate had to be prevented; the solution had to be convenient for the drivers of the vehicles. Besides the residents and contracting workers, access for visitors and other non-residents is managed by a staffed guardhouse.

Bobby J. Smith, director of security for Highland Springs, worked with integrator Federal Protection of Springfield to find the best technological solution that would serve the needs of the community without being intrusive on the residents or slow their entry into the community.

The residential community has three separate entrances with gated ingress and egress points. Considering the needed read distances, TRANSIT from Nedap was the best choice. This high-end reader identifies vehicles up to 10 meters (33 ft.). The vehicles of all residents and contracting workers are equipped with a window button. The vehicle identification tag is identified as soon as it enters the reading zone of the TRANSIT reader, allowing authorized vehicles to enter the community without the need to stop at the gate. To make security even stronger, Federal Protection had the window buttons customized with a laser-engraved Federal Protection logo.

Matt Harrison, director of operation at Federal Protection, oversaw the project. As a Nedap-certified partner for long-range identification and having worked with Nedap’s readers in the past, felt he had the right solution. “We knew we needed a reliable, robust technology that was not only secure but very easy for the residents to use. Ideally, we needed something that once installed, they would never have to think about again. With the Nedap solution we found just that,” he explained.

“Federal Protection came to us with this very strong Nedap technology and demonstrated its capabilities,” Smith added. “Once we reviewed its accuracy and consistency, it was a very easy choice for our residents. Since we installed the system we have been very pleased with its performance.”