Industrial & Safety Systems

GLC was engaged to provide immediate software support for an existing product, in order to maintain the continuity of commercial firmware releases, resolve issues identified during field deployments, and contribute to the development of future features.

The product is a portable, wireless alarm system designed to reliably transmit alarm signals across large and complex environments. The platform comprises multiple embedded devices based on TI microcontrollers, sub-GHz radio communication, and FreeRTOS-based firmware. The system integrates a range of subsystems, including SD card storage, USB connectivity, LCD user interfaces, and multiple communication interfaces, such as UART, SPI, and I2C.

GLC’s primary role was to provide software expertise to stabilize ongoing firmware releases, troubleshoot and resolve field issues, refactor the existing codebase, and support the development of innovative new functionality.

The engineering program required close coordination across several external engineering organizations and disciplines, including hardware development, embedded software, cloud infrastructure, and field deployment teams.

A key technical objective was to enable the wireless system to meet the performance expectations of fixed fire alarm installations under EN54 fire alarm standards. This required achieving comparable reliability and operational behaviour to wired systems, while remaining fully battery operated.

GLC quickly aligned with the client’s priorities and organised the work into short, measurable milestones across the main activity streams. From day one, GLC assumed ownership of the firmware software lifecycle, including architecture, implementation, maintenance, and release management.

We provided technical leadership across multiple external engineering suppliers and distributed teams, ensuring consistent engineering direction and effective coordination between disciplines.

We designed, implemented, and deployed an automated regression test framework supporting 80+ devices and hundreds of test cases. This significantly improved the efficiency of verification and release activities, and contributed to a substantial reduction in field-reported issues.

On the innovation track, we analysed the EN54 requirements and translated the most demanding clauses into clear product and software requirements for a next-generation portable fire alarm system. Using a structured approach, we designed and implemented a new, EN54-ready firmware baseline, and deployed multiple pilots to validate behaviour under real-world conditions.

In addition, GLC initiated the introduction of cloud services within the client’s organisation. With a forward-looking roadmap in mind, we proposed adding remote access to deployed fire alarm systems, both to improve support and diagnostics and to enable new commercial opportunities. GLC selected, onboarded, and directly managed a telemetry specialist to integrate cloud connectivity. This initiative significantly expanded the overall programme team, with GLC leading the parallel workstreams end to end.

In parallel, we supported active field deployments, including sites running legacy firmware and environments that exposed new radio and system-design challenges. Examples included deployments in former prison buildings with very thick walls and extensive metal structures, and high-rise construction projects with 30, 40, or more floors, requiring vertical, stacked topologies that are inherently challenging for wireless performance.

The partnership with the client ran for four years and, at the time, was GLC’s longest client engagement.

The programme delivered a robust wireless fire alarm platform capable of supporting large-scale deployments across construction and industrial environments.

The embedded software met the reliability and system-behaviour requirements needed to progress through EN54 compliance testing, enabling wireless deployments to achieve performance comparable to traditional wired installations.

The resulting architecture also supported ongoing product evolution through automated testing, a more maintainable firmware structure, and repeatable field troubleshooting processes.

Cloud services were implemented and deployed at pilot level, demonstrating an additional revenue stream for the client that had not originally been planned.

GLC’s combination of embedded software ownership, technical leadership, forward planning, and hands-on involvement in compliance testing helped the programme sustain delivery momentum while addressing the technical and regulatory demands of safety-critical alarm systems, and ultimately supported the product’s growth within a specialised market.