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Summary of Business
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2014
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Nature of Operations [Text Block]
Summary of Business
 
Sierra Monitor Corporation, formed in 1978, designs, manufactures and sells electronic communications, safety and environmental instrumentation for high reliability applications. The Company develops specialized embedded software that is deployed on proprietary hardware platforms. Embedded software enables data transfer between subsystems using protocol and physical medium translation.  Proprietary hardware platforms allow the Company to increase the value proposition while protecting its intellectual property.
 
The Company’s hardware platforms include original equipment modules for installation in customer devices and controllers, gateway boxes generally used by integrators for machine to machine (“M2M”) protocol translation, and multi-component safety systems generally focused on gas and fire detection.  Each of the hardware platforms utilize the Company’s proprietary data handling software allowing communication from lower level sensor systems through to the highest levels of Internet Protocol (“IP”) networks.
 
By providing an intelligent interface, the Company’s products enable various machines, devices, systems and people to reliably communicate useful information for the measurement and control of various environments including buildings, plants, factories and over the Internet.  By delivering the data on various communications levels, including Ethernet, Internet, LONworks, Profibus, and others, the Company’s products make it possible for data to be accessed at more appropriate levels, such as control rooms or remote locations.
 
The Company’s products, including gas detection systems, environment controls for remote telephone company structures and protocol gateways, are based on complex proprietary software developed by the Company. The software, embedded in each of the Company’s product groups, provides key functions including sensor management, utilization of data for alarm and control purposes and delivery of data across various networks including the Internet.
 
Gas monitoring products manufactured by the Company are sold for a variety of safety applications including oil, gas and chemical processing plants, wastewater treatment facilities, alternate fuel vehicle maintenance garages and other users or producers of hazardous gases. Environment controllers, which provide management of environmental conditions in small structures such as local DSL distribution nodes and buildings at cell tower sites, are sold to telecommunications companies and their suppliers. The Company’s FieldServer products are sold generally to integration companies that implement building and plant automation projects and to manufacturers of equipment for the same industry.
  
The Company’s common stock is quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol “SRMC”.