A fire alarm control panel, also referred to as a fire alarm panel or FACP, normally referred to as a panel within the active fire protection industry, is a central control device for detecting, reporting and acting on occurrences of fires within a building. There are two types of panels: conventional panels, and analogue addressable panels.
In a conventional panel, fire detection devices including, but not limited to smoke detectors, heat detectors and manual call points or manual pull stations are joined up with a number connected to each circuit. When a device on the circuit is activated, the panel recognizes an alarm on that circuit and could be set up to take a number of actions including directly calling the fire department via an alarm transportation system (ATS).
An addressable panel is a more modern type of panel, and has greater flexibility than a conventional panel. An addressable panel has a number of loops, where a number of devices are able to be connected, each with its own address. There is no standard protocol as such, and thus a number of proprietary solutions exist. Loop devices have traditionally been able to have 99 or 100 devices connected, but more recent protocols allow many more. This is usually overcome by having multiple loops on one system.
Monitoring
In nearly every state in the USA, the International Building Code requires fire alarm and sprinkler systems to be monitored by an approved supervising station.
A fire alarm system consists of a computer-based control connected to a central station. The majority of fire alarm systems installed in the USA are monitored by a UL listed or FM Global approved supervising station.
These systems will generally have a top level map of the entire site, with various building levels displayed. The user (most likely a security guard) can progress through the different stages. From top level site → building plan → floor plan → zone plan, or however else the building's security system is organised.
A lot of these systems have touch screens, but most users tend to prefer a mouse (and a normal monitor), as it is quite easy for a touch screen to become misaligned and for mistakes to be made. With the advent of the optical mouse, this is now a very viable option