A fire alarm control panel is an electric panel that is the controlling component of a fire alarm system. The panel receives information from environmental sensors designed to detect changes associated with fire, monitors their operational integrity and provides for automatic control of equipment, and transmission of information necessary to prepare the facility for fire based on a predetermined sequence. There are four basic types of panels: coded panels, conventional panels, addressable panels, and multiplex systems. A fire alarm control panel is required under the building code for a majority of new commercial building construction in most countries.
A smoke detector or Head Detector is a device that detects smoke, or heat typically as an indicator of fire. Commercial, industrial, and mass residential devices issue a signal to a fire alarm system, while household detectors, known as smoke alarms, generally issue local audible and/or visual alarm from the detector itself.
Most smoke detectors work either by optical detection (photoclectric) or by physical process (ionization), while others use both detection methods to increase sensitivity to smoke.