ESA Fire Alarm Installation Methods (FAIM) Practice Test

Coded signals are the language the fire alarm control system uses to send different commands over a signaling channel. By using defined impulse patterns, a single communications path can carry multiple instructions: alarm commands to trigger alarms and notifications, supervisory commands to monitor equipment status, and restore commands to indicate things are back to normal. This pattern-based coding makes the system reliably interpret each message even in noisy electrical environments. It’s not about testing, it doesn’t power wireless devices, and it doesn’t carry voice communications—the purpose is to convey those control commands clearly and unambiguously.