Patent attributes
A fire alarm includes comprises a central fire alarm control panel for monitoring the building and activating an alarm; and multiple remote units for distribution within the building, the remote units including indicating devices for determining conditions that are indicative of a possible emergency. The multiple remote units are in communication with the fire alarm control panel in a master-slave relationship such that the fire alarm control panel will receive inputs from the indicating devices and activate the alarm when those inputs indicate a possible emergency. In addition, the remote units include a secondary communication system for communication between remote units in a degraded mode of operation that occurs in the event of a failure of the master-slave communications with the fire alarm control panel, the secondary communication system including a transceiver arrangement at each remote unit for providing a wireless mesh network between the multiple remote units.
