What is the term used to describe an addressable control panel's ability to adjust a smoke detector's sensitivity without user intervention?

• A. Auto-calibration
• B. Threshold adjustment
• C. Drift compensation
• D. Sensitivity override

Answer: (C)

Maintaining consistent detector sensitivity as conditions change is drift compensation. Smoke detectors can drift over time due to age, dust, or environmental factors, which would push them toward being too sensitive or not sensitive enough. An addressable control panel can automatically monitor a detector’s baseline response and adjust its operating point to compensate for that drift, all without user action. This keeps the detector reliably sensitive enough to detect real smoke while reducing false alarms.

Auto-calibration would imply resetting to original factory settings, which isn’t the same as continuously correcting for gradual drift. Threshold adjustment suggests changing a fixed limit, typically by someone monitoring the system, rather than ongoing automatic maintenance. Sensitivity override would imply a manual override to change sensitivity, not automatic adjustment performed by the panel.