Instead of relying on changes in the electrical current running through a circuit in a conventional system, with an addressable system digital technology transfers information from the connected devices to the main control panel as binary code – combinations of ones and zeros. 
The binary code starts as an analog signal created by variations in voltage within the signaling device. With an addressable device, there is a “mini-computer” that converts these variations into binary code. Depending on the device and the types of information it is designed to convey, an addressable device can transfer a wide variety of critical information to the control panel as opposed to the single triggering signal that conventional systems provide.
Because they use digital technology, addressable systems offer a much broader range in the types of information that the control panel can receive from the devices. While all addressable systems provide the location of every device on the system to the control panel, newer, “analog addressable” systems provide even more information, such as how much smoke or heat the detector is sensing. This information allows the control panel to make “intelligent” decisions such as when or when not to go into alarm mode.
The most important type of information that addressable systems transmit is exactly where the fire is occurring in a building. Because the exact location of each device in an addressable system is programmed in,