What is a Partial Failure?

What is a Partial Failure?

• A. A failure which would allow an intruder to cross only one line of detection at an area that has two lines of detection at the boundary
• B. A complete system outage
• C. A temporary sensor misread
• D. A false alarm event

Answer: (A)

Partial failure means only part of the protection is down while some detection remains active. In a boundary that has two lines of detection, if one line fails, the other line can still function. That creates a vulnerability where an intruder could cross along the area with two lines but rely on the failed line to go undetected. The described scenario fits this idea: a failure that would allow an intruder to cross only one line of detection at a boundary that normally has two lines. The system still has some protection, but that specific path is compromised. The other options describe situations that aren’t partial failures. A complete system outage shuts everything down, not just one line. A temporary sensor misread is an intermittent fault that may not persist and doesn’t necessarily enable crossing without detection. A false alarm is when the system triggers without an actual intrusion.

Partial failure means only part of the protection is down while some detection remains active. In a boundary that has two lines of detection, if one line fails, the other line can still function. That creates a vulnerability where an intruder could cross along the area with two lines but rely on the failed line to go undetected. The described scenario fits this idea: a failure that would allow an intruder to cross only one line of detection at a boundary that normally has two lines. The system still has some protection, but that specific path is compromised.

The other options describe situations that aren’t partial failures. A complete system outage shuts everything down, not just one line. A temporary sensor misread is an intermittent fault that may not persist and doesn’t necessarily enable crossing without detection. A false alarm is when the system triggers without an actual intrusion.