C7 Access Control & Surveillance Systems 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which OSDP feature provides encrypted communication between an access control panel and a card reader?
- OSDP v1 plain-text mode
- Secure Channel Protocol (SCP) in OSDP v2 (Correct answer)
- Wiegand 26-bit data burst
- RS-232 parity checking
Correct answer: Secure Channel Protocol (SCP) in OSDP v2
OSDP v2's Secure Channel Protocol (SCP) provides AES-128 encrypted communication between access panels and peripherals.
Question 2: A parking garage access system uses a loop detector to detect vehicles. The detector triggers randomly with no vehicles present. The MOST likely cause is:
- The inductive loop wire has a broken segment causing detuning (Correct answer)
- The card reader antenna is misaligned
- The barrier gate motor is drawing excessive current
- The access panel firmware needs updating
Correct answer: The inductive loop wire has a broken segment causing detuning
A broken or shorted loop wire detunes the inductive loop circuit, causing false triggers in the vehicle detector.
Question 3: What is the minimum recommended camera resolution for capturing license plates at a parking lot entry lane at distances up to 15 feet?
- 2 MP with a narrow focal length lens (Correct answer)
- 720p with a wide-angle lens
- VGA (640×480) with IR illumination
- Any resolution with motion detection enabled
Correct answer: 2 MP with a narrow focal length lens
License plate capture at up to 15 feet requires at least 2 MP resolution paired with a narrow focal length lens to achieve sufficient pixels-on-target.
Question 4: A fail-secure electric strike will:
- Remain locked (energized) when power is removed
- Unlock when power is removed (Correct answer)
- Unlock when power is applied
- Sound an alarm when power is removed
Correct answer: Unlock when power is removed
A fail-secure (fail-locked) electric strike remains locked during normal operation and unlocks (releases) only upon power removal — the opposite of fail-safe.
Question 5: Under California law, interior CCTV surveillance cameras in a workplace must NOT be placed in which location?
- Break rooms and common areas
- Restrooms, locker rooms, or areas where employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy (Correct answer)
- Parking lots and building perimeters
- Server rooms and cash-handling areas
Correct answer: Restrooms, locker rooms, or areas where employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy
California Penal Code prohibits video surveillance in restrooms, locker rooms, and any location where individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Question 6: A video management system (VMS) is dropping frames during recording. Network bandwidth is sufficient. The MOST likely cause is:
- Insufficient storage I/O throughput on the recording server (Correct answer)
- Incorrect camera IP address
- The monitor refresh rate is too low
- PoE switch port speed mismatch
Correct answer: Insufficient storage I/O throughput on the recording server
When network bandwidth is not the bottleneck, frame drops during recording are typically caused by insufficient disk I/O speed on the storage server.
Question 7: Two-factor authentication (2FA) in access control combines:
- Something you have (card) + something you know (PIN) or something you are (biometric) (Correct answer)
- Two separate card readers at the same door
- A card reader plus a keypad that uses the same PIN for all users
- Primary and backup access control panels
Correct answer: Something you have (card) + something you know (PIN) or something you are (biometric)
True 2FA requires two different authentication factors: typically something you have (credential) plus something you know (PIN) or something you are (biometric).
C7 Access Control & Surveillance Systems 3
Which OSDP feature provides encrypted communication between an access control panel and a card reader?