BACnet Global standard for open building management solutions

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BACnet Global standard for open building
management solutions

• Christian Mueller
• Honeywell Building Solutions Germany

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About the speaker...

• Christian Mueller
• Honeywell Building Solutions Germany since 1986
• Leader Marketing Communication within Honeywell
  Building Solution Germany
• Leader of Working Group Marketing and Advisory
  Board member of the BACnet Interest Group Europe
  (B.I.G.-EU) since 1999
• Member of CEN TC247 WG5 (Integrated Building
  Management Systems)

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?
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The BACnet history

• He has a real problem ...

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The BACnet history

• He has got a solution ...

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Increasing demand for integration
II LimitedThe European Market
2000-2005 Intelligent Controls in Buildings
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Heterogeneous System Integration
Resultingsystem-functionality
System A
Cost for integrating three systems
System B
System C
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CEN/TC247 ISO/TC205 norms
Protocol
Norm
BACnet
Management layer
EN V 1805-1 ISO 16484-5
Protocol
Norm
BACnetWorldFIP Profibus FMS EIBnet
EN V 13321-1 EN V 13321-1 and EN 50170 EN V
13321-1 and EN 50170 EN V 13321-2
Automation layer
Protocol
Norm
EIB BatiBus EHS LonTalk
EN V 13154-2, DIN VDE 0829 EN V 13154-2 EN V
13154-2 EN V 13154-2
Field layer
EN 50295
AS-i Actuator Sensor-Interface Safety-Bus
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BACnet, ISO Norm 16484-5
Communication layer
Protocol BACnet
Management layer and between Management and
Automation layer
BACnet DIN EN ISO 16484-5 Includes references
to EIA-709.1 LonTalk EN 50090 EIB/KNX
BACnet on all functional layers
Automationlayer
Field layer and between Field and Automation layer
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ISO Building Automation model
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BACnet history ...

• 1987
• 1991
• 1995
• 1998
• 2001
• 2002
• 2003
• 2004

• Foundation of the ASHRAE (American Society of
  Heating Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning
  Engineering) committee SPC135. Team charter
  Development of a communication protocol which
  would be neutral and allow monitoring, control
  and energy management within buildings.
• First draft version of the new protocol available
• BACnet was published as ASHRAE 135-1995 standard.
  BACnet also becomes ANSI standard
• BACnet becomes EN 1805-1 and ENV13321 by CEN
  TC247
• FND withdrawn by CEN as ENV
• ANSI/ASHRAE 135-2001 published
• BACnet becomes worldwide ISO norm as the only
  BMS-protocol
• The first BACnet devices are conformance tested
  in Europe

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What is BACnet?

• BACnet ist a communication standard that allows
  for data exchange (including complex data)
• between systems from various vendors
• BACnet allows for interoperability of devices and
  systems from various vendors
• BACnet is most suited for
• HVAC control applications (in Europe integrations
  on management and automation layer) but also
• Integration of life safety systems (fire panels)

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Was can BACnet provide?

• BACnet does standardize transactions like
• COS/COV
• Alarm/event handling supporting alarm/event
  priority
• Historical data
• Data access control
• Command priority
• File transfer
• Save/Restore of programs
• Calendar and Scheduling functionality
• BACnet is independent from any specific hardware,
  operating system or software platform

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BACnet terminology

• Objects
• Devices and systems are seen as black boxes
  consisting of a number of objects
• BACnet objects only define the outside behaviour
  of the devices and systems no internal
  functionality is defined
• Object properties
• Each object has got a number of mandatory
  (required)
• and optional properties.
• The properties can be read by other devices and
  systems and some can be written to. Vendors may
  define vendor specific properties
  (interoperability?)
• Services
• Communication between BACnet devices and systems
  is done using specific services.
• Services can be used f. e. to read object
  properties.

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BACnet Networking Options

• Ethernet
• BACnet over IP
• Serial (RS232/RS485)
• ARCnet
• MS/TP
• LonTalk (is not equal to LonMark!)

Layer inISO/OSI-Reference model
Application
BACnet
Application
Layer
BACnet Network Layer (allows Routing)
Network
ISO 8802-2
BACnet/IP
Data-Link
Type 1
MS/TP
PTP
LonTalk
Media-Access
ARCNET
ISO 8802-3
Ethernet
Physical
RS 485
RS 232
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BACnet Client/Server architecture

• A BACnet device may trigger a service or can
  react on a service request
• Client Requests services (Service user)
• Server Offers services (Service provider)
• A DDC-system for example may act as a
• client for various field devices in an automation
  system,
• server for other DDC-systems or for a BMS
  (Building Management System) that requests
  specific data or alarms

InitiateService
C
S
ExecuteService
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BACnet Objects
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BACnet Objects
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Functional list, EN ISO 16484-3
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Object properties

• Standard Objects have required and optional
  properties defined
• Vendors may add proprietary object properties or
  vendor specific objects to a device

62 C
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BACnet Services

• BACnet currently includes 38 services on the
  application layer which are subdivided into 5
  categories
• Object Access
• Device Management
• Alarm and Event
• File Transfer
• Virtual Terminal

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Services - Object Access

• Object access services include services like
• Read and write data (object properties)
• Request a specific data range (e. g. to retrieve
  trend log data)
• Services to create other objects at runtime or
  delete them (like notification class objects or
  schedule objects)
• Services to add data to lists or remove data from
  lists (data point and events to/from notification
  class objects)

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Services - Device Management

• Network start-up
• Who-Is, I-Am
• Who-Has, I-Have
• Time Synchronization
• Request device start-up (via network)

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BACnet Broadcast Management Device

• The BACnet Broadcast Management Device(BBMD)
  handles broadcast telegrams (Who-Is, Who-Has,
  I-Am, I-Have, ) through routers that connect
  different IP-subnets.
• The BBMD can be an external device or be
  integrated in another BACnet device like B-BC,
  B-OWS.

IP-Router
B-OWS
B-OWS
B-BC
B-BC
IP-Segment B
IP-Segment A
BBMD Function
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Services - Alarm- and Event

• Services include
• Alarm- and event handling and
• COV/COS (Change of Value/State)
• Request alarm summary list (e. g. after a
  communication restart)
• Services to acknowledge alarms

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Alarm- and Event handling

• BACnet allows for three different methods for
  alarm and event handling
• COV Events
• One or more recipients subscribe specific changes
  to state or value from a COV-server using
  SubscribeCOV(Property) service.
• The COV-Server sends changes to the receivers
  that have subscribed for the event using
  (Un)ConfirmedCOVNotification
• Intrinsic Event Reporting
• The recipient list of alarms and events from
  specific objects will statically or dynamically
  be managed using NotificationClass objects
• The objects to support intrinsic alarming will
  have to support various optional properties like
  the EventEnable property
• Algorithmic Change Events
• In order to support algorithmic change events,
  the EventEnrollment object needs to be supported.
  The EventEnrollment object list contains stages
  and valuesof datapoints that need to be
  monitored.
• In case of a limit violation, the distribution of
  alarms/events can either be handled by the
  EventEnrollment object itself (if recipients are
  defined) or via a Notification Class object list
  if a NC object is defined with the object in
  alarm.0

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The BACnet PICS

• PICS Protocol Implementation Conformance
  Statement
• The PICS is a standard way of describing the
  BACnet functionality of a specific solution in a
  kind of table format and contains information
  about
• BACnet services supported
• BACnet standard objects supported including
  information
• Whether or not BACnet objects can be created and
  deleted during runtime
• Which object properties are supported and which
  are read-only

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The BACnet PICS

• PICS continued ...
• Data Link Layer Options
• Description of the network options supported
  (like Ethernet, BACnet /IP)
• Special functionality
• Restrictions to properties, if exist
• e. g. the max. number of characters for a key
  name or the character set (e. g. ANSI X3.4)
• The BACnet PICS is an important means for end
  customers and consultants to understand the
  functionality provided by a BACnet solution.
• This is achieved through
• BACnet Interoperability Building Blocks (BIBBs)
• Standard device profiles

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BACnet PICS (Extract)
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BACnet Interoperability Building Blocks

• BIBBs Define a set of BACnet services to
  provide a specific function. BIBBs are either
  client (A) or server (B) related.
• There are BIBBs for the following areas of
  interoperability
• Data Sharing (DS)
• Alarm and Event Notification (AE)
• Scheduling (SCHED)
• Trending (T)
• Device Management (DM)
• Network Management (NM)
• Virtual Terminal Management (VT)

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BACnet Interoperability Building Blocks

• BIBBs example
• DS-RP-A (Data Sharing-ReadProperty-A)

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BACnet Interoperability Building Blocks

• BIBBs example
• DS-COVP-B (Data Sharing-COVP-B)
• (A) is user (Client), (B) is server (Server)
• (A) subscribes change of value of a specific
  property from (B)
• (B) serves (A) with COV of the object property
  without the need of polling

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Standard BACnet device profiles

• B-OWS BACnet Operator Workstation, GLT
• B-BC BACnet Building Controller
• B-AAC BACnet Advanced Application Controller
• B-ASC BACnet Application Specific Controller
• B-SA BACnet Smart Actuator
• B-SS BACnet Smart Sensor
• B-GW BACnet Gateway

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Standard BACnet device profiles
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BACnet Interest Group Europe e. V.

• The BACnet Interest Group Europe e. V.
  (B.I.G.-EU) supports BACnet in Europe
• Web http//www.big-eu.org
• 45 members
• (vendors, consultants, system integrators,
  associations)
• Working groups Marketing and Technology
• B.I.G.-EU targets
• Bring European market requirements into the
  standardisation
• Offer BACnet training
• Test and certification of BACnet solutions

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Further BACnet organisations

• BACnet Interest Group North America
• BACnet Interest Group AustralAsia
• BACnet Interest Group Middle-East
• BMA - BACnet Manufacturers Association
• Founded in 2000, USA
• Open for all vendors of BACnet products
• Develop ways to test/certify BACnet products
  (BTL-Logo), Marketing, Training in USA
• Intensive contact between B.I.G.-EU and BMA in
  order to guarantee mutual acknowledgment of
  BACnet certification

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BACnet Tests and Certification

• BMA and BIG-EU develop a common test and
  certification system
• The target is to allow for a common, reproducible
  handling of conformance tests
• Mutual certification in EU and NA
• First tests available in EU through accredited
  test lab (WSP-Lab)
• Common Logo

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BACnet Tests and Certification

• Today extent of the BACnet conformance tests
• In USA tests are done based on the BACnet device
  profiles (B-SA, B-ASC, ..)
• BIBBS, that can be tested in Europe today
• e. g. DS-COV-B had not bee tested in the US, as
  it had not been a market requirement so far
• Conformance tests are no BACnet certificates!
• What would a BACnet certification be like?
• In order to certify a BACnet device, the complete
  functionality as specified by the device PICS
  must be tested. This is not possible today for
  complex devices like B-BC or B-OWS.

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BIBBS, tested in Europe today

• DS-RP-B
• (B) provides data upon request from (A)
• DS-WP-B
• (B) allows a value to be changed by (A)
• DS-COV-B
• (B) accepts subscription requests from (A) and
  replies with COVNotifications
• DM-DDB-B
• (B) provides information about itself to (A)
• DM-DOB-B
• (B) provides information about its objects upon
  request from (A)
• DM-DCC-B
• (B) responds to comm. control request from (A)
• DM-TS-B / DM-UTC-B (UTC Greenwich Mean Time)
• (B) accepts time sync. request from (A)

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B-BC Example Honeywell Excel Web

• LINUX operating system
• 10/100MBit/s network interface
• Integrated Web-Server with HTML-pages installed
  for parameter setting, local operation via
  browser
• No need for ActiveX controls
• Trend capacity can be expanded using standard CF
  memory cards
• Up to 1.000 BACnet objects
• I/O modules based on LonTalk (78kbps, Free
  topology wiring
• DIN rail or direct mounting

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Upcoming BACnet extensions

• BACnet Web Services
• Web-Pages
• Are designed for humans and are used through
  Web-Browsers
• Web-Services
• Automated services through Internet/Intranet used
  by applications.
• Services to supply other applications with data
  in a standard way independent from the underlying
  hard- or software or operating system.
• XML used as the data format and SOAP as the
  protocol
• SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is based on
  http which allows data to be exchanged through
  firewalls
• IT-system security is not jeopardised

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Upcoming BACnet extensions

• BACnet/XML Working-Group target
• To link BACnet systems to ERP-applications via
  Web-Services
• Annex N BACnet/WS currently in Public Review

BACnet Web Service via SOAP
BACnet BMS, Automation island
Application Server BACnet/Web Services via SOAP
ERP-Client Application Makes use of Web Services
via SOAP
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Some BACnet Projects
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Technology compound at the German Parliamentary
Buildings
Paul-Löbe-Haus
Reichstag
Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus
Jakob-Kaiser-Haus
Spree
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Technology compound at the German Parliamentary
Buildings
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Technology compound at the German Parliamentary
Buildings
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Technology compound at the German Parliamentary
Buildings

• Access to BACnet objects like schedule, calendar
  and loop

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Building Management with BACnet
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BACnet/OPC comparison
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The birth of OPC ...
Microsoft
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OPC Introduction

• The task
• Get data from a PLC (Programmable logic
  controller) into
• an Microsoft based application within a PC-based
  network.
• Prior to OPC a special driver needed to be
  written and maintained
• for each protocol that had to be integrated into
  a visualisation (SCADA system)
• Target
• Provide a standard interface with standard
  objects (OPC server) that every PLC-vendor could
  integrate and that could also be integrated by
  every vendor of visualisations (OPC client)
• Provide a standard interface between plant
  control level and information technology

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OPC History

• 1995
• A task force composed of Fisher-Rosemount,
  Rockwell Software, Opto 22, Intellution, and
  Intuitive Technology developed a basic, workable,
  OPC specification.
• OPC Object linking and embedding for process
  control
• 1996
• A simplified, stage-one solution was released in
  August 1996.OPC foundation group started up.
• 1998
• OPC becomes an industry standard
• 1998
• OPC Data Access 2.0 published
• 2001
• Compliance Testing and Certification program
  available
• 2004
• The OPC Foundation has got more than 300
  members. Honeywell is also a member of the OPC
  Foundation.

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OPC Introduction

• OPC (OLE for Process Control) is a Client-/Server
  Software Interface, based on the Microsoft COM /
  DCOM component technology. It is used to exchange
  data between different applications on one
  machine (COM) or between different applications
  on a network (DCOM).
• OPC is not a new bus standard, no norm
• It may be compared with a printer driver
  available with a printer which is the interface
  between the hardware and the office application
• OPC is best suited for
• Simple I/O type of information which need to be
  integrated into office applications
• Data exchange between software applications

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OPC data types, object model

• OPC only supports simple data objects (so called
  OPC Items). OPC Items consist of
• Value, state
• Time stamp
• Information about the quality of data
• OPC Object model
• OPC Groups are defined on an OPC server. OPC
  groups contain OPC Items that are handles in a
  similar way. E. g.
• Periodical data transmission
• Data transmission on a COV/COS
• Each OPC Item may have properties defined like
• value range, engineering unit

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OPC Specifications

• OPC Data Access
• Used to move real-time data from PLCs and other
  control devices to HMIs and other display
  clients. Standard on the market is OPC DA 2.04.
  The Data Access 3 specification is now a Release
  Candidate.
• OPC Alarms Events
• Provides alarm and event notifications on demand
  (in contrast to the continuous data flow of Data
  Access).
• OPC Clients can subscribe for alarms and events
  from the OPC server (OPC-AE 1.10).
• OPC Data eXchange
• This specification takes OPC from client/server
  to
• server-to-server with communication across
  Ethernet field bus networks.

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OPC Specifications

• OPC Historical Data Access  
• Where OPC Data Access provides access to
  real-time, continually changing data, OPC
  Historical Data Access provides access to data
  already stored. (OPC DX 1.0)
• OPC Security
• OPC Security specifies how to control client
  access to
• these servers in order to protect this sensitive
  information and to guard against unauthorized
  modification of process parameters (OPC Security
  1.0)
• OPC XML-DA
• OPC XML-DA is developed to expose plant floor
  data using XML and SOAP. Specification still
  under development

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Need more information?

• OPC Foundation web pages
• www.opcfoundation.org
• OPC European membebr web pages
• www.opceurope.org

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OPC/BACnet Comparison

• BACnet
• Vendor independence
• ISO Standard, independent from OS, hardware or
  vendor
• Best suited for
• Automation and management level
• Peer-to-Peer communication for HVAC control and
  safety controls
• Communication
• IP support, Client-Server

• OPC
• Vendor independence
• De-facto-Industry Standard, based on Microsoft
  COM/DCOM technology
• Best suited for
• Move real-time data from PLC to visualisation and
  business applications
• Peer-to-Peer communication possible if OPC data
  eXchange extension becomes available
• Communication
• IP support, Client-Server

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OPC/BACnet Comparison

• BACnet
• Specifications/Profiles
• Data Sharing (with priority)
• Alarms and Events
• Historical Trends
• Scheduling
• Device and Network Management
• Access Control mechanisms build in
• BACnet via XML
• Specification in public review
• Conformance tests
• BACnet Test Lab at Stuttgart is capable to
  provide first basic BACnet conformance tests

• OPC
• Specifications/Profiles
• Data Access (DA)
• Alarm Events (AE)
• Historical Trends
• only few implementations exist,
• Normally done on SCADA level
• Scheduling
• needs to be done on SCADA level
• Access Control
• available. Only a few implementations make use of
  OPC Security
• OPC XML-DA
• spec. under development)
• Conformance tests
• Compliance Tests available through the OPC
  Foundation

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OPC/BACnet Comparison

• OPC
• Planning and Start-up
• OPC allows for Plug Play if the network is
  correctly been set up.
• No optional object properties
• Configuration of DCOM in complex network
  environment can be tricky.
• Many times firewalls do not allow for port 15
  (OPC/DCOM) to be open as several virus attacks
  (like W32Lovsan) came through this port
• Binding
• OPC solutions often allow for address space
  browsing

• BACnet
• Planning and Start-up
• BACnet is not Plug Play f. e. due to optional
  object properties
• A in depth comparison of the PICS is required
• Test installation recommended
• Binding
• Data documentation can be exchanged via standard
  EDE-Format or
• BACnet solutions often allow for address space
  browsing

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BACnet and OPC complement each other

• BACnet is most suitable if it comes to ...
• Building Management applications (alarming with
  acknowledgement, scheduling, save and restore of
  application programs, command priority,
  Peer-to-Peer data communication)
• Data exchange between devices (e. g. an energy
  manage-ment application requires data from
  various DDC systems on the LAN for peak load
  control)
• OPC is best suited if it comes to ...
• Simple data exchange between a SCADA system and a
  PLC or integration of a fire panels into a
  Visualisation
• Data exchange with IT- or ERP (Business)
  applications