The Internet of Things (IoT) is advancing a new breed of smart buildings that are better aligned with the priorities of property owners and managers. IoT enables operational systems that deliver more accurate and useful information for improving operations and providing the best experiences for tenants in accelerating this transformation.
KNX
is the world standard, open and compliant with the main European and international regulations, for automatic and decentralised management of technological systems in a wide range of situations: commercial buildings, industry, offices, private homes, public establishments, and many more. Recognised by ISO/IEC 14543-3-x as international standard for the system technique of buildings and homes, Konnex, KNX satisfies the requirements of the two European standards CENELEC EN50090 and CEN EN 13321-1. The BTicino/Legrand offer answers the specific needs of the service building thanks to its complete and high-performing solutions which can guarantee its customers an optimum, flexible and open system.
ZigBee
Conceived as a mesh network, ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4) mainly operates in the 2.4GHz ISM band, but it supports the 868MHz and 916MHz ISM bands as well. While ZigBee can reach a data throughput of up to 250kbps, data rates tend to be much lower in practical applications. Short active phases separated by long power-down intervals enable several years of operation with a single coin cell.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi networks use the access point (AP) as their Internet gateway. Until recently, it was quite expensive to provide Wi-Fi connectivity to devices with low processing performance (e. g. thermostats or household appliances) due to the size and complexity of the Wi-Fi and TCP/IP software. However, new devices and modules often include the Wi-Fi and TCP/IP software.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth connects wireless accessories with smartphones or tablets and can be used as an Internet gateway. Wearable heart-rate monitors uploading their data to cloud-based servers or phone-controlled door locks sending status information to security companies are just two examples of the many IoT applications that can be implemented using this technology.
Understanding BACnet
BACnet stands for Building Automation and Control Network. BACnet is the standard that was developed by ASHRAE — in conjunction with building management organizations, system users and building system manufacturers — specifically for building automation and control equipment. BACnet is a nonproprietary, open protocol communications standard. It can be applied to practically any type of system found in buildings today, including HVAC, lighting, life safety, access control, transportation and maintenance. By design, it can use a wide range of network technologies for communications.
In BACnet, objects are collections of properties, each representing some bit of information. In addition to standard defined properties, objects may include vendor-defined properties as long as they function in accordance with the standard. BACnet also defines the expected behavior from each property for that object. What makes the object-oriented approach work is that every object and every property as defined by the system is accessible in exactly the same manner.
Modbus Advances
A third protocol that has been used to achieve interoperability in building automation systems is Modbus. Modbus consists of a messaging structure designed to establish master-slave, client-server communications between a wide range of intelligent devices. It supports traditional serial and Ethernet protocols. It is a truly open standard and is one of the most widely used protocols in the industrial manufacturing environment. There is no charge for using the protocol nor are there licensing fees. Tools and resources that can be used to expedite installation and support operations are available on-line.
