BACnet — the open door to the future
BACnet in action, the 7000 Richardson Science Center is part of Rockhurst University in Kansas City was completed in 1996 and one of the first projects to exploit the open-system benefits of the BACnet protocol. This 3-storey building incudes eight chemistry labs, three physics labs, four computer labs and an electronics lab.
HOWARD LEIGH appraises the benefits of the BACnet open protocol.While the BACnet (Building Automation Control NETwork) protocol has only recently arrived in the UK, its pedigree goes back a number of years. Some of the larger independent manufacturers adopted it several years ago — a bold decision at the time but one that increasingly looks visionary. Open protocols have persistently been proposed over the recent past but BACnet, as an open protocol standard administered by a professional and independent body, has the make-up to achieve what predecessors have failed to. In the protocol race BACnet is fulfilling the role assigned to that of the tortoise in the fable of the tortoise and the hare. We all know who won in the end. From its inception, BACnet has been a thoroughly documented open protocol standard that is powerful and robust. Its object-oriented services provide powerful tools for interconnectivity because it was designed from the outset to foster interconnectivity in a building-automation system. BACnet incorporates all the features expected of a modern BMS, with the flexibility to continually deliver enhancements. BACnet frees the industry from the proprietary lock-ins of the traditional approach. It has no overhead above that of a manufacturer’s development cycle, which every manufacturer carries anyway. Limitations are more likely to be manufacturer-based than protocol based. A door that is ajar can be referred to as open, but it is useless until it is opened sufficiently to let someone pass through. A manufacturer using an open protocol on one particular device, or network, may refer to having an open system, but the system will be limited in its ability to be truly interoperable. Any open protocol is limited by the extent that it is used. This is why BACnet has evolved the term Native BACnet, reserved for manufacturers which apply BACnet to every controller and network in their range. The growing adoption of BACnet, now an ISO standard, is irreversible. Once you interoperate with an open-protocol industry standard, you can no longer claim that you do not — and forward is the only direction you are going.
Howard Leigh is regional manager with Automated Logic, Atrium Court, The Ring, Bracknell, Berks RG12 1BW.
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