BACnet – Global standard for open

building management solutions

Christian Mueller
Honeywell Building Solutions
Germany
 About the speaker...
light + building 2006

• 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)
light + building 2006

?
 The BACnet history
He has a real problem ...
light + building 2006
 The BACnet history
He has got a solution ...
light + building 2006
 Increasing demand for integration

Percentage of construction projects in Germany

light + building 2006

that demand integration

16
14
12
10 1992
1995
Number (% ) 8
1997
6
2000
4
2
0

I&I Limited
The European Market 2000-2005
Intelligent Controls in Buildings
 Heterogeneous System Integration

Resulting
light + building 2006

system-
System A
functionality
Cost for
integrating
three systems

System B System C
 CEN/TC247 & ISO/TC205 norms
Protocol Norm
light + building 2006

Management layer BACnet EN V 1805-1

ISO 16484-5

Protocol Norm
BACnet EN V 13321-1
Automation layer WorldFIP EN V 13321-1 and EN 50170
Profibus FMS EN V 13321-1 and EN 50170
EIBnet EN V 13321-2

Protocol Norm
EIB EN V 13154-2, DIN VDE 0829
Field layer BatiBus EN V 13154-2
EHS EN V 13154-2
LonTalk EN V 13154-2

AS-i Actuator Sensor-Interface Safety-Bus EN 50295

 BACnet, ISO Norm 16484-5

Communication layer Protocol: BACnet

light + building 2006

Management layer and

between Management
and Automation layer BACnet –
BACnet
DIN EN ISO 16484-5
on all
functional Includes references to
layers EIA-709.1 LonTalk
Automation
layer
EN 50090 EIB/KNX

Field layer and

between Field and
Automation layer
 ISO Building Automation model
light + building 2006
 BACnet history ...
• 1987 • Foundation of the ASHRAE (American Society of Heating
Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineering)
light + building 2006

committee SPC135. Team charter: Development of a

communication protocol which would be neutral and allow
monitoring, control and energy management within
buildings.
• 1991 • First draft version of the new protocol available
• 1995 • BACnet was published as ASHRAE 135-1995 standard.
BACnet also becomes ANSI standard
• 1998 • BACnet becomes EN 1805-1 and ENV13321 by CEN TC247
• FND withdrawn by CEN as ENV
• 2001 • ANSI/ASHRAE 135-2001 published
• 2002 • BACnet becomes worldwide ISO norm as the only BMS-
• 2003 protocol
• The first BACnet devices are conformance tested in
• 2004 Europe
 What is BACnet?
• BACnet ist a communication standard that allows
light + building 2006

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)
 Was can BACnet provide?
• BACnet does standardize transactions like:
light + building 2006

- 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
 BACnet terminology
• Objects
light + building 2006

- 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.
 BACnet Networking Options
• Ethernet
light + building 2006

• BACnet over IP
• Serial (RS232/RS485)
• ARCnet
• MS/TP
Layer in
• LonTalk (is not equal to LonMark!) ISO/OSI-
Reference model

BACnetApplicationLayer Application

BACnet Network Layer (allows Routing) Network

BACnet/IP ISO 8802-2 Data-Link

Type 1 MS/TP PTP LonTalk
Media-Access
ISO 8802-3 ARCNET
„Ethernet“ RS 485 RS 232 Physical
 BACnet Client/Server architecture
• A BACnet device may trigger a service or can react on a
light + building 2006

service request:
- Client: Requests services (Service user)
- Server: Offers services (Service provider)

Initiate
Service
C S
Execute
Service

• 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
light + building 2006
BACnet Objects
light + building 2006
BACnet Objects
 Functional list, EN ISO 16484-3
light + building 2006
 Object properties

• Standard Objects have required and optional

light + building 2006

properties defined
• Vendors may add proprietary object properties or
vendor specific objects to a device

Object_Name ROOM_TEMP
Object_Type ANALOG INPUT
required Present_Value 20.3
Unit 62 = °C
High_Limit 30.0
optional
Low_Limit 15.0
 BACnet Services
light + building 2006

• 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
 Services - Object Access
light + building 2006

• 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)
 Services - Device Management
light + building 2006

• Network start-up
- Who-Is, I-Am
- Who-Has, I-Have
• Time Synchronization
• Request device start-up (via network) …
 BACnet Broadcast Management Device
• The BACnet Broadcast Management Device
(BBMD) handles broadcast telegrams (Who-Is, Who-Has, I-Am,
light + building 2006

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.

B-OWS IP-Router B-OWS

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

• Services include
light + building 2006

- 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
 Alarm- and Event handling
• BACnet allows for three different methods for alarm and event
handling
light + building 2006

- 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
 The BACnet PICS
light + building 2006

• 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
 The BACnet PICS

• PICS continued ...

light + building 2006

- 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
 BACnet PICS (Extract)
light + building 2006
 BACnet Interoperability Building Blocks

• BIBBs – Define a set of BACnet services to provide

light + building 2006

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)
 BACnet Interoperability Building Blocks
• BIBBs example:
light + building 2006

- 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

BACnet Service Initiate Execute

SubscribeCOVProperty X
ConfirmedCOVNotification X
UnconfirmedCOVNotification X
 Standard BACnet device profiles

• B-OWS BACnet Operator Workstation, GLT

light + building 2006

• 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
light + building 2006 Standard BACnet device profiles
 BACnet Interest Group Europe e. V.

• The BACnet Interest Group Europe e. V. (B.I.G.-EU)

light + building 2006

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
 Further BACnet organisations

• BACnet Interest Group – North America

light + building 2006

• 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
 BACnet Tests and Certification
• BMA and BIG-EU develop a common test and
certification system
light + building 2006

• 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
 BACnet Tests and Certification

• Today extent of the BACnet conformance tests

light + building 2006

- 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.
 BIBBS, tested in Europe today
• DS-RP-B
light + building 2006

- (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)
 B-BC Example: Honeywell Excel Web
• LINUX operating system
light + building 2006

• 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
LINU • Up to 1.000 BACnet objects
X
inside • I/O modules based on LonTalk
!
(78kbps, Free topology wiring
• DIN rail or direct mounting
 Upcoming BACnet extensions
• BACnet Web Services
light + building 2006

• 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
 Upcoming BACnet extensions
• BACnet/XML Working-Group target
light + building 2006

- 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 ERP-Client Application

BACnet/Web Services Makes use of Web Services
via SOAP via SOAP
light + building 2006

Some BACnet Projects

 Technology compound at the German
Parliamentary Buildings Paul-Löbe-
Haus
light + building 2006

Reichstag

Marie-Elisabeth-
Lüders-Haus
Jakob-Kaiser-
Haus

Spree
 Technology compound at the German
Parliamentary Buildings
Honeywell
light + building 2006

Ethernet (TCP/IP)
Supervisorx BMS

Supervisory BMS of the Energy compound

BACnet/IP

Paul-Löbe Unter den Linden 71 Schadowstr. 12/13

Reichstag
Haus Wilhelmstraße 60 und Dorotheenstr. 88

Jakob-KaiserHaus Dorotheenstraße 88
Unter den Linden 50
Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders
Haus
 Technology compound at the German
Parliamentary Buildings
light + building 2006

Building Vendor System No. of dp

Reichstaggebäude Kieback & Peter BACnet Gwy 30.000
Paul-Löbe-Haus Honeywell Excel 500 10.000
Paul-Löbe-Haus Honeywell IRC 3.000
Paul-Löbe-Haus Honeywell BACnet 500
Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus JCI BACnet 20.000
Jakob-Kaiser-Haus ABB Tridium/BACnet 30.000
Wilhelmstraße 60/
Unter den Linden Siemens (Landis & Staefa) BACnet 7.000
Schadowstraße 12/13 AutomatedLogic BACnet 200
Dorothenstraße 88 Saia BACnet 200

Supervisory BMS at the

Reichstag Honeywell BACnet 100.900
 Technology compound at the German
Parliamentary Buildings
• Access to BACnet objects like schedule, calendar
light + building 2006

and loop
 Building Management with BACnet
light + building 2006
light + building 2006

BACnet/OPC comparison
light + building 2006

The birth of OPC ...

Microsoft
 OPC Introduction

• The task:
light + building 2006

- 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
 OPC History
• 1995
- A task force composed of Fisher-Rosemount, Rockwell Software, Opto 22,
light + building 2006

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.
 OPC Introduction

• OPC (OLE for Process Control) is a Client-/Server

light + building 2006

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
 OPC data types, object model
light + building 2006

• 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
 OPC Specifications

• OPC Data Access

light + building 2006

- 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.
 OPC Specifications

• OPC Historical Data Access  

light + building 2006

- 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
 Need more information?
light + building 2006

• OPC Foundation web pages

- www.opcfoundation.org
• OPC European membebr web pages
- www.opceurope.org
 OPC/BACnet Comparison
• BACnet • OPC
- Vendor independence - Vendor independence
light + building 2006

 ISO Standard, independent  De-facto-Industry Standard,

from OS, hardware or vendor based on Microsoft
COM/DCOM technology

- Best suited for - Best suited for

 Automation and management  Move real-time data from
level PLC to visualisation and
business applications
 Peer-to-Peer communication
 Peer-to-Peer communication
for HVAC control and safety
controls possible if OPC data
eXchange extension
becomes available

- Communication - Communication
 IP support, Client-Server  IP support, Client-Server
 OPC/BACnet Comparison
• BACnet • OPC
light + building 2006

- Specifications/Profiles - Specifications/Profiles
 Data Sharing (with priority)  Data Access (DA)
 Alarms and Events  Alarm & Events (AE)
 Historical Trends  Historical Trends
 Scheduling • only few implementations exist,
 Device and Network Management • Normally done on SCADA level

 Access Control mechanisms build in  Scheduling

• needs to be done on SCADA level

 BACnet via XML  Access Control

• Specification in public review • available. Only a few implementations
make use of OPC Security
 OPC XML-DA
• spec. under development)

- Conformance tests
- Conformance tests
 BACnet Test Lab at Stuttgart is
 Compliance Tests available through
capable to provide first basic BACnet
conformance tests the OPC Foundation
 OPC/BACnet Comparison
• BACnet • OPC
light + building 2006

- Planning and Start-up - Planning and Start-up

 BACnet is not Plug & Play  OPC allows for Plug & Play if
f. e. due to optional object the network is correctly been
properties set up.
 A in depth comparison of the  No optional object properties
PICS is required  Configuration of DCOM in
 Test installation complex network
recommended environment can be tricky.
 Many times firewalls do not
allow for port 15
(OPC/DCOM) to be open as
 Binding: several virus attacks (like
W32Lovsan) came through
• Data documentation can be
this port
exchanged via standard EDE-
Format or  Binding:
• BACnet solutions often allow • OPC solutions often allow for
for address space browsing address space browsing
 BACnet and OPC complement each other
light + building 2006

• 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