by Ann Withanee — May 6, 2011—A large collection of new technologies for emerging applications is contained in ASHRAE’s newly published BACnet standard. ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135-2010, BACnet — A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks, allows building equipment and systems manufactured by different companies to work together. It is the only open, consensus-developed standard in the building controls industry. The new standard contains 19 addenda approved since the 2008 standard was published.
The standard contains several new ways to communicate. Wireless communications is provided for applications where wired networks are impractical or expensive; a new XML vocabulary is provided for complex standard and proprietary data and metadata; a new character encoding method is provided for greater flexibility and compatibility with international text; and new state-of-the-art network security is defined to allow the creation of highly secure communications channels for sensitive data.
It also adds:
- higher speeds for MS/TP networks and wiring guidance for optically isolated segments
- new requirements for workstations and the definition of new kinds of workstations
- new engineering units to support smart grid and other emerging applications
- a new Global Group object for gathering, monitoring and distributing sets of data
- six new objects to support physical access control
- 12 new objects to support the full complement of all data types, including strings
The cost of ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135-2010, BACnet — A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks, is $170 ($140 ASHRAE members). It can be ordered through the ASHRAE bookstore.
