by Brianna Crandall — April 2, 2014—New tests and test improvements for building automation and control networks are included in the newly published ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135.1-2013, Method of Test for Conformance to BACnet. BACnet was created to allow communication between building automation and control systems for applications such as heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) control, lighting control, access control, and fire detection systems and related equipment.
Published in March by global building technology society ASHRAE, Standard 135.1-2013 defines a standard method for verifying that an implementation of the BACnet protocol provides each capability claimed in its Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PICS) in conformance with Standard 135, BACnet—A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks.
Standard 135.1 provides a comprehensive set of procedures for verifying the correct implementation of each claimed capability, including BACnet services (as initiators, executors, or both), BACnet object-types (including both required properties and optional properties), the BACnet network layer protocol, data link options and all special functionalities.
The newly published standard includes new tests for new extensions to the BACnet standard as well as numerous test improvements developed in cooperation with the BACnet Testing Laboratories, and it references the latest version of Standard 135, published in 2012, according to Carl Neilson, chair of the Standard 135 and Standard 135.1 Committees.
“The new tests are significant and wide sweeping across the standard,” said Neilson. “The new tests cover new functionality that has been added to the BACnet standard over the past six to 10 years. We are continuing to work on advancing the test standard to ensure it continues to have coverage as the BACnet standard is extended/maintained.”
ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135.1-2013, Method of Test for Conformance to BACnet is available from the ASHRAE Bookstore at a cost of $119 ($101, ASHRAE members).
ASHRAE (formerly the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers), founded in 1894, is a building technology society with more than 50,000 members worldwide. The Society and its members focus on building systems, energy efficiency, indoor air quality (IAQ), refrigeration and sustainability. Through research, standards writing, publishing, certification and continuing education, ASHRAE says it shapes tomorrow’s built environment today.
