Control Network Newsletter
Contemporary Controls' Leads Discussion on the Automation Application Platform at Haystack 2015
April 2015 - Contemporary Controls will be participating in the upcoming community-focused Project Haystack Connect 2015 Conference. At the conference, Bennet Levine, R & D Manager, Contemporary Controls, will lead a presentation on the Automation Application Platform.
"Many companies in our industry provide software applications that run on PCs. Because of this, it is can be suggested that these companies port their applications to an Automation Application Platform, which is better suited for building automation software applications," states Levine.
Similar to a PC but more reliable, the Automation Application Platform is hardened for the heavy demands required for building automation. The platform has no spinning hard drives, no fans, and it fits into the enclosures of the building automation system. Like a PC it will have an operating system, hard drive (solid state, not spinning) and ports. However, these ports will be Ethernet, WiFi, EnOcean, EIA-485, etc. The Automation Application Platform presentation is scheduled for Wednesday, May 20, Track 2 - Next Gen Hardware.
"Automation Application Platforms should take advantage of open source projects that assist in the creation of building automation applications," states Levine. The Linux operating system has a very large community behind it and usually powers most higher-end embedded devices. Open source software such as the open source BACnet stack has been used in many BACnet devices. Other open source projects provide code for protocols such as Haystack, Modbus, EnOcean, SNMP, EtherNet/IP, and KNX. In addition, Raspberry PI, BeagleBoard, Arduino, may be thought of as being Automation Application Platforms. These are all incredible devices; however, they do not provide numerous features such as isolated EIA-485 ports, 0-60C operation, FCC/CE, UL, DIN rail mounting, 24VAC/DC operation, lifecycles required for this industry (hardware that does not change every six months). "However, one advantage provided by application platforms such as the Raspberry PI is the open source community that has been formed to help support these and other similar efforts", states Levine.
Each feature of the Automation Application Platform can be used by the building automation software application to provide a fully functional BAS solution. Automation Application Platforms are better suited and more reliable as they are designed from the ground up to be used in building automation systems. You will not want to miss this informative presentation.
While at Haystack, learn more about our BACnet/IP unitary controllers that execute freely programmable Sedona Framework wire sheets. BACnet MS/TP and BACnet Ethernet to BACnet/IP BASrouters that bring Spyder controllers up to BACnet/IP without the need to install another building controller. BACnet gateways that make it easy to integrate Modbus RTU to BACnet/IP. We provide the necessary device profiles. You just check-off the points you need. Our web-based graphical head-ends display sophisticated graphics, and support BACnet, Modbus and EnOcean devices. Once up on BACnet/IP, our managed and unmanaged Ethernet switches complete the installation and are designed to co-exist in the control panel with other 24 VAC control equipment.
|
|