Control Network Newsletter
Cloud Connected BACnet Controllers for Standalone or BACnet Supervised Automation Applications
The BASpi-Edge series of BACnet controllers provides data processing at the edge, webpage configuration, and secure cloud connectivity to Azure IoT Central—providing features beyond traditional BAS controllers. Additional features such as graphical dashboards, email alarms/notifications, schedules with holidays/exceptions, and weather web service served over Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or directly out of the resident HDMI port make the BASpi-Edge ideal for standalone or BACnet supervised automation applications.
The Edge controllers provide BACnet client/server communication over Ethernet or Wi-Fi and can communicate with the local operational network and supervisory stations or other Edge controllers via BACnet. Two available models have 12-points of physical I/O and differ only in the makeup of their outputs. The BASPI-E6U6R has 6 universal inputs and 6 relay outputs, while the BASPI-E6U4R2A has 6 universal inputs, 4 relay outputs, and 2 analog outputs. Housed in a compact 4U (70mm wide) DIN-rail mounted enclosure, the units are powered by Raspberry Pi with 24 VAC/VDC power input and a resilient pSLC 8GB micro SD card delivers the performance, convenience, and durability required for next-generation control applications.
To foster our commitment to open controls, BASpi-Edge controllers utilize the low-cost computing power of the Raspberry Pi micro PC and feature BACnet communications protocol and Sedona function block programming. Units are freely programmable using Contemporary Controls' BAScontrol Toolset which is a free set of software tools for Windows PC designed to simplify controller programming, emulation, and project archiving. The Toolset is available as a download from Contemporary Controls' website and includes the Sedona Application Editor (SAE) for Sedona programming, BASemulator to emulate full controller operation on a PC, and BASbackup to archive and restore controller settings and configurations to a project file. There are no licensing requirements or per-point fee.
Registered users can also download the free BACnet discovery tool to verify controller communication with MS/TP devices that are accessed via BACnet/IP routers. In addition to discovering BACnet devices, the application can read and write device objects as well as scan and graph their present values.
With these advancements, Contemporary Controls retains its mission of providing freely programmable, web-based open controllers with BACnet as the protocol, license-free Sedona as the programming language, and unrestricted access to the free BAScontrol Toolset.
To learn more, visit the BASpi-Edge product page.