Control Network Newsletter
Sedona Tools for Developing Custom HVAC Components
Sedona is an open-source software environment designed to make it easy to build smart, networked, embedded devices which are well suited for implementing control applications. The Sedona language facilitates component-oriented programming where components (deployed in kits) are assembled onto a wiresheet, configured, and then interconnected to create applications. The technology is in the public domain and can be found at Sedona Alliance.
As a Sedona developer, Contemporary Controls has developed several product lines based on Sedona, such as the BASautomation line of BAScontrol and the Micro PC Edge BACnet-compliant open controllers, the BAScontrol Toolset for unrestricted use in program development and archiving, and HVAC applications with sophisticated macro components.
The BAScontrol Toolset is a free set of software tools for Windows PC that includes the Sedona Application Editor (SAE) which allows for Sedona programming, BASemulator which emulates full controller operation on a PC, and BASbackup which saves and restores the application and full configuration as a single project file.
The SAE is a Java-based editing tool used to create wiresheet applications in the Sedona environment. With the free BAScontrol Toolset download, Contemporary Controls provides the standard release kits and manifests for Sedona core components (created by Tridium, the original developer of Sedona) along with Contemporary Controls' custom platform-dependent and platform-independent Sedona kits. In addition, Contemporary Controls maintains a library of typical HVAC applications which can be modified using the BAScontrol Toolset.
DDevelopers can create custom components using a Sedona complier which is part of the Sedona development files that can be downloaded from the Sedona Alliance. Along with the complier is source code, a sample Sedona virtual machine, documentation, and ready-made Sedona components to build upon. All of this is included in a single zip file ready for download.
Contemporary Controls' customer, GreenmediaHD, used the Sedona tools and SAE to create custom components for Contemporary Controls' RTU38 open controller which is designed for OEM applications. Integrating these custom components within the RTU38, GreenmediaHD built a proprietary product—the Rooftop Unit Smart Control (RTU-SC) —which is an energy saving component that modulates, optimizes and controls RTU fan speed to improve ventilation rates of an HVAC system.
For more information about Sedona Open and Control and creating custom components, visit Sedona Open Control.