BACnet

We had an IT contractor swap out some network switches last month.

That's a BACnet IP problem waiting to be found, and you now know to bring network tools.

If we had one that said we had a power blip a couple weeks back, now you're thinking about controllers that didn't come back online.

Drives may be sitting in a fault and set points that reverted maybe back to default or even blank values.

Next thing is network patch cables.

Whatever you need to get on an MSTP trunk as well.

So we have patch cables for BACnet over IP networks, but you'll also need something to be able to get onto an MSTP trunk if you have one of those set up.

Another one's also a way to source and read analog signals.

What's the problem? Okay, so if we come down here, A little bit further, I'm gonna point our listeners to these two diagnostics specifically, duplicate device addressing and duplicate network numbers.

So duplicate device addressing means we've got two controllers, that are sharing the same BACnet address, the same IP or MAC address.

Duplicate network number means that we've got two controllers acting as a BACnet router or devices that are acting as a BACnet router that are routing to the same network number.

They're saying they're the router to the same network number.

So we're going to click into that one first, and I think it's going to be pretty prescriptive as soon as you see this, what's going on.

But take a look at these rows and these columns at what it's showing us.

Remember I clued us into the network number values before in the device list and in all of the other diagnostics? Well, guess what's showing up here.

We have in this first row two controllers or two devices acting as BACnet routers.

I bet you they could pull the data off of it.

It's a BACnet slash Modbus enabled piece of equipment.

Guarantee they could.

It's open point.

I bet you they could pull the data off of it.

It's a BACnet slash Modbus enabled piece of equipment.

Guarantee they could.

It's open point.

We've standardized CodeLabs as our platform provider.

We've gone into detail to standardize temperature sensors, variable frequency drives, VRF systems, domestic booster pump systems, all the way down to the color coding of the wire from the exterior cabling to the conductors inside for what we use for thermostats, for our BACnet, for everything, right? So this is non-negotiable.

So when we start the development phase, and this is at the beginning when we start working with design firms to build our properties and the engineering teams, we actually circulate the Bedrock smart building specification.

We circulate it.

Like, "We don't even know how to get into that stuff."

It's BACnet or something.

[laughs] We don't have the login.

We haven't had it since we took over this building.

You know, that's really important.

Protocols like BACnet, Modbus, all of that stuff are common protocols that you can use.

What we do is just make sure that when we do adopt a product from a manufacturer, it is open protocol.

And for them to declare to us, you know, What is your IP on this product? And just understanding that.

Und das wollen wir heute nachholen.

Das dominierende Protokoll, so eigentlich seit den 90ern in dem, im Bereich Gebäudeautomatisierung, ist ja BACnet.

Und da hat man dann mit BACnet IP 'ne Ethernet-IP-basierte Variante eingeführt, die jetzt eigentlich der dominierende Marktstandard ist.

Das ist alles sehr auf Interoperabilität ausgelegt und das ist so, dass es sehr gut funktioniert.

Also es geht da um Verfügbarkeit und einfache Installation, äh, und Inbetriebnahme.

Wenig überraschend, wie in vielen Bereichen wurde dort nicht so viel Wert auf Sicherheit gelegt.

Und heute wollen wir uns mal anschauen, was gibt's da für Alternativen? Gibt's Alternativen? Und was sind die Vor- und Nachteile? Und damit würde ich das Wort an dich übergeben.

Erzähl uns noch mal ganz kurz, wie du zu diesem Thema gekommen bist, was dein Hintergrund zu BACnet ist.

Then we're going to do something I hope is a little fun, a lightning round.

Simon versus Ping from the basics all the way down to the weird corners of the BACnet standard.

Who actually knows their stuff? I'm Ryan Laflamme, and this is How to Handshake, Episode 9.

All right, thanks.

Simon is a 35-year veteran of building management, and he just wrote a book on it.

He's just recently put out this book, BMS Fundamentals, a practical guide for engineers entering the field.

And I thought, well, I guess we thought, Ping, that it would be a great opportunity to discuss sort of the ground floor, the fundamentals of BACnet, OT networking, understanding where to start.

I know that with a lot of our episodes in our BAC catalog, we do cater, obviously, to people that are working in the industry, people that already have some expertise or experience.