Home and Building Automation

Systems
An Overview
Summary
 Definitions
 Technology Overview
 Technology Focus
 MyHome / OpenWebNet
 KNX
 Modbus
 Modeling / Designing for Dog

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 Definitions

What are we talking about?

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Systems
Home Automation System (HAS)

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Home Automation System (HAS)
 Home automation
 Automation of the home, housework or
household activity.
 (remote) control of:
 lighting
 HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air
Conditioning)
 appliances
 and other systems
 Home automation system
 An integrated system (computer-based)
offering home automation functionalities
 Integrates electrical devices in a house
 Through a communication network
 Possibly includes devices using different
communication protocols

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Building Automation System (BAS)

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Building Automation System (BAS)
 Building automation
 The advanced functionality
provided by the control system of a
building
 E.g., security & access control, fire
detection & alarms, HVAC, lighting
control, air quality, smoke
detection, intrusion
detection, environmental
control, asset location/management
 Building Automation
System(BAS)
 A computerized, intelligent network
of electronic devices designed to
monitor and control the
7 mechanical, electronic,
Dario Bonino - Home andand lighting
Building Automation Systems 6/1/2012
Home vs. Building Automation

Building
Home Automation
Automation

 Home Automation is almost a subset of

Building Automation
 Most functionalities are shared
 Different protocols and technologies
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 Technology Overview

Which devices? Where? For what?

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Systems
Technology Overview
Building Automation
RS-485

Home
Automation

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Network Technology
 Bus  Powerline
 MyOpen  Echelon
 KNX  X10
 Modbus  Insteon
 Echelon  Wireless
 Dali  ZigBee
 CAN  Z-Wave
 MBus  EnOcean

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Application Area
 Automation  Entertainment
 Real-time Control  UPnP
 CAN  DLNA
 KNX, MyHome, Insteon, Ec  General purpose
helon, Modbus, X10, ZigBe
 Bluetooth
e, Z-Wave, EnOcean
 WiFi
 Lighting
 Dali
 (all Automation)
 Metering
 Mbus
 RS-485
 KNX, Modbus, Echelon, Zig
Bee, Z-Wave,…

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Challenges
 Integration
 Different electrical requirements
 Different interaction modalities
 Different behaviors (temporal, etc.)
 Interoperation
 Different protocols
 Different interaction modalities
 Master/slave
 Peer-to-peer
 Etc.
 Modeling
 Different technologies & assumptions
 A single shared, common description

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 Technology Focus

Assumptions, Networks, Idiosyncrasies

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Systems
MyOpen / OpenWebNet
 MyOpen system
 Initially proposed by Bticino (Legrand group)
 Proprietary bus (SCS)
 Proprietary low-level protocol
 Simple configuration (can be carried by electricians)
 Accessible via OpenWebNet gateways

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OpenWebNet
 Allows external applications to
communicate, monitor and control MyHome devices
 Open Specification
 Open protocol designed to work on minimal network
requirements
 E.g., phone connections

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OpenWebNet
 DTMF compatible
 E.g., *1*1*12##  Light 12, On
 Defines 2 types of communication sessions
 Command session
 To send commands
 To ask for device states
 To require measure values
 Event session
 To monitor all the bus events, asynchronously

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OpenWebNet - Messages
 Tag structure
 *tag1*tag2*tag3*...*tagN##
 Tag
 Allowed characters
 {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, #}
 Delimitator
 *
 Message end
 ##
 Content and structure changes for
 Commands / State requests
 Requests of measure values

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OpenWebNet – Commands/States
 3-tag structure
 *WHO*WHAT*WHERE## WHO Functionality Description
0 Scenarios
 WHO
1 Lighting
 The command/request
2 Actuators
functionality (among a set of
pre-defined values) 3 Load control
4 Temperature control
 WHAT
5 Anti-burglar systems
 The action to perform
6 Intercom
 Possible actions are specified
7 Multimedia
for each WHO value
13 Gateway management
 WHERE 15 CEN commands
 Identifies the message 16 / 22 Sound diffusion
destination
17 Scenarios for MH200N gateways
 Single device, device
groups, scenarios, zones, etc. 18 Energy management
25 CEN plus/ plus scenarios/ clean contacts
 WHAT and WHERE can have
1001 Automation diagnostics
additional parameters
1004 Thermal control diagnostics
 WHAT#PAR1#PAR2...#PARn
1013 Device diagnostics
 WHERE#PAR1#PAR2...#PARn
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OpenWebNet – Commands/States
 Switch on the lamp with id=12
 *1*1*12##
 Switch on the webcam with id=4000
 *7*0*4000##
 Switch off the temperature control for the zone 1
 *4*303*1##
 Switch off all lights
 *1*0*0##

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Idiosyncrasies / Peculiarities
 Explicit State Notion
 Same format for State changes and Commands
 State change events only in monitoring sessions
 State change events only for “active devices”, buttons and
switches do not generate events.
 States and commands only “defined” for “active”
devices
 Buttons and switches do not have an explicit state
(independent from the controlled object)

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KNX
 Formal merger of 3 leading systems for Home and
Building Automation
 EIB
 EHS
 BatiBus
 All devices carry a “bit” of intelligence on-board
 2 Operating modes
 S-MODE (System Mode)
 Requires centralized binding & parameterization (with ETS)
 E-MODE
 Simple manipulation without PCs
 Similar to MyOpen

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KNX - Architecture

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KNX - Application
 Device implement “Distributed Applications”
 Based on datapoints
 Datapoints:
 Represent process and control variables in the system
 May be
 inputs
 Outputs
 parameters
 diagnostic data
 …
 Standardized Datapoint Types, grouped into
Functional Blocks

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KNX – Application (2)
 Communication System and Protocol offer a reduced
instruction set to
 Read and Write (set and get) Datapoint values
 Application semantics is mapped to
 Data format
 Bindings
 3 binding schemes
 Free
 Structured
 Tagged binding

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KNX - Binding
 Free binding:
 No a priori prescription on which Datapoints may be
linked
 Free addressing
 Customized multicast grouping at the level of individual
Datapoints
 Central to S-Mode
 Structured binding
 Precise pattern for linking a whole set of
Datapoints, usually corresponding to a Functional Block
or Channel
 Free-address
 E.g., Controller and Push-button Modes
 Tagged binding
26
 … too complex …
Dario Bonino - Home and Building Automation Systems 6/1/2012
KNX – Binding Example
GroupAddress
(multicast access to
a datapoint)

Binding

GroupAddress
(multicast access to
a datapoint)

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KNX – Network technology
 TP 1 (basic medium inherited from EIB)
 Twisted pair cabling
 SELV network and supply system
 Asynchronous character oriented data transfer and half duplex bi-
directional communication
 Transmission rate: 9600 bit/s
 CSMA/CA collision avoidance
 All topologies may be used and mixed (line, star, tree, ….)
 PL 110
 Communication over the mains supply network
 Spread frequency shift keying signaling
 Asynchronous transmission of data packets and half duplex bi-
directional communication
 Central frequency 110 kHZ
 Trasmission rate:1200 bit/s
 CSMA, compliant to EN 50065-1

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KNX – Network technology
 RF
 868,3 MHz band for Short Range
 Frequency Shift Keying, maximum duty cycle of 1%
 32768 cps (chips per second)
 Manchester data encoding
 KNXnet/IP
 Standard protocol for KNX devices connected to an IP
network
 IP network as a fast backbone in KNX installations
 Tunnels KNX Frames over IP

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KNX – Network topology
 Line
 Up to 256 devices
 Connected into Areas via
a Main Line
 Area
 Up to 16 lines per area
 Up to 16 Areas
 Connected via a
Backbone Line
 Max. Number of devices
 65536

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Idiosyncrasies / Peculiarities
 Implicit State Notion
 Only a subset of device states can be queried
 State Events
 State change events can be published by carefully configuring the KNX
devices
 S-MODE
 Specific group address for notifications
 Pass-through gateway configuration
 All devices can publish state changes
 In-operation events available
 KNXNet/IP
 Tunnel mode  event-based
 Supports partial device discovery
 EIBNet/IP
 Requires participation to a multicast delivery group:
 239.192.39.238
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Modbus
 Application layer messaging protocol (level 7 of the
OSI model)
 Provides client/server communication between
devices
 different types of buses or networks
 Industry serial de facto standard since 1979
 Request/reply protocol
 Services specified by function codes
 MODBUS function codes
 elements of MODBUS request/reply PDUs

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Modbus – Network Architecture

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Modbus - Protocol
 Defines a simple protocol data unit (PDU)
 Independent of the underlying communication layers
 Mapping of MODBUS protocol on specific buses can
introduce some additional fields on the application data
unit (ADU)

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Modbus – Protocol (2)
 Function Code
 Indicates to the server what kind of action to perform
 Is coded in one byte
 Valid codes are in the range of 1 ... 255 decimal
 the range 128 – 255 is reserved and used for exception
responses
 Function code "0" is not valid
 Sub-function codes are added to some function codes to
define multiple actions

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Modbus - Function codes

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Modbus – Protocol (3)
Successful Transaction

Failing Transaction

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Modbus – Data Model
 Based on 4 primary tables
 Distinctions between inputs and outputs, and between bit-
addressable and word-addressable data items, do not
imply any application behavior
 All four tables can overlay one another
 Each table supports up to 65536 data items
 Read or write of items can span multiple consecutive
data blocks up to a data size limit which is
dependent on the transaction function code

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Modbus – Data Model

Multiple data blocks Single data block

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Modbus - Addressing
 precise PDU
addressing rules
 Each data block is
addressed from 0 to
65535
 Each element within a
data block is
numbered from 1 to n
 pre-mapping
between the
MODBUS data model
and the device
application is totally
vendor device
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Modbus - Transaction

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Modbus – Network technology

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Modbus – Network technology (2)
 TCP/IP over Ethernet
 Asynchronous serial transmission over a variety of
media
 wire : EIA/TIA-232-E, EIA-422, EIA/TIA-485-A
 fiber, radio, etc.
 MODBUS PLUS
 high speed token passing network

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Idiosyncrasies / Peculiarities
 Explicit State Notion
 Can only be queried (read)
 No command notion
 Only write operations on registers
 Client/Server approach
 Does not support event-based interaction
 Polling
 No explicit device notion
 Registers exposed through a Modbus Gateway
 Devices identified by their slave id
 No device discovery
 Available registers are defined by the vendor

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 Modeling/Design for Dog

How to conciliate reality with Dog requirements

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Systems
Dog – Device Abstraction
 Based on DogOnt
 http://elite.polito.it/ontologies/dogont.owl
 Devices are described in terms of network-
independent
 Functionalities
 Commands
 Notifications
 States
 State Values
 Event-based interaction
 Network specific idiosyncrasies must be wrapped
and reconciled to the Dog abstract model
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Dog – Implementation Constraints
 For each technology
 1 Network driver (mandatory)
 Handles networks-specific communication
 Connection
 Polling vs. Event Monitoring
 Connection loss recovery
 1 Gateway driver (optional)
 Handles different gateways using the same network protocol
 E.g., for installations with multiple sub-networks
 >1 Device drivers
 1 for each supported device
 On-line conversions between operations on the abstract model
and on real devices

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Reconciling to Dog

Dog OpenWebNet

 Device representation  WHERE tag

 URI  WHAT tag
 Commands  WHO tag
 Monitoring session
 States
 Event- based interaction
 Notifications

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Reconciling to Dog

Dog KNX

 Device representation  Individual Address

 URI  Group Address
 Commands  Datapoints

 States
 State events
 Only if purposely
 Event- based interaction configured
 Notifications  Device discovery

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Reconciling to Dog

Dog Modbus

 Device representation  Register

 URI  Read
 Commands  Write
 Slave ID
 States

 Event- based interaction

 Notifications
Polling

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And the other technologies?
 Z-Wave
 Does not support event-based interaction (partially?)
 Polling
 Based on device discovery
 Device creation at run-time (in Dog)
 Same implementation constraints
 Echelon
 Almost equal to Modbus
 Connection based on web services
 …

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Questions?

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Thanks!

53 Dario Bonino - Home and Building Automation Systems 6/1/2012

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54 Dario Bonino - Home and Building Automation Systems 6/1/2012