Use Functioning Two Wire Serial Networks

for Rapid IP/Ethernet Building Automation Upgrades

S. Venkat Shastri

PCN Technology, Inc.

16450 Via Esprillo
San Diego, CA 92127

Article Abstract: The Building Automation industry is going through a number of changes
motivated by a need to increase instrumentation as well as the intelligence in systems that
control comfort, lighting and other aspects of facility operations. In certain cases, where
temperature and humidity need to be regulated within narrow margins, evolution from on-off
control to real-time monitoring and control is inevitable. All this is calling for extensions and
upgrades to the networking infrastructure currently in-place, and a move from proprietary
narrowband communication to standardized broadband communication. In this paper, we
propose the application of a new technology called IP-485 for network expansions and
upgrades, and describe how it could be utilized to transform closed legacy infrastructure in
buildings into open Cloud connected IP LANs. The proposed solution enables a phased
approach to the migration and ultimate transformation of building management systems, with
immediate deployment of web services such as remote or mobile monitoring, Cloud storage and
analytics.

Introduction
Building Management Systems (BMS) refer to the automatic control of heating, ventilation and
air-conditioning (HVAC), lighting, and the control of physical access to facilities. Traditionally,
facilities managers have relied on the experience of system integrators to design and deploy
vertically integrated systems consisting of products from a variety of vendors. Managers
maintained their closed-system installations with direct support from system integrators, and
relied on them for network expansions and upgrades. In the past decade, it has become clear
that this business model cannot be continued for a variety of reasons, most importantly:
-

Many legacy networks operate at or close to their capacity. So, upgrade requests can no
longer be satisfied by just adding new edge devices to the network infrastructure.

A good fraction of legacy networks still pre-date BACNet standards, and face support
and integration challenges in an environment that has not only moved to BACNet
products, but are looking to evolve networks to IP.

While closed legacy networks may support the delivery of cyber-security through a
defense in depth strategy, Cloud connectivity is becoming increasingly important for
applications such as remote monitoring, and the move to internet connectivity and
integration with the corporate IT network infrastructure is inevitable. When this occurs,
legacy networks will no longer be secure.

In a world where CapEx budgets are large, facilities managers would be able to overcome these
challenges with simply a rip and replace plan to a new, open-standard broadband
infrastructure capable of supporting the integration of BMS to the corporate IT network. But
practically speaking what they need is a migration strategy from their legacy infrastructure to
one that satisfies their current and emerging bandwidth, security and service demands. In this
paper, we show that IP-485 enables structured and phased strategies for network upgrades,
and future proofs the communication infrastructure to emerging needs.

Challenges in Building Management Systems Infrastructure

Building Management Systems (BMS) refer to the automatic control of heating, ventilation and
air-conditioning (HVAC), lighting, and the control of physical access to facilities. They consist
not only of HVAC, lighting and other equipment, but also sensors that make measurements, and
control systems that utilize them to automatically regulate control variables. As an example,
thermostats measure room temperature, which is then used to turn heaters or air-conditioners
on or off depending on whether the actual temperature is over or under specified value.
Systems that regulate temperature have been in existence in building for many years, while
those that sense occupancy and/or ambient lighting to regulate lights are relatively recent. As a
result, BMS are populated with a wide range of network and communication infrastructure, most
often incompatible with each other and operating independently.
Older infrastructure may operate at very low bandwidths (often as low as 2400 or 4800 Baud),
and had very little need for error correction in communication or bandwidth/ latency
management in the network. As a result, QoS in these installations resulted more from careful
design of the entire system, and upgrades required a re-test of the entire system in place to reaffirm QoS. Infrastructure installed in BMS over the past two decades has witnessed a transition
to the more standardized and higher speed BACNet protocols and networks. Data rates as high
as 76.8 KBaud are becoming more common when faster Bus configurations are used. Networks

are managed using a Master-Slave or Token Passing method, and strives to achieve higher
flexibility in the delivery of network expansions and upgrades.

The primary impediment to a plan that upgrades older installations to BACNet is that this will
require a rip and replace of the former with the latter and involve significant capital expense.
As a result, BMS systems have, and will continue to have, a mix and match of older narrowband
legacy systems, and newer medium band BACNET. This places extraordinary burdens on
system integrators to maintain product and service support for offerings that are outdated, and
on forces facilities managers to shy away from major network upgrades in lieu of technical risks
and project costs. In recent years, the situation has been made worse due to the difficulties
faced by facilities managers in the delivery of hosted services to their BMS infrastructure to
exploit their cost benefits. Delivery of services on serial networks is usually far more difficult
than IP networks on the one hand, but deployment of IP infrastructure would call on facilities
managers to maintain three different technologies in their installations legacy serial, BACNet
serial and IP on the other. Add short-range wireless technologies such as Zigbee for rapid
integration of new Edge devices to the mix, and the situation becomes worse.

Facilities managers typically require three types of network upgrades in their BMS infrastructure.
These are:
1. Network Expansions: Many legacy systems operate close to or at their bandwidth. So,
a request to integrate additional edge devices (e.g., additional thermostats) may not be
possible on the existing network infrastructure. In these cases, facilities may require an
actual expansion of the bandwidth prior to the addition of new devices. We refer to this
as Network Expansion.
2. Network Upgrades: In a selected number of legacy systems, an upgrade of the lower
bandwidth legacy infrastructure to a standardized BACNet infrastructure may be
required. This may be requested as a solution to a Network Expansion problem, or
because it may be more difficult or expensive to maintain and operate the older systems.
3. Network Transformations: All legacy systems would (eventually) need to move to a
open broadband IP LAN infrastructure. If achieved, this would immediately enable not
only the total integration of the BMS network with the corporate IT network and the
delivery of hosted services, it would also permit rapid and easy integration of BMS
products from a wide range of third-party vendors, and deliver high levels of security in a
cost effective manner.

In this paper, we describe the application of IP-485 to BMS Network Transformation without
any rip and replace of the existing wiring infrastructure. In a companion paper [], we deal
with Network Expansion and Network Upgrade using IP-485.

IP-485 Technology
At the heart of the proposed solution to BMS upgrade challenges is a technology call IP-485
enables the simultaneous transport of IP data and serial data over the same wiring
infrastructure (twisted or untwisted pair, current loop, co-ax, etc.), even in the presence of
significant conducted and radiated noise in the medium. The foundation of this technology lies in
an algorithm called Dynamic Adaptive Channeling which decides in real-time how to encode
data payloads into communication frequency channels, so that Quality of Service (QoS) can be
maintained at all times subject to channel constraints. The algorithm starts with a full spectral
sweep and a determination of the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SnR) properties across the entire
channel. To make the problem computationally elegant, the algorithm divides the overall
communication channel into Orthogonal Divisional Frequency Multiplexing (OFDM) subchannels and conducts the SnR analysis at the baseband associated with each sub-channel
(shown in Figure 2). This helps determine available sub-channels at a given Quality of Service
(QoS), which in turn maximizes the utilization of usable channel capacity.

Figure 1: Dynamic Adaptive Channeling

Adaptive Channeling permits the deployment of robust communication networks in harsh

environments. The algorithm is robust to white noise in the channels which degrade the
communication bandwidth, and colored noise in the channels arising from factors such as EM
interference from nearby operating equipment. In addition, it automatically discovers usable
communication channels regardless of the type, gauge or topology of wiring used. As examples,
IP-485 would operate successfully on 18-gauge, twisted pair, multi-drop wiring, co-ax cables or

26-gauge untwisted pair, simple daisy-chained wiring. Communication is robust to collisions

arising from other applications currently using the channel, which are seen as interferences in
channel analysis. This enables the technology to implement multiplexed channel access across
applications at the physical level. In addition, if more than one OFDM sub-channel is available
for communication, the technology enables the implementation of a Bus consisting of subchannels that run concurrently, each of which may be multiplexed between applications.

Figure 2: IP-485 Network Architecture

The second set of properties manifest in PCNs IP-485 relates to real-time network
management at the application level. Concurrent with the adaptive channeling algorithm, we
also implement a real-time communication engine that enables the delivery of serial data (that is
multiplexed with IP date) with negligible latency, encoded in jitter free, almost copy-exact
waveforms, regardless of wiring type, noise, interference of other considerations that affect
signal integrity. Further, we also implement a network engine that enables network configuration
and management in real-time. For example, in a Master-Slave configuration, the concept of a

Floating Master may be implemented using the engine. Further, data payloads with high priority
may be queued and delivered with very low latency across the network.

IP-485 Networks
Figure 2 shows a typical network established using IP-485 network products. It consists of a
Router that is connected to the Cloud via an ISP line (T1, Fiber or Satellite) using a standard
CAT 5/6 connection. It may also be connected to serial network(s) on its Low Frequency (LF)
Bus(es). The PCN Single Channel Router (SCR) accepts a single serial network connection
(shown in Figure 2), while the Multi-Channel (MCR) version permits the integration of up to 4
serial networks. The Router then transports both IP data and serial data on the same output
channel, called the Broadband (BB) Bus. The SCR has a single BB Bus, while MCR would have
as many separate BB Buses as serial network inputs on the LF Bus. In this architecture, the
Shared Wire multi-channel, multiplexed access bus is implemented on the BB Bus wiring.

Each Router is connected to one or more PCN Switches on the BB Bus. A SCR would be
capable of driving up to 4 switches, while a MCR has the capacity to drive up to 16. Each PCN
Switch has as input the BB Bus wiring from its Router. Serial network outputs are connected to
its LF Bus, while its 3 IP ports enable the establishment of a redundant management IP network
between the Router and the Switch. Network established with MCRs and Switches have the
ability to integrate up to 48 IP Edge devices, and 4 separate serial networks, each potentially
having a different protocol. SCRs, on the other hand, will be able to handle 12 IP Edge devices
and a single serial network. In each case, the IP network would co-exist with the serial network
without any impact on the performance of one network from the other. In our current product
implementation the BB Bus as well as the LF Bus consists of standard twisted pair (TP) or
untwisted pair (UTP). In addition, the technology has been validated on a variety of analog
(current loop, co-ax, etc.) and digital (485, 422, 232, etc.) wiring.

Network Transformation using IP-485 Networks

Figure 3: Typical BMS System Architecture

Figure 3 shows a typical BMS system architecture.

Please note that LonWorks is a serial protocol that is also prevalent within the building
automation industry, and the network run in the middle may be one of the many older slower
speed legacy protocols. The key issue present in such a system is how to integrate a new IP
Edge device on any of the three serial networks. In the rest of this section, we will address how
this may be easily achieved in a BACNet network using IP-485. Implementations on LonWorks
or older legacy networks would be similar.
Consider the system architecture shown in Figure 4 which describes how a BACNet system
may be upgraded with IP Edge devices. In this example, the system in place consists of a
BACNet supervisory controller connected to a number of field controllers (connected in a simple
daisy chain in the example). The upgrade required is to install (as an example) an IP-enable
thermostat at a given location. Without the power of IP-485, system integrators would have to

rely on wireless (which depending on the location of the Edge device may not be feasible due to
noise and interference) or deploy new CAT 5 cables from the control station to the Edge device.
However, as shown in the architecture, if we connected a SCR at the outpur of the BACnet
supervisor and a switch at some location that is proximate to the Edge device, the upgrade can
be easily achieved with very little additional wiring and no impact to the operation of the existing
BACNet system.

Figure 4: IP-485 Upgrade of BACNet System

In terms of real-world applications, PCN products have been successfully applied on BACNet
networks operating at data rates ranging from 9600 Baud to 76.8K Baud. In addition, PCN
products have also functioned on legacy building automation buses without issue. In both
cases, IP data rates in the range of 1 - 4 Mbps were recorded consistently at the edge. This
implies that while the example shows the integration of a simple device such as a thermostat,
PCN products are capable of supporting the data needs of any upgrade that may be required in
existing BMS. The SCR may either be connected directly to the Cloud, or integrated with the
corporate IT infrastructure for the delivery of web services.

Conclusion
In this article, we have presented a new technology called IP-485 and described how it may be
deployed to transform existing BMS infrastructure into one that can support IP-enabled devices

that are connected to the Cloud. The technology has been applied successfully on a variety of
BMS configurations and data protocols, and has operated on both twisted pair and untwisted
pair wiring. Both daisy chain and multi-drop wiring topologies have been considered in the
testing. At present, the products are beginning to proliferate within the market leaders in building
automation, and we anticipate rapid adoption of the technology in a number of Use Cases in the
near-term.