LonMark® International and EnOcean Alliance team-up for optimal network topologies in building automation

LonMark® International and EnOcean Alliance team-up for optimal network topologies in building automation

The joint objective of LonMark International and the EnOcean Alliance is: simple but substantial reduction of the energy requirement in buildings. The two technologies match optimally for the purpose: LON is the leading wired technology (over twisted-pair cable, coaxial cable, optical fiber, and power-line mains) for intelligent building-services management with around 100 million devices using the technology; while EnOcean represents wireless-based automation technology, with already tens of thousands of systems implemented in buildings worldwide.

For example, self-powered sensors and actuators communicate wirelessly as an intelligent sub-network in a room or area; doing away with conventional cabling precisely where the configuration of the room is most-frequently altered. This also obviates the need for those associated costs.

Communication with the control or supervision level can then travel through LON interfaces, each linking many rooms or intelligent sub-networks to the LON backbone of building automation. In this way, the flexibility of a wireless system is ideally combined with the large bandwidth and range of a wired backbone.

The rooms in modern office buildings are rearranged, on average, about every five years; so wireless systems provide just the right flexibility. More and more, interior architects are discovering the new possibilities of design and installation presented by wireless systems, where a switch or sensor is located no longer by where electric wires are located. They can be put in the best place, in ergonomic terms. Switches to control lighting and blinds can be attached simply to each workplace of an open-plan office, for example. Light switches can be adhered to the headboard of a hotel bed, to a mirror, the tiles, or near the shower partition in the bathroom.

Room temperature sensors no longer need to be installed near doors, avoiding corruption of the temperature reading by the opening and closing of a door. Products enabled by EnOcean reduce the laying of cables inside and outside buildings, allowing the user to place sensors just about anywhere (e.g., on glass, furniture, windows, and ceilings).

When it comes to choosing a facility’s backbone for carrying building automation information, wired LON® bus systems have become the norm. However, wireless systems have been growing in popularity since the arrival of energy-autonomous and service free wireless components based on EnOcean technology. Practical experience shows that the two technologies, side-by-side, exhibit advantages that maintain an ideal wired/wireless balance—combining the strong points of both.

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