A BMS Client and Gateway Using BACnet Protocol

Chaitra V. Bharadwaj1, M. Velammal2, and Madhusudan Raju3

1
M.Tech, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, The Oxford College of Engineering,
Bangalore-560 062
chaitravb@gmail.com
2
Asst. Professor, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, The Oxford College of
Engineering, Bangalore-560 062
velammaljegan@yahoo.co.in
3
Technical Specialist, Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions Limited,
Bangalore-560 062
madhusudan.raju@in.bosch.com

Abstract. A Building Management System (BMS) is a computer-based control

system installed in buildings that controls and monitors the building’s
mechanical and electrical equipments such as ventilation, lighting, power
systems, fire systems, and security systems. The aim is at integrating elements
of BMS using an open standard known as BACnet. BACnet stands for Building
Automation Control and Network. It is the most widely used protocol in
industry for automation control, which is used to control/monitor the status of
different units. Any security system installed in a company can also be
controlled using the same philosophy.
The main objective is to use BACnet protocol, an open standard protocol to
develop BMS client application, capable of displaying, controlling and
monitoring all BACnet entities, irrespective of the manufacturer and also to
develop a gateway to interface Fire panels to communicate over network using
BACnet protocol.

Keywords: Building Management System, BACnet Protocol, BACnet Client,

BACnet Gateway.

1 Introduction
The word “BACnet” [1] has become recognizable in the building controls
industry as the “Automation and Controls Network”. However, do you really
understand its capabilities? Do you know what benefits it brings to your
buildings? BACnet is a very capable open protocol, but it does have its limits.
This paper explores the role of BACnet as one of the leading protocol standards
today, points out its current limitations, and shows where the standard is
heading. You will also learn how to create a comfortable multi-protocol building
today while planning for the secure BACnet system of tomorrow.
A Building Management System (BMS) [7] is a computer-based control system
installed in buildings that controls and monitors the building’s mechanical and
electrical equipment such as ventilation, lighting, power systems, fire systems, and

D.C. Wyld et al. (Eds.): ACITY 2011, CCIS 198, pp. 437–449, 2011.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011
438 V.B. Chaitra, M. Velammal, and M. Raju

security systems. A BMS consists of software and hardware. A BMS is most common
in a large building.
Organizations use multiple systems to monitor and control their buildings, ranging
from Fire and Intrusion alarm to access control, video surveillance and building
automation systems. But some of the 3rd party Building Management System (BMS)
Clients available in market support different protocols for each of these systems.
BACnet protocol is an industry standard protocol that is widely used in the heating
and ventilation industry. It can also be applied to the security systems domain like a
Fire Alarm System. Hence BACnet protocol is used to integrate Intrusion, Access
control, CCTV, Fire alarm systems into a single operating system.
BACnet is a communications protocol for Building Automation and Control
networks. It is an ASHRAE, ANSI, and ISO standard protocol. The BACnet protocol
provides mechanisms for computerized building automation devices to exchange
information, regardless of the particular building service they perform. The BACnet
protocol defines a number of services that are used to communicate between building
devices.

2 Motivation
The development of the proposed work is divided into two parts. First part is to
develop a BACnet client capable of displaying all the BACnet entities present in the
network. The scope of the client is to monitor as well as control (if required) the
different BACnet entities present in the network. This development will be employing
a third party BACnet stack (library) for making all the calls to BACnet entities. The
BACnet client developed will be used to monitor fire alarm systems. Further it can be
extended to any type of system. The second part is to develop a generic Gateway
using BACnet protocol. The gateway is a software solution which communicates with
the actual fire system in its proprietary protocol, and performs the complex job of
creating and mapping BACnet objects into equivalent objects in the actual fire
system. Gateway will be developed in generic nature, for Fire panels developed at
BOSCH which can also be extended further for intrusion and video systems.

3 Literature Survey

3.1 The Safety Components

As climate control has several components, so does safety. Perhaps more! The main
systems used to make a facility safe are physical and electronic security, fire and life
safety, and emergency power and lighting. Physical security is the use of doors, locks,
fences, gates, walls, etc., to keep intruders out or to provide containment. Physical
security is made efficient by the use of electronic security, which in some
implementations may eliminate the physical security requirements. Electronic security
is the use of intrusion sensors, access control, and digital CCTV devices, including
digital video recorders.
Fire and life safety systems are ready to go into action when excessive heat, smoke,
or chemical levels are detected or when manually called upon. Response may come in