Recently ASHRAE announced that the BACnet protocol has been approved as a standard both for ISO and CEN. Standard 135 will be published as international standard ISO 16484-5 and as European standard EN/ISO 16484-5. What is the significance of this announcement - and will it make integration of building controls easier?
The ASHRAE announcement is a significant milestone in the creation of international standards for our industry. BACnet is a recognised and appreciated standard that is used in particular for connecting systems at a

higher level, i.e. the management level.

At the field and automation levels there is also progress being made in terms of standardisation. The European pre-standards are soon expected to be

replaced by two standards including LonWorks and EIB/KNX respectivelly.

Whether the announcement will make integration of building controls easier is doubtful, in particular in the short term. Mixing different standards with a need for translation between them is never easier than using a single

standard. At the moment there is significantly larger selection of LonWorks based control units available which makes a pure LonWorks solution likely to be more easy to use.

On the other hand, with its world recognition, the BACnet based control units may become more popular over time. The question remains however: What is to be used at the field level> There LonWorks still have a strong lead.

Source

Building Sustainable Design