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BACnet Insight

30 Years of BACnet: From Interoperability to

Security – and Beyond

It’s the 30-year anniversary of the BACnet tion lines, such as RS-232, that offered a direct we implemented BACnet/IP and the associated
protocol. By its very nature, an anniver- connection between computers and modems. BBMD functionality, which, together with the
sary is a time for looking back, reflecting While less common, it was useful in applications MSTP DLL, remains the most popular variants
on how far things have come and, more in which network-based communications were of our stack.”
importantly, looking toward the future and unavailable.
what’s next. Since then, the standard has evolved and so, too,
BACnet Ethernet have the testing requirements. The establish-
As BACnet Vendor ID 37 among today’s 1,492 Uses Ethernet without the IP layer. Directly tied ment of BACnet Testing Labs (BTL) opened the
vendors, MSA’s FieldServer™ suite of automa- to the Ethernet layer, limiting its use in wider net- opportunity to test for a broader range of excep-
tion gateway products have been around much works that require routing across IP. tions and compliance scenarios. The maturity of
of these 30 years. So, we thought it a good idea both BACnet and gateways has led to new prod-
to look at where BACnet gateways have been, as BACnet MS/TP (Master-Slave/Token Passing) uct launches to support HVAC and other building
well as where they’re going. This protocol operates over twisted-pair wiring automation systems.
used as a token-passing mechanism for com-
After all, BACnet has been a key component munication. MS/TP was most used for connect- “There’s an immense amount of pride in the
in supporting the protocol gateway mission: to ing controllers to sensors and actuators. BACnet evolution,” explains de Wit, “This pro-
help improve the performance, productivity, effi- gression forced further enhancements to our
ciency, and safety in building automation, includ- BACnet/IP BACnet stack, including implementing additional
ing HVAC, as well industrial and military applica- Designed to allow BACnet devices to communi- test cases to meet these standards. The improve-
tions, while also helping reduce the demand on cate over standard Ethernet networks, this pro- ments we gained marked a significant milestone
resources and energy consumption. tocol, which uses Ethernet and Internet Protocol in developing our BACnet stack. It makes me
(IP), is the most common variant used in modern super proud to see some of our BACnet prod-
A Look Back at BACnet Protocols building automation systems. ucts still operating in the field after 10 and 20
years of commissioning. We undertook a major
Collaboration and cooperation are an inherent The Evolution of BACnet for IoT Gateways overhaul of our stack during the certification pro-
part of any vendor’s working relationship with cess, adapting it to run on a range of platforms,
BACnet. The early years provide example The committee that interprets and supports from the PIC microcontroller to the latest ARM9
after example of how BACnet has partnered BACnet has done a remarkable job making processors running Node.js. Each platform tran-
with gateway developers to enable seamless BACnet easily extendable, so its evolution has sition required a complete rewrite of core parts
integration of building and industrial automation not only been inevitable, it’s also been invaluable of our BACnet protocol, reflecting our commit-
systems. for IIoT gateway developers. ment—and BACnet’s—to continuous improve-
ment. Our journey with BACnet reflects our
Even in its infancy, BACnet quickly emerged as According to Bennie de Wet, former CTO/Manag- deep-rooted involvement and ongoing dedica-
the leading automation protocol. But BACnet ing Director of Sierra Monitor (now MSA Safety), tion to the BACnet community.”
has never taken a “one-and-done” approach, so the company’s first gateway was based on an
here’s a look at some of the older BACnet’s pro- Intel 486 processor, featured 8 RS232 serial Tomorrow’s BACnet Protocols
tocols that have been included in gateway proto- ports, and 2 RS485 ports, and used a standard
cols since the 1990s. ISA expansion slot for the ARCNET card. Though FieldServer devices once offered then-
current BACnet ARCNET and BACnet PTP, today
BACnet ARCNET “Initially, the BACnet driver supported only basic it still supports BACnet Ethernet.
As one of BACnet’s original protocols, ARCNET Read and Write Property services for BACnet
was a local area network (LAN) technology that Ethernet and BACnet MS/TP,” says de Wet. The key to such longevity, of course, is having
enabled devices to communicate over shared “Implementing BACnet Ethernet was relatively the ability to support whatever topologies the
coaxial cable. The ARCNET protocol was among straightforward. BACnet MS/TP, however, pre- market supports. So, both BACnet and BACnet
the first to do what BACnet does best: enable sented some challenges, primarily because vendors like MSA must continue to adapt and
interoperability within building automation and of strict timing requirements. This tested both evolve specifications for the “next big thing.”
industrial control applications. the limits of processor memory and process-
ing power. I vividly remember many a late night Right now, the next big thing is BACnet Security
BACnet PTP Point-to-Point spent coding the MS/TP state machine from the Connect or BACnet/SC.
PTP was typically used over serial communica- BACnet specification's state diagrams. Later,

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