The summary
When we have to solve complex installations where KNX is not the only technology present, every datapoint should be integrated in a common (software) platform using IP interfaces for every technology. This strategy follows the Automation Pyramid principle and permits the twinning of all the datapoints in a common item tree, in order to link, historize and visualize in a common platform the whole project.
The best BMS Solution must acquire several data of diverse Standard Technologies using “native” drivers for building automation, access control, hotel management,… Also other protocols should be integrated using OPC Servers. And it should be capable to serve this data to different clients (web visualization, pc visualization, energy management,…).
The problem
Solutions based on the KNX standard allows us to get good and very complete automation projects in many different facilities. However, on many occasions, due to the size and / or complexity of some projects, there are certain parts that may have been defined by project and implemented with other technologies and that we must integrate into a single solution as homogeneous as possible, in order, for example to visualize all the facilities from a single point.
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This article will describe the best option that exists, in our opinion, to integrate multiple technologies into a single standard management platform, in order to be able to visualize, link and historize all the control variables of a project.
The solution
In principle, it may seem that the proper and most direct solution in these cases is the use of gateways between the different technologies. However, indiscriminate use of gateways is not justified in many cases for economic or technical reasons, because on one hand the cost can be very high if we integrate various technologies at various points in the installation and on the other hand data traffic would unnecessarily increase in the destination technology.
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