Building automation system via LonWorks and Linux based personal computer

Until now, control networks including various kinds of controlled devices have become widespread worldwide in the development of building automation. Control networks have their own network protocols, and because of the inconsistency of IP network protocols, extra equipment is required to integrate these two types of protocols, and to cope with the control and management of building automation systems over the internet. However, because these integration solutions are very costly due to inflexible hardware implementation and are strongly depend on their manufacturers, system designers have difficulty implementing these solutions to their various specific applications. In this paper, an advanced distributed control scheme that connects the control networks to IP networks based on LonWorks technology is presented. The proposed scheme is implemented by using a simple programmable Basic Lon Node (BLN) and compatible personal computer as an internet server. BLN is an electric board that was developed in this research and physically contains a transceiver, Neuron chip, and some memory devices. To perform various functions as an internet server, the PC uses a control software of Lon on Internet System (LOIS), where C-language was used to write the LOIS web server for the GNU/LINUX environment. With our scheme, system designers can easily implement their various specific applications only with the down load of the control program via a PC serial port (RS-232). This scheme can provide an advanced, lower cost, worldwide, distributed control system, as well as freedom and flexibility for comprehensive developments.