Development of an Open Building Automation System Specification Based on ANSI/ASHRAE 135-2004 (BACnet(Registered) Communications Protocol): A Technical Assessment; Final rept

摘要

This work assessed the potential for development of a building automation system (BAS) specification (for heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems, etc.) based on the BACnet communications protocol. Although BACnet is widely supported, no building automation system (BAS) specification exists that implements BACnet as an Open System. The BACnet protocol is detailed, includes comprehensive requirements, and also provides options in how individual vendors might choose to implement it. Such vendor- specific choices can effectively close the system to future open bid procurements, or result in incompatible systems. This work concluded that implementing BACnet in an Open manner will require extensively prescriptive requirements with a large amount of design and contract documentation. The resulting system may not integrate as tightly as desired and may therefore not be as user friendly to Army installation operations and maintenance (O&M) staff as other equivalent systems due mainly to the need for multiple configuration tools. This work recommends that development of BAS specifications based on BACnet continue and that a source selection process that pre-qualifies BACnet contractors be developed to help obtain open systems in accordance with those specifications.