wilamowski-b-m-irwin-j-d-industrial-communication-systems-2011

41
LonWorks
Uwe Ryssel
Dresden University
of Technology
Henrik Dibowski
Dresden University
of Technology
Heinz Frank
Reinhold-Würth-University
Klaus Kabitzsch
Dresden University
of Technology
41.1 Introduction..................................................................................... 41-1
41.2 System Components........................................................................ 41-1
41.3 LonTalk Protocol............................................................................. 41-4
Physical Layer. •. Link Layer. •. Network Layer. •. Transport
and Session Layer. •. Application and Presentation Layer
41.4 The Application Layer Programming Model.............................. 41-7
41.5 Function Block-Based Design and System Integration............. 41-8
41.6 Network Design Tools.................................................................. 41-11
41.7 Automatic Design Approaches.................................................... 41-12
References.................................................................................................. 41-13
41.1 Introduction
LonWorks or local operating network (LON) is an event-triggered control network system originally
designed by Echelon Corporation in 1990. It consists of a communication protocol called LonTalk, a
special controller (the Neuron Chip), transceivers for bus access, and a set of development and management
tools.
The main application of LonWorks is building and home automation, where it is used to control
and monitor, among others, heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC), lighting, security, and
elevators. But also other application areas exist, such as industrial automation, transportation automation,
and street lighting.
The LonTalk communication protocol, which implements the OSI reference model, was standardized
as ANSI/EIA-709 and ANSI/CEA-709 in 1999. Both standards also include the channel specifications
of free-topology twisted-pair, power line and fiber-optics, which are used for LonWorks
networks. The LonTalk protocol ANSI/CEA-709 was revised in 2002 [1] and was released as European
Standard EN-14908 [2] in 2005. The corresponding international standard ISO/IEC-14908 is currently
in draft state [3].
Guidelines for the implementation of the applications on the Neuron Chips are defined by the
LonMark, a global membership organization that promotes and advances the LonWorks platform.
41.2 System Components
LonWorks networks normally consist of network nodes, based on the Neuron Chip. In the first years,
these chips were manufactured by Motorola [4] and Toshiba [5]. Today’s models are built by Cypress [6]
and Echelon itself. Echelon offers so-called smart transceivers, which integrate a Neuron Chip and
a transceiver into one chip [7].
41-1
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC