K
I've been wresting with a question... When the OIC (Open Indistrial Communications) Protocol discussions started up, I thought about suggesting BACnet as a possible direction, but decided against it on the basis that the specification is not freely available, and must be purchased (around $120) from ASHRAE. ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers) has been working on BACnet (Building Automation and Control Network) for many years, ostensibly with the goal of it being an open standard. There is no licensing for its use, for instance, and no restrictions on how it may be applied. However, in an effort to recoup costs, ASHRAE charges for the spec, and presumably would not be happy if it were to be, for example, scanned and put on the net. I mentioned this concern on a BACnet discussion list, and the folks there seem to see no reason why BACnet couldn't be used for an open source system. I, on the other hand, can't imagine how it could be, since only those willing to put up the money can even see the spec. I'm not suggesting that BACnet necessarily has any great advantage over other existing or yet to be developed communications protocols, and it is in a niche somewhat to the side of other automation systems, but I'm saddened by the fact that there's a barrier to its use, even a low barrier. It could form the basis for an open system and perhaps see wide use, but is that possible if the spec is not free? Ken -- Ken Irving <[email protected]> _______________________________________________ LinuxPLC mailing list [email protected] http://linuxplc.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxplc