L Gate User Manual
L Gate User Manual
L Gate User Manual
L-Gate
CEA-709/BACnet Gateway
User Manual
LOYTEC
Blumengasse 35
A-1170 Vienna
AUSTRIA/EUROPE
support@loytec.com
http://www.loytec.com
Version 3.2
Document 88072407
Contents
1 Introduction ................................................................................................11
1.1 Overview ............................................................................................................11
1.2 Scope...................................................................................................................12
2 Quick-Start Guide ......................................................................................13
2.1 Hardware installation .......................................................................................13
2.2 Configuration of the L-Gate.............................................................................14
2.2.1 IP Configuration on the Console .............................................................14
2.2.2 IP Configuration via the Web Interface ...................................................15
2.2.3 BACnet Configuration.............................................................................16
2.3 Gateway Configuration with LNS-based Tools..............................................17
3 Hardware Installation ................................................................................18
3.1 Enclosure ...........................................................................................................18
3.1.1 LGATE-900.............................................................................................18
3.2 Product Label ....................................................................................................19
3.3 Mounting............................................................................................................19
3.4 LED signals........................................................................................................19
3.4.1 Power LED ..............................................................................................19
3.4.2 Status LED...............................................................................................19
3.4.3 MSTP Activity LED ................................................................................19
3.4.4 FT Activity LED......................................................................................19
3.4.5 Ethernet Link LED...................................................................................20
3.4.6 Ethernet Activity LED .............................................................................20
3.4.7 CN/IP LED ..............................................................................................20
3.4.8 BACnet/IP LED.......................................................................................20
3.4.9 Wink Action.............................................................................................21
3.4.10 Network Diagnostics................................................................................21
3.5 Status Button .....................................................................................................21
3.6 DIP Switch Settings...........................................................................................21
3.7 Terminal Layout and Power Supply ...............................................................22
3.8 Wiring ................................................................................................................22
4 Web Interface .............................................................................................24
4.1 Device Information and Account Management .............................................24
4.2 Device Configuration ........................................................................................26
4.2.1 System Configuration ..............................................................................26
4.2.2 Backup and Restore .................................................................................27
Abbreviations
1 Introduction
1.1 Overview
The L-Gate is a high performance, reliable and secure network infrastructure component
that provides data access to a defined set of data points, which are mapped from one
control network technology to another control network technology. In particular, the CEA-
709/BACnet Gateway (LGATE-900) implements mappings between a set of CEA-709
network variables (NVs) and a set of standard BACnet server objects. Which NVs are
mapped to BACnet objects can be configured by an LNS plug-in or stand-alone
configuration software. Easy to understand diagnostic LEDs allow installers and system
integrators to install and troubleshoot this device without expert knowledge and dedicated
troubleshooting tools. The LGATE-900 is equipped with a 100-BaseT Ethernet port (IP),
an FT-10 port (CEA-709), and an RS-485 port (MS/TP). The device is fully compliant with
ANSI/CEA-709 and ENV14908, ANSI/ASHRAE-135-2004 and ISO 16484.
On the CEA-709 side of the L-Gate, there can be up to 1000 NVs. The NVs can be bound
in the CEA-709 network or operated as “external NVs”. External NVs are polled or
explicitly written to without allocating static or dynamic NVs on the L-Gate. In this case,
address information is supplied by the configuration software by importing e.g. a CSV file.
As communications media on the CEA-709 side, the L-Gate supports either the FT-10
channel or an CEA-852 channel (IP channel over the Inranet/Internet). Which of the two
interfaces is used is configurable. The CEA-852 interface can be used behind NAT routers
and firewalls, which allows seamless integration in already existing Intranet networks. It
supports DHCP even with changing IP addresses in an Intranet environment.
The BACnet objects on the L-Gate can be of the type analog input/output, binary
input/output, and multistate input/output. There can be up to 750 of such objects. They are
mapped to NVs as configuraed by the Gateway configuration software. This software is
able to automatically create BACnet object as counterparts to NVs. In particular, BACnet
properties such as Object_Name, Description, Units, Max_Pres_Value, Min_Pres_Value,
Resolution, Number_Of_States, and State_Text are derived from the Standard Network
Variable Types (SNVTs)1. Further, the automatically assigned default values can be edited
in the configuration software. BACnet properties updated during run-time by the gateway
are Present_Value, Status_Flags, Reliability, Out_Of_Service. Structured NVs are mapped
to one BACnet object per structure member. The BACnet server objects are accessible
from the BACnet network. In addition, the L-Ggate also includes BACnet client
functionality. For each server object a “client mapping” can be defined. These mappings
specify other BACnet objects on the network where the L-Gate can read values from (poll
or COV subscribe) or write updates to.
1
This is based on the recommendation in CEN/TS 15231:2006.
The built-in Web server allows convenient device configuration through a standard Web
browser such as the Internet Explorer or Firefox. The Web interface also provides statistics
information for system installation and network troubleshooting.
In firmware 1.2 and up, the L-Gate supports user-defined network variable types (UNVTs)
as dynamic or external NVs, and can access configuration properties (CPs) on other
devices through file transfer. To transfer CPs it supports both the LonMark file transfer and
the read memory access method. For CPs, the standard (SCPTs) and user-defined (UCPTs)
are supported. All of those new CEA-709 data points can be mapped automatically to
BACnet objects.
In firmware versions from 3.0 and up, the L-Gate also supports Trendlog, Schedule and
Notification Class objects. These objects can be used to operate on any of the basic
BACnet objects, which are mapped to CEA-709 NVs. This allows the L-Gate to provide
trend data of one or more NVs, schedule NVs and BACnet objects, and report alarms based
on NV conditions directly in BACnet. There can be up to 100 scheduler and calendar
objects, up to 32 notification class objects, and up to 100 trend log objects with an
aggregated total log buffer size of 2MB.
Furthermore, the L-Gate provides LonMark scheduler/calendar objects, which can directly
schedule NVs or be translated to BACnet schedules/calendars. For alarm conditions, the L-
Gate can be configured to send E-Mails to pre-defined addresses.
1.2 Scope
This document covers L-Gate devices with firmware version 3.2 and the L-Gate
Configurator Software version 3.2. See Chapter 12 for differences between the different
L-Gate firmware versions.
2 Quick-Start Guide
This Chapter shows step-by-step instructions on how to configure the L-Gate for a simple
network architecture, mapping CEA-709 network variables to BACnet server objects.
Power Supply
Ethernet
If the L-Gate is connected to a BACnet MS/TP network, the MS/TP network segment must
be properly terminated with an LT-04 network terminator connected at each of the two
ends of the segment media.
Please choose:
Figure 2: Device Main Menu
Select ‘5’ from the device main menu and enter the IP address, netmask, and gateway
address. Note that you must use different IP addresses if you are using multiple IP devices
in your setup.
IP Configuration Menu
=====================
Please choose:
Figure 3: Enter basic IP settings.
Press ‘x’ to save the IP settings and reset the device with the main menu item ‘0’ in order to
let the new IP settings take effect.
Important! The default IP address 192.168.1.254 is only set for configuration access. It must be
changed in order to make the device functional.
4. Then open your Web browser and type in the default IP address 192.168.1.254.
5. Click on Config in the left menu. You will be asked to enter the administrator
password in order to change the IP settings. Enter ‘admin’ and select Login.
6. The Config menu opens. Click on Port Config and change to the tab Ethernet. The
TCP/IP settings are selected as shown in Figure 6. Enter the IP address, the IP
netmask, and IP gateway for this device.
7. Press Save Settings and then reset the device by selecting Reset in the highlighted
text. This changes the IP settings of the device.
The device ID corresponds to the instance number of the BACnet device object. It must be
a unique ID on the BACnet internetwork. Also the Device Name must be a unique name on
the BACnet internetwork.
By default the BACnet/IP data link layer is used. If the L-Gate shall be used with the
BACnet MS/TP data link layer, please refer to Section 4.2.7 for further information.
The detailed guide to configuring the L-Gate and downloading the configuration can be
found in section 6.4.2 (Configure with LNS).
3 Hardware Installation
3.1 Enclosure
3.1.1 LGATE-900
The L-Gate enclosure is 6 TE (1 TE = 17.5 mm) wide for DIN rail mounting, following
DIN 43 880 (see Figure 8).
105
60
on
123 456 7
Serial Number
Unique Node IDs
Ethernet/EIA709
BACnet Status Console Status Button MAC Address Order Number
LEDs Connector Power LED and LED
85
Ethernet
11
100Base-T
1 2 3 4 5 6 15 16 17
55
Unless stated otherwise, all bar codes are encoded using “Code 128”. An additional label is
also supplied with the L-Gate for documentation purposes. A virtual ID (VID) is a Node ID
on the IP channel.
3.3 Mounting
The device comes prepared for mounting on DIN rails following DIN EN 50 022. The
device can be mounted in any position. However, an installation place with proper airflow
must be selected to ensure that the L-Gate’s temperature does not exceed the specified
range (see Chapter 13).
GREEN permanently, Multi-Master, token ok, flicker when traffic Normal condition on a multi-master
flicker off MS/TP network
ORANGE flicker Sole master, flicker when traffic Normal condition on a single-master
MS/TP network
RED permanent, flicker Token lost state, flicker when transmit attempt Cable might be broken.
GREEN
RED flash fast Transmission or receive errors. This hints at bad cabling.
Table 1: MS/TP Activity LED Patterns
Green: The CEA-852 device is fully functional and all CEA-852 configuration data
(channel routing info, channel membership list, send list) are up-to-date.
Green flicker: If a valid CEA-709 packet is received or transmitted over the IP channel, the
CNIP LED turns off for 50 ms. Only valid CEA-709 IP packets sent to the IP address of
the L-Gate can be seen. Stale packets or packets not addressed to the L-Gate are not seen.
Yellow: The CEA-852 device is functional but some configuration data is not up-to-date
(device cannot contact configuration server but has configuration data saved in Flash
memory)
Red: The CEA-852 device is non-functional because it was rejected from the CEA-852 IP
channel or shut-down itself due to an internal error condition.
Off: The CEA-852 device is non-functional because it has not been started. This can be the
case if the L-Gate uses DHCP and it has not received a valid IP configuration (address)
from the DHCP server.
Flashing Red at 1 Hz: The CEA-852 device is non-functional because it is started but has
not been configured. Please add the device to a CEA-852 IP channel (register in
configuration server).
Flashing green or orange at 1 Hz: The L-Gate’s CEA-709 side of the gateway has not been
commissioned yet. The color indicates the CEA-852 IP channel status as described above.
If the LED does not light up at all, this port is not connected to any network segment or the
connected network segment currently shows no traffic.
If the LED is flashing green, the network segment connected to this port is ok.
If the LED is flashing red, a potential problem exists on the network segment connected to
this port. This state is referred to as overload condition.
For a deeper analysis of the reason for the overload condition, it is recommended to use a
protocol analyzer (e.g. LOYTEC’s LPA) or a similar tool. The exact reason of the
overload condition can also be determined with the LSD Tool.
The status button can also be used to switch the device back to factory default state. Press
the service button and power-cycle the device. Keep the button pressed until the port LEDs
illuminate orange permanently. Release the button within five seconds from that time on to
reset the device to factory defaults. Alternatively, the device can be switched back to
factory defaults over the console UI (see Section 10.2.2).
Terminal Function
3.8 Wiring
The CEA-709 network segment connected to the L-Gate needs to be terminated according
to the rules found in the specification of the transceiver (see Section 8.1). If BACnet is
configured to run over MS/TP, the MS/TP network segment must be properly terminated
with an LT-04 network terminator connected at each of the two ends of the segment media.
Important: When using shielded network cables, only one side of the cable should be connected to
earth ground. Thus, the shield must be connected to earth ground either at the L-Gate
terminals or somewhere else in the network.
Important: When using 2-wire MS/TP, earth ground must be connected to both terminal 15 and 16
(see Figure 9a). Never connect terminal 17 to earth ground!
(a) (b)
Figure 9: Connecting the L-Gate: (a) 2-wire MS/TP, (b) 3-wire MS/TP
4 Web Interface
The L-Gate comes with a built-in Web server and a Web interface to configure the L-Gate
and extract statistics information. The Web interface allows configuring the IP settings,
CEA-852 and CEA-709 settings, and the BACnet settings. This interface is very simple to
use and has an intuitive, self-explanatory user interface.
4. Then open your Web browser and type in the default IP address 192.168.1.254.
The device information page shows information about the L-Gate and the current firmware
version. It includes the unique node IDs (“Neuron IDs”) of the CEA-709 network
interfaces. This page can also be used to send the CEA-709 service pin messages. This is a
useful feature when commissioning the L-Gate, since it is not necessary to be on-site to
press the device’s status button.
Click through the menus on the left hand side to become familiar with the different screens.
If you click on Config in the left menu you will be asked to enter the administrator
password in order to make changes to the settings as shown in Figure 11. Enter the default
administrator password ‘admin’ and select Login.
The Config menu opens. Click on Passwords in the Config menu, which opens the
password configuration page as shown in Figure 12. The L-Gate has three user accounts:
(1) guest allows the user to view certain information only, e.g., the device info page. By
default the guest user has no password. (2) operator is able to read more sensible
information such as calendar data. (3) admin has full access to the L-Gate and can make
changes to its configuration. Note that the user accounts are also used to log on to the FTP
and Telnet server.
Please change the administrator password in order to protect yourself from unwanted
configuration changes by anyone else. To do so, select the admin account in the drop-
down box and enter the new password. If the administrator password is left empty,
password protection is turned off and everyone can access the L-Gate without entering a
password. Click on Change password to activate the change.
The time sync source can be set to auto, manual, NTP, BACnet, or LonMark. In the
auto mode, the device switches to the first external time source that is discovered. Possible
external time sources are NTP, BACnet. The option manual allows setting the time
manually in the fields Local Time and Local Date. In manual mode, the device does not
switch to an external time source. Note, that if NTP is selected, the NTP servers have to be
configured on the IP Configuration page (see Section 4.2.4).
The time zone offset must be defined independently of the time source. It is specified as the
offset to GMT in hours and minutes (e.g., Vienna/Austria is +01:00, New York/U.S.A. is
-06:00). For setting the daylight saving time (DST) pre-defined choices are offered for
Europe and U.S.A./Canada. DST can be switched off completely by choosing none or set
manually for other regions. In that case, start and end date of DST must be entered in the
fields below.
The next section on the page allows configuring the L-Gate’s earth position. This setting
defines the longitude, latitude and elevation of the device. The latitude and longitude are
entered as degrees, minutes, and seconds. The altitude (or elevation) is entered in meters
from sea level. This setting is used for an astronomical clock. For fixed locations such as a
building, the position can be entered on this page. For moving locations, this setting can be
updated over the network using the network variable nciEarthPos (see Section 7.2.3).
For generating CSV files for trend logs, alarm logs, etc. the delimiter for those CSV files
can be configured. This setting can be changes between a comma ‘,’ and a semi-colon ‘;’.
The change takes effect immediately for all files generated by the device.
To restore the device settings, simply select a previously generated backup file in the
Restore Configuration section of the page by clicking the button next to the Filename
field. Then press the Restore button.
4.2.4 IP Configuration
The TCP/IP configuration is done under the Ethernet port tab as shown in Figure 16. The
mandatory IP settings, which are needed to operate the device, are marked with a red
asterisk (IP address, netmask, gateway). The Enable DHCP checkbox switches between
manual entry of the IP address, netmask, and gateway address, and automatic configuration
from a DHCP server.
Important! The default IP address 192.168.1.254 is only set for configuration access. It must be
changed in order to make the device functional.
Hostname and Domainname are optional entries and can be left empty. For some DHCP
configurations it may be necessary to enter a hostname. Please contact your system
administrator on how to configure DHCP to acquire an IP address. Further, you can
configure up to 3 Domain Name Servers.
The device comes configured with a unique MAC address. This address can be changed in
order to clone the MAC address of another device. Please contact your system
administrator to avoid MAC address conflicts.
The device can be configured to synchronize its clock with NTP time. Enter the IP address
of a primary and, optionally, a secondary NTP server. The L-Gate will use NTP as a time
source if the time sync source in the system configuration page is set to NTP (see Section
4.2.1). The field NTP status below the NTP server settings displays the current NTP
synchronization status (out-of-sync, or in-sync).
If the L-Gate is operated with a 10Mbit/s-only hub, the link speed should be switched from
Auto Detect to 10Mbps/Half-Duplex. With modern 100/10Mbit/s switches this setting
can be left at its default.
Other standard protocols that are bound to the Ethernet interface are FTP, Telnet, and
HTTP (Web server). By deselecting the checkbox, those protocols can be individually
disabled. The standard UDP/TCP ports can be changed in the respective protocol settings.
An example for the FTP server is shown for FTP in Figure 17. The FTP server is used for
instance to update the firmware (see Section 9.1) or to upload a new data point
configuration. Note that HTTP for the Web server can only be disabled on the console
interface or by using the device configuration of the Configurator.
The CEA-852 protocol settings are displayed in the settings box on the right-hand side as
shown in Figure 19. Typically, the device is added to an IP channel by entering the relevant
information on a configuration server. The configuration server then contacts the CEA-852
device of the L-Gate and sends its configuration.
The field Config server address and Config server port display the IP address and port of
the configuration server, which manages the L-Gate and the IP channel. The field Config
client port represents the IP port of the L-Gate’s CEA-852 device. This setting should be
left at its default (1628) unless there are more than one CEA-852 devices operating behind
a single NAT router. Please refer to the L-IP User Manual [1] to learn more about NAT
configuration.
In the field Device name the user can enter a descriptive name for the L-Gate, which will
appear in the IP channel to identify this device. You can enter a device name with up to 15
characters. It is recommended to use unique device names throughout the IP channel.
The Channel mode field reflects the current channel mode of the CEA-852 device. It is
configured by the configuration server. If there are any two devices in the channel which
use the same IP address but different ports (e.g., multiple L-Gate behind one NAT router)
the channel switches to Extended NAT mode. Please refer to the L-IP User Manual [1] to
learn more about configuring the Extended NAT mode in the configuration server.
The configuration server sets the SNTP server addresses and the Channel timeout.
The filed Escrow timeout defines how long the CEA-852 device on the L-Gate waits for
out-of-sequence CEA-852 data packets before they are discarded. Please enter the time in
ms or ‘0’ to disable escrowing. The maximum time is 255 ms.
The field Aggregation timeout defines the time interval in which multiple CEA-709
packets are combined into a single CEA-852 data packet. Please enter the time in ms or ‘0’
to disable aggregation. The maximum time is 255 ms. Note that disabling aggregation will
negatively affect the performance of the CEA-852 device of the L-Gate.
The field MD5 authentication enables or disables MD5 authentication. Note that MD5
authentication cannot be used together with the Echelon’s i.LON 1000 since the
i.LON 1000 is not fully compliant with the CEA-852 authentication method. MD5 can be
used with the i.LON 600. In the following field MD5 secret enter the 16-byte MD5 secret.
Note that for security purposes the active MD5 secret is not displayed. You may enter the
16 bytes as one string or with spaces between each byte, e.g., 00 11 22 33 44 55 66 77 88
99 AA BB CC DD EE FF.
Also note that entering the MD5 secret on the Web interface may pose a security risk.
Since the information is transmitted over the network it can be subject for eavesdroppers on
the line. It is recommended to either use a cross-over cable.
In the field Location string the user can enter a descriptive test which identifies the
physical location of the L-Gate. A location string can have a maximum length of 255
characters. This is optional and for informational purposes only.
If the CEA-852 device on the L-Gate is used behind a NAT router, the public IP address of
the NAT router or firewall must be known. To automatically detect the NAT address leave
the Auto-NAT checkmark enabled.
The Multicast Address field allows the user to add the CEA-852 device of the L-Gate into
a multi-cast group for the CEA-852 IP channel. Enter the channel’s IP multi-cast address
here. Please contact your system administrator on how to obtain a valid multi-cast address.
To learn when it is beneficial to use multi-cast addresses in your channel please refer to the
L-IP User Manual [1].
Important: The device ID and device name must be unique within the BACnet internetwork.
Further, the description and location can be configured. These configuration items
correspond to the properties Description, and Location respectively of the BACnet Device
object.
On the settings for BACnet/IP refer to Section 4.2.8. For configuring the MS/TP data link
refer to Section 4.2.9.
The BACnet/IP protocol settings are displayed in the settings box on the right-hand side as
shown in Figure 21. If the BACnet/IP network uses a non-default UDP port number other
than 47808/0xBAC0, enter this port in the BACnet/IP port field. Enter ‘0’ in this field for
switching back to the default setting.
In the field BACnet/IP mode the operation mode of the device is selected:
• Device (Default): In this mode the device operates as a regular BACnet/IP device on
the local network without other advanced features.
• Foreign Device (FD): In this mode, the device registers at an existing BBMD in the
BACnet/IP network as a foreign device. It is used, if the device is located as a single
BACnet/IP device on a remote IP subnet or behind a NAT router. If operated as a
foreign device behind a NAT router, port forwarding to the BACnet/IP port (UDP,
default port 0xBAC0) and optionally to the Web server and FTP server port (TCP,
default port 80 and 21) must be setup in the NAT router. If foreign device is selected,
the following, additional settings must be made:
o FD retry timeout and FD retries: Here you can specify the behavior, if
registration does not work instantly. These values should be left at default:
30000ms / 3 retries.
The MS/TP protocol settings are displayed in the settings box on the right-hand side as
shown in Figure 22. Mandatory settings that have to be made are the MS/TP node number
and the MS/TP baud rate. The MS/TP node number determines the physical address of
the device on the MS/TP channel and must be in the range from ‘0’ to the number
configured with the MS/TP max master configuration option. It must be unique within the
MS/TP channel. The baud rate on the MS/TP channel can be set to 9600, 19200, 38400,
and 76800 baud. It is strongly recommended to leave the MS/TP max info frames and the
MS/TP max master configuration options at their default settings.
By clicking Add Device new BBMDs (IP address and port) can be added. With Action on
Selected and selecting existing entries, certain BBMDs can be deleted again from the table.
To commit the finished table, device must be rebooted (see Section 4.4).
In the field for the outgoing e-mail server, enter the SMTP server of your Internet provider.
Typically, the SMTP server port can be left at 25. In the field Source E-mail Address,
enter the e-mail address of the device’s e-mail account. In the field Source E-mail Sender
Name enter a name that the e-mail will display as the source name. Note, that only ASCII
characters are allowed in the name. If replies shall be sent to another e-mail address,
specify this in the Reply E-mail Address.
If the provider’s SMTP server requires authentication, enter the required user name and
password. Note, that only username/password is supported. SSL/TLS authentication is not
supported by the L-Gate (e.g., Hotmail, gmail cannot be used).
To verify the E-Mail configuration, reboot the device to let the changes take effect and
return to the E-Mail configuration page. Then press one of the Send Test E-Mail buttons.
Note, that a DNS server must be configured in the IP settings (see Section 4.2.4) to resolve
the E-Mail server host name. The Web UI displays a warning message at the top of the
page, if the DNS configuration is missing. Results of sending the test E-Mail are logged in
the system log for further analysis of an existing problem (see Section 4.3.1).
The data point list displays the data point name, direction, type, current value, and data
point state. Inactive points are displayed in gray. If the data point list does not fit on one
page, there are page enumerator links at the bottom. Important data point states and their
implications are listed in Table 5.
normal The data point is in normal operation state and possesses a value.
invalid value The data point has no valid value.
offline (config) The data point has a value but it is not reflected on the network
due to a configuration error (not commissioned, no binding, no
client mapping, etc.)
offline The data point has a value but it is not reflected on the network
due to a communication error (e.g., the peer node is not online).
unreliable The data point has a value but it is considered unreliable because
(offline) it was derived from a source, which was offline (e.g., the value
was fed from a connection, where the source is offline).
unreliable (range) The data point has a value but it is considered unreliable because
the value source specified an out-of-range value. The value is
limited to the supported range.
unreliable The data point has a value but it is considered unreliable for an
unspecified reason.
not configured The data point is mapped to a port, which is not configured (e.g.,
the port is disabled).
Line grayed-out The data point is inactive. Values can be written but no network
communication is triggered. This can be the case, if a data point
is not used in the configuration or it is connected to a BACnet
server object, which is not present on the device.
Table 5: Data Point States.
The data point names are links. Clicking on such a link opens a detailed page on that data
point. If the data point supports it, the user can also enter a new data point value as
depicted in Figure 26. The Status field is discussed in Table 5. The Flags, Poll cycle,
Min/Max send time and Max age fields are the common timing parameters for the data
point. See Section 5.2.2 for a closer discussion on timing parameters.
Clicking on the Set button writes the new value to the device’s data server. When setting a
value, the Web page displays the status of the action:
• Successfully set value: The new value has been successfully set in the data point and
the update has been sent on the network, if it is a network data point.
• Could not send value update: The new value has been set but it has not been sent out
on the network. The reason can be that the peer node is currently offline or there is a
configuration error. The data point status reflects this error.
• Could not set value (error code): The new value has not been set because of an
internal error. Please contact LOYTEC with the error code.
4.2.13 Trend
The Web interface provides a configuration page to re-configure trend logs at run-time.
The changes made to the trend logs take effect immediately without the needs for a reboot
of the device. Allocating new trend logs can only be done in the configuration software
(see Section 6.14.1). The trend log main page displays all available trend logs. Click on the
trend log to be edited. This opens the trend log configuration page. An example is shown in
Figure 27.
The user can change the Trend Mode, the Fill Mode, the Log Interval and the Fill Level
Notification. Furthermore, data points can be added to the trend log by clicking the Add…
button. A data point selector dialog opens. Click on a data point for adding it. For removing
a data point from the trend log, click on it in the Logged Data Points list and hit the
Remove button. Save the changes made by clicking the Save button. For more information
on how a trend log can be configured please refer to the Configurator Section 6.14.
Note: This firmware version does not allow configuring trended data points on local BACnet
trend logs. The feature is currently limited to CEA-709 trend logs.
4.2.14 Scheduler
The Web interface provides the scheduler page to edit its schedules at run-time, i.e., change
the times and values that shall be scheduled. Allocating new schedules can only be done in
the configuration software (see Section 6.12). The scheduler main page displays all
available schedules. Click on the schedule to be edited. This opens the scheduler page. An
example is shown in Figure 28.
The effective period defines when this schedule shall be in effect. Leave From and To at
‘*.*.*’ to make this schedule always in-effect. Otherwise enter dates, such as ’30.1.2000’.
To entirely disable a scheduler de-select the Enable Schedule check box.
Schedules are defined per day. On the left-hand side, the weekdays Monday through
Sunday can be selected, or exception days from the calendar, e.g. Holidays. Once a day is
selected, the times and values can be defined in the daily planner on the right-hand side. In
the example shown in Figure 28, on Monday the value day is scheduled at 8:00am. The
same principle applies to exception days. Exception days override the settings of the
normal weekday. Put a check mark on those exception days from the calendar, which shall
be used in the schedule. To edit the date ranges of exception days click on the links to the
used calendars, e.g., ‘calendar’ or ‘Scheduler_1’. The ‘Scheduler_1’ is a calendar, which is
embedded into the schedule and not accessible by other schedulers. For more information
on how to set up schedules and calendars refer to Section 6.12.
To define actual values for the names such as day click on the tab Presets as shown in
Figure 29. To define a new value, click on the button Add Preset. This adds a new column.
Enter a new preset name (e.g., ‘day’). Then enter values for the data points in the preset
column. The data point description column displays the short-hand name defined in the
configuration software. This description can also be changed on the Web UI.
You can switch back and forth between the two tabs. Once the configuration is complete,
click on the Save button. This updates the schedule in the device. Any changes made
become effective immediately.
On local schedulers the Web UI also allows to reconfigure the scheduled data points. This
change takes effect immediately without a reboot of the device. To add and remove data
points to the scheduler, go to the Data Points tab. The configuration page is depicted in
Figure 30. To add a new data point, click the Add… button. To remove a data point, select
the data point in the list Scheduled Data Points by clicking on it and then press the
Remove button. Finally, store the changes by clicking the Save button. After modifying the
scheduled data points, go back to the Presets tab and enter descriptive value label names.
For more information on how to configure a scheduler please refer to the Configurator
Section 6.12.4.
Note: This firmware version does not allow configuring scheduled data points on local BACnet
schedulers. The feature is currently limited to CEA-709 schedulers.
4.2.15 Calendar
The Web interface provides the calendar page to edit its calendars at run-time, i.e., change
the exception days. The calendar main page displays all available calendars. Click on the
calendar to be edited. This opens the calendar configuration page. An example is shown in
Figure 31.
The effective period defines when this calendar shall be in effect. Leave From and To at
‘*.*.*’ to make this calendar always in-effect. Otherwise enter dates, such as ’30.1.2000’.
On the remainder of this page work from left to right. Click on a calendar pattern or create
a new calendar pattern by clicking Add new entry. A calendar pattern defines a set of
pattern entries, which defines the actual dates or date ranges. In the example in Figure 31
the calendar pattern Holidays is selected.
In the Pattern Configuration box, the calendar pattern’s name can be edited. It also lists
the entries. New entries can be added by clicking Add new entry. Existing entries can be
selected and edited in the box on the right-hand side. In the example in Figure 31 the date
14.7.* is selected, which means “The 14.7. of every year”. Other entry types such as Date
Range and Week-and-Day can be selected. See Section 5.4.3 for more information about
defining exception dates.
4.2.16 Alarm
The Web interface provides the alarm page to view the currently pending alarms of its
alarm data points. The alarm main page displays all available alarm data points. Alarm
objects which have active alarms are displayed in red. Click on the alarm object to be
viewed. This opens the alarm summary page. An example is shown in Figure 31.
Active alarms are highlighted red. Inactive alarms which have not been acknowledged are
rendered in green. Alarms that can be acknowledged have an Ack button. Press on the Ack
button to acknowledge the alarm. Depending on the technology, this and older alarm
records will be acknowledged. Acknowledged, active alarms are rendered in red. Click on
Reload to refresh your alarm list.
Inactive alarms that have been acknowledged disappear from the list. To record historical
information about those alarms, the alarm log must be used. See Section 4.3.8 for the alarm
log Web interface.
4.3.2 IP Statistics
Figure 34 shows the IP statistics page. It allows finding possible problems related to the IP
communication. Specifically any detected IP address conflicts are displayed (if the
L-Gate’s IP address conflicts with a different host on the network).
The Round Trip Time (RTT) is measured as the time a packet sent to the peer device needs
to be routed back to the device. It is a measure for general network delay. If the test to a
specific member fails, a text is displayed to describe the possible source of the problem.
The reasons for failure are summarized in Table 6.
OK, Return path not tested (green Displayed for a device which is reachable but which does not support the
checkmark) feature to test the return path (device sending to this CEA-852 device).
Therefore a potential NAT router configuration error cannot be detected. If
the tested device is an L-IP, it is recommended to upgrade this L-IP to 3.0 or
higher.
Not reachable/not supported This is displayed for the CS if it is not reachable or the CS does not support
(red exclamation) this test. To remove this uncertainty it is recommended to upgrade the L-IP to
3.0 or higher.
Local NAT config. Error This is displayed if the CEA-852 device of the LINX-10X is located behind a
(red exclamation) NAT router or firewall, and the port-forwarding in the NAT-Router (usually
1628) or the filter table of the firewall is incorrect.
Peer not reachable Displayed for a device, if it is not reachable. No RTT is displayed. The device
(red exclamation) is either not online, not connected to the network, has no IP address, or is not
reachable behind its NAT router. Execute this test on the suspicious device to
determine any NAT configuration problem.
Table 6: Possible Communication Problems.
The MS/TP token status reports the current token passing state. In state OK, the token is
circulating between the masters. This is the normal state, when multiple masters are on the
MS/TP network. The state SOLE MASTER is the normal state when the device is the only
master on the network. If there are multiple masters on the network, this state is a hint to a
broken cable. In state TOKEN LOST, the token is currently not circulating.
The counter MS/TP lost tokens is an indicator for communication problems on the
MST/TP network. If it increases, there is a cabling, ground, or termination problem. The
counters Rcv OK and Send OK reflect the number of successfully received or transmitted
MS/TP frames. Check these counters to verify that communication is flowing on the
MS/TP segment.
To refresh the alarm log contents click on the Reload button. Currently active alarms
cannot be acknowledged in this historical view. Follow the link to the attached alarm
objects to get to the respective live lists, where alarms can be acknowledged on the Web
interface (see Section 4.2.16).
The alarm log contents can be uploaded from the device in a CSV formatted file. Click on
the button Upload Alarm Log to upload the current log. To clear the log, press the button
Clear Alarm Log. Please note, that this permanently purges all historical alarm log data of
this alarm log.
• resetting the data point configuration from a remote location. This option clears all
data points and the entire port configuration. It leaves the IP settings intact.
The Contact item provides contact information and a link to the latest user manual and the
latest firmware version.
5 Concepts
The typical task in configuring the L-Gate consists of the following steps:
1. Selecting the data points of the network to be mapped (e.g., select the NVs in the
CEA-709 network nodes or create new NVs)
2. Select or create matching counterparts of the other technology (e.g., create matching
BACnet objects)
3. Create connections between the data points (e.g. connect NVs and BACnet objects).
The connection is the central part of the gateway functionality. It defines, which data points
are mapped to which data points. Refer to Section 5.3 about the nature of connections in
the device.
At the data point level, the specific technological restrictions are abstracted and hidden
from the user. Working with different technologies at this level involves common work-
flows for all supported technologies.
The direction of a data point is defined as the “network view” of the data flow. This means,
an input data point obtains data from the network. An output data point sends data to the
network. This is an important convention to remember as different technologies may define
other direction semantics.
5.2.4 Persistency
Data point values are by default not persistent. This means that their value is lost after a
power-on reset. There exist different strategies for initializing data points with an
appropriate value after the device has started.
For input data points, the value can be actively polled from the network when starting up.
Use the Poll-on-Startup feature for this behavior. Polling the network values has the
advantage that intermediate changes on the network are reflected. An input data point can
be made persistent, if the last received value shall be available after a power-on reset before
a poll-on-startup completes. This can be beneficial, if the remote device is temporarily
offline and the last value is considered usable.
For output data points, the value can be restored after starting up by the application. For
example, if the output data point’s value is determined by an input data point and a math
object, or the output data point is in a connection with an input, the input can poll its value
on startup. If the output data point has no specific other value source, e.g., it is a
configuration parameter set by the user, it can be made persistent.
To make a data point persistent, enable the Persistent property of the respective data point.
The persistency option is only available for the base data point classes analog, binary,
multi-state, string and user. More complex objects such as calendars, schedules, etc., have
their own data persistency rules.
For structured data points, only all or none of the structure members can be made
persistent. The configuration of the top-level data point, which represents the entire
structure, serves as a master switch. Setting the top-level data point to be persistent enables
persistency for all sub-data points. Clearing it disables persistency for all sub-data points.
When the value of an output data point is updated, an update is usually sent out onto the
network. The property Send-On-Delta decides how the update is reflected on the network.
If send-on-delta is inactive, each update of the value is sent. If send-on-delta is active,
value changes only are sent. The send-on-delta property is only valid for output data points.
For analog data points, the COV or send-on-delta takes an extra argument, which specifies
by what amount the value must change to regard it as a change for action. Both, COV and
send-on-delta for analog data points check the Analog Point COV Increment property. A
change is detected, if the value increment is bigger or equal to the specified increment. If
the property is zero, all updates are considered.
A = k N + d,
where N is the network value, k the custom scaling factor, d the custom scaling offset, and
A the application value. When sending a value to the network, the reverse scaling is
applied. If this property is enabled, the analog values are pre-scaled from the technology to
the data point. The custom scaling is in addition to any technology-specific scaling factors
and can be applied regardless of the network technology.
System register can also serve as a testing setup for the OPC XML-DA communication
without a network data point configuration. The System Time register is updated every
second and may serve for testing subscriptions. The Authentication Code register can be
used to verify writing to OPC tags.
A register merely serves as a container for intermediate data (e.g., results of math objects).
The register can have the following, basic data types:
• Double: A register of base type double is represented by an analog data point. It can
hold any scalar value. No specific scaling factors apply.
• Signed Integer: A register of base type signed integer is represented by a multi-state
data point. This register can hold a set of discrete states, each identified by a signed
stats ID.
• Boolean: A register of base type Boolean is represented by a binary data point. This
register can hold a Boolean value.
Since a register has no network direction, it can be written and read. Therefore, two data
points are generated for each register, one for writing the register (output) and one for
reading the register (input). A suffix is added to the register name to identify the respective
data point. For example, the register MyValue will have two data points generated for:
MyValue_Read and MyValue_Write.
5.3 Connections
With the use of connections, data points can interact with each other. Connections specify
which data points exchange values with each other. Both types of connections – “1:n” and
“m:1” connections – are supported. The single data point is referred to as the hub data
point, whereas the other data points are the target data points.
The most common connection will be the 1:1 connection. This is the type of connection
that is auto-generated by the Configurator software. Other types must be created manually
in the Configurator.
In the 1:n connection the input value is distributed to all n output data points. In the m:1
connection, the most current input value is written to the output data point. When polling
the output data point in poll-through mode (maximum cache age is set on the output), the
value from the first input data point is polled.
Connections can connect data points of different technologies with each other (also mixed
among the target data points) but are restricted to the same class of data points. This means
only data points of class analog can exchange values within a connection.
An alarm record contains the information about the alarm. This includes information about
the alarm time, the source of the alarm, an alarm text, an alarm value, an alarm type, an
alarm priority, and an alarm state. An alarm record undergoes a number of state changes
during its life-cycle. When the alarm occurs, it is active. When the alarm condition
subsides, the alarm becomes inactive. Active alarms can be acknowledged by an operator.
Then they become active acknowledged. Active alarms can also become inactive, but an
acknowledgement is still required. Then they become ack-pending. When an alarm is
inactive and was acknowledged it disappears from the alarm summary.
Other devices can access the alarm information of an alarm server. These devices are alarm
clients. They register with the alarm server and get notified about changes to the alarm
summary. Alarm clients can be used to display the current alarm summary and
acknowledge alarms.
The alarm log is always local and stored as a file on the device. The size of an alarm log is
configurable. The alarm log operates as a ring buffer. As soon as its size limit is reached,
the oldest alarm log records are overwritten by newer alarm transitions. The alarm log is
available on the Web UI or can be uploaded from the device as a CSV file. The CSV file
can also be used as an e-mail attachment.
5.4.3 Scheduling
Schedulers are objects that schedule values of data points on a timely basis. A scheduler
object is configured by which data points it shall schedule. This configuration is done by
the system engineer once when the system is designed. The configuration of the times and
values that shall be scheduled is not part of that initial configuration and may be changed
later. This distinction has to be kept in mind.
A scheduler object sets its data points to pre-defined values at specified times. The function
of the scheduler is state-based. This means, that after a value is scheduled, the scheduler
maintains its state for this value. It can re-transmit the scheduled values as appropriate
(e.g., when rebooting). The pre-defined values are called /value presets/. A value preset
contains one or more values under a single label (e.g., "day" schedules the values {20.0,
TRUE, 400}).
Which value preset is scheduled at what time is defined through a daily schedule. The daily
schedule defines the times and value presets in a 24-hour period. A schedule typically
contains daily schedules for the weekdays Monday through Sunday. See Figure 41 for an
example of a daily schedule.
For some tasks the daily schedules on weekdays is sufficient. However, on some specific
dates, there may be exceptions to the regular week. This can be implemented by defining
daily schedules for exception days. For instance, there may be a separate daily schedule for
Holidays. The exception days are defined through a calendar. The calendar contains a
number of calendar patterns. Each calendar pattern describes a pattern of dates that define
the class of an exception, e.g., Holidays.
When a calendar is defined on a system, the exception days are available in all schedules.
When a schedule wants to define daily schedules for some of the available exception days,
they need to be enabled in the schedule. See Figure 42 for an example where Holidays is
used.
The function of the exception is simple. The daily schedule of a regular weekday is
overridden by the daily schedule of the exception, when one of the specified date patterns
is in effect (e.g., July 14th in Holidays overrides the regular weekday). If more than one
exception days are in use, there may be conflicts on specific dates. These conflicts are
resolved by defining priorities for the different exceptions. The daily schedule of the
exception with the higher priority is eventually in effect. If two exceptions with the same
priority exist, it is not defined, which one is in effect. Therefore, always use distinct
priorities.
Apart from the defined value presets, there exist special events that can be scheduled in a
daily schedule. They affect how the scheduler behaves and which exception is active:
• Invalid: If this value is scheduled, the scheduler transmits the invalid value. The
numeric representation of that invalid value is defined by the underlying data point and
is technology-specific.
• Withdraw: If this value is scheduled, the scheduler takes the previously value preset
out of effect. This means that the daily schedule with the next lower priority becomes
effective. If no daily schedule with lower priority applies, the scheduler behaves as if it
was disabled. Figure 43 presents an example of the Maintenance exception day, which
schedules the maint value at 6 am and goes out of effect at 10 am. If the maintenance
day falls on a Monday, the regular schedule for Monday will be overridden by the
Maintenance schedule at 6 am and become effective again at 10 am sending the day
value.
• Temporary Disable: If this value is scheduled, the entire scheduler is disabled until a
new event is scheduled in a daily schedule of the same or higher priority than the one
that has the temporary disable event. This type of event can be used to define periods
for manual override.
Please also refer to the technology-specific limitations described in Section 6.12 to learn
about special behavior of the respective networking technology.
The configuration of exceptions is done by calendar patterns in the calendar. Each calendar
pattern contains a number of pattern entries. These entries can define the following:
• A single date: This defines a singe date. Wildcards may be used in the year to specify
July 14th of every year.
• A date range: This defines a range. Starting with a start date and ending with the end
date. No wildcards should be used.
• A Week-and-Day definition: This defines dates based on a week, such as every 1st
Friday in a month, every Monday, every last Wednesday of a month.
While exception days of a calendar are accessible to all schedules on a device, specific
exceptions can be defined, which are embedded into a specific schedule. These are referred
to as an embedded calendar. In contrast to a regular calendar each calendar pattern of an
embedded calendar can hold exactly one date entry. This can be a single date or a date
range. The embedded exception days are only visible to the schedule they are defined in.
Apart from these restrictions, embedded calendars behave like the regular calendar. Figure
42 shows an example for an embedded exception day named ‘24_12_xx’.
A schedule defines at which time instants certain states of the scheduled data points are
maintained. The next-state feature allows to look ahead into the future and predict when the
next scheduled state will occur. There are two data points involved: the time-to-next-state
is a counter in minutes to the next scheduled event, and the next-state data point is the state
of the next scheduled event. This information can be used by controllers to optimize their
algorithms (e.g., pre-heat a room for the scheduled occupancy state). Use the
SNVT_tod_event in CEA-709 to accomplish this task.
When a scheduler is executing the schedule on the local device, it is called a local
scheduler. Such a scheduler is configured to schedule data points and later its daily
schedules can be modified. When accessing the daily schedules of a scheduler, which
executes on a remote device, the object is called a remote scheduler. A remote scheduler
has the same interface to the user to modify daily schedules. A remote scheduler object can
be used as a user-interface for schedulers that execute on different devices.
5.4.4 Trending
Trending refers to the ability to log values of data points over time. A trend log object is
responsible for this task. It is configured, which data points shall be trended. Log records
are generated either in fixed time intervals, on change-of-value conditions, or when a
trigger is activated. Trend log objects can trend either local or remote data points.
The trend data is stored in a binary format on the device. The capacity of a given trend log
is configured. The trend log can be operated in one of two modes: (1) In linear mode the
trend file fills up until it reaches its capacity. It then stops logging. (2) In ring buffer mode.
In this mode the oldest log records are overwritten when the capacity is reached.
Trended data points can be logged as their actual values at given time instants or as an
aggregated value over the defined log interval. Aggregation can be calculated as minimum,
maximum, or average. Aggregation can be beneficial, if the trended value changes more
frequently than the selected log interval. Using aggregation, the log interval can be chosen
to limit the amount of logged data while preserving information of the trended value.
How many data points can be trended in one trend log is limited by the underlying
technology. So are some of the log modes. Refer to the technology sections for more
information.
5.4.5 E-Mail
The e-mail function can be combined with the other AST features. The format of an e-mail
is defined through e-mail templates. An e-mail template defines the recipients, the e-mail
text, value parameters inserted into the text and triggers, which invoke the transmission of
an e-mail. An e-mail template can also specify one or more files to be sent along as an
attachment.
The amount of generated e-mails can be limited using a rate limit algorithm. The
transmission of e-mails can be disabled altogether by using a special data point. That data
point can be scheduled or driven over the network.
If an E-Mail cannot be sent (e.g. the mail server is not reachable), the mail delivery is
retried up to 24 times every 30 minutes.
The CEA-709 NVs on the L-Gate can be created in three different ways:
• Static NV: For each selected NV on the network there is a static NV created on the L-
Gate. This NV can be bound to the NV on the network. Note that adding static NVs to
the L-Gate results in a change to the default XIF file. The L-Gate is assigned a new
“model number” to reflect this change (see Section 5.5.2). Static NVs are the way to
use NVs in non-LNS systems, where NVs shall be bound instead of using polling.
• Dynamic NV: For each selected NV on the network there is a dynamic NV created on
the L-Gate. Compared to static NVs, dynamic NVs do not change the XIF interface of
the L-Gate. The dynamic NVs are created by the network management tool. Currently,
only LNS-based tools can manage dynamic NVs. As for static NVs, with dynamic
NVs it is possible to use bindings instead of polling.
• External NV: The selected NVs on the network are treated as external NVs to the L-
Gate. The L-Gate doesn’t create any NVs on the device, but instead uses polling to
read from those NVs and explicit updates to write to the NVs. Therefore, no bindings
are necessary for external NVs. For input data points using external NVs however, a
poll cycle must be configured. If not configured explicitly, a default poll cycle of 10
sec. is chosen. The default poll cycle can be changed in the project settings menu.
Based on the NV the data point is derived from, the following kinds of data points are
created:
• Simple NVs that hold only one scalar value, e.g., SNVT_amp: Those kinds on NVs are
represented as analog data points. The data points holds the current value, NV scaling
factors are applied.
• Simple NVs based on an enumeration, e.g., SNVT_date_day: Enumeration types result
in multi-state data points. They represent the state of the NV.
• Structured NVs that consists of a number of fields, e.g., SNVT_switch: All structured
NVs are represented as user point. That is, the data point is structured similar to the
NV it is based on. Beneath the user data point, the individual structure fields are
presented as “sub-data points”.
For more information on the different types of network variables and their implications
please refer to the application note in Section 11.2. For CPs the allocation type “File” is
used.
Each time the static interface of the L-Gate changes (i.e., static NVs are added, deleted, or
modified), the model number is changed. The model number is the last byte of the program
ID. Thus, a change in the static interface results in a change of the program ID and a new
device template needs to be created in the network management tool. A new device
template usually means that the device has to be deleted and added again in the database.
All bindings and dynamic NVs have to be created again for the new device.
When the L-Gate Configurator is connected via LNS, it supports the process of changing
the device template for the new static interface. It automatically upgrades the device
template of the L-Gate device in the LNS database and restores the previous bindings and
dynamic NVs. If the L-Gate is not configured with an LNS-based tool, this support is not
available. The new static interface is only available in a new XIF file or by uploading the
new device template into the database. For more information on the static interface and
device templates please refer to the application note in Section 11.2.
Priorities of exception days in a CEA-709 scheduler range from 0 (the highest) to 126 (the
lowest). The value 127 is reserved as a default for weekdays.
network variable. Acknowledging alarms in the alarm server is adhering to the LONMARK
specification and relies on the RQ_CLEAR_ALARM mechanism.
• BACnet server objects (SO): These BACnet objects configured by the Configurator
software to be allocated locally on the device. These objects can be accessed by the
BACnet building control system or operating workstations. They support COV
subscriptions to deliver value changes in an event-driven way.
• BACnet client mappings (CM): For certain applications, it is necessary that the
device acts as a BACnet client. This functionality can be configured by activating a
client mapping. Client mappings can be of the type Poll, COV, Write, or Auto. This
specifies how the BACnet client accesses other BACnet objects on the BACnet
network. The Auto method determines the best way (poll, COV, or write) to talk with
other server objects. Poll is used for objects that need to read data from other BACnet
objects in a periodic manner. COV is used to subscribe for COV at other BACnet
objects in order to get updates in an event-driven fashion. Write is used to send updates
to other BACnet objects.
The direction of BACnet server objects deserves a closer look. The direction specified for
data points in the Configurator software always refers to the network view of the
communication. The definition of input and output objects in BACnet, however, refers to
the process view, which is opposite to the network. Therefore, a BACnet analog input (AI)
object is modeled as an analog output data point. The direction of client mappings naturally
refers to the network communication. Therefore, a write client mapping is represented as an
analog output data point.
In BACnet commandable objects can be written with values at a certain priority. The value
with the highest priority is in effect. When revoking a written value, the NULL value is
written. This takes back the value. When all written values are withdrawn, the
Relinquish_Default value is in effect.
The default value feature of a data point is mapped to the Relinquish_Default property for
commandable objects. For BACnet objects, which are not commandable, the
Present_Value is initialized with the specified default value.
input, output, value objects (AI, AO, AV), for binary input, value objects (BI, BV), and for
multi-state input, value objects (MSI, MSV). To define alarm conditions for binary output
(BO) and multi-state output (MSO) objects map the Feedback_Value property of the
respective server objects to a data point. This data point must be used to supply the
feedback value to the server object.
Alarm servers in the BACnet technology are mapped to BACnet Notification Class (NC)
objects. Each alarm server is mapped to one NC. The notification class number can be
configured in the object instance number property of the alarm server object.
Remote alarms in the BACnet technology refer to a remote NC object. When the device
starts up, the remote alarm object reads out the current alarm state of the remote NC and
reporting objects. To get notified about alarm transitions during run-time, the device
registers in the Recipient_list of the remote NC object.
The BACnet schedule object allows only objects of one selected data type to be scheduled.
Therefore, schedulers on BACnet can only schedule one class of data points (e.g., only one
group of analog data points). As a consequence, the value preset in BACnet always has
only one element. The name of the value preset is not stored in BACnet. It is not accessible
over the BACnet network, either. Therefore, a default name is created, such as ‘Value(22)’
for an analog value. An example of two scheduled BACnet objects is shown in Figure 45.
Priorities of exception days in a BACnet scheduler range from 1 (the highest) to 16 (the
lowest). Weekdays in BACnet have no priority.
Changing the number of calendar patterns in a BACnet calendar can only be done through
the configuration software and not during run-time. The individual calendar pattern entries
in the calendar patterns can be changed at run-time. Therefore, it is advisable to reserve a
suitable number of calendar patterns in a BACnet calendar and leave them empty if not
needed immediately.
In BACnet trend logs, only one data point can be trended per trend log object. The trended
data point can be either a local BACnet server object or a remote BACnet object accessed
through a client mapping. Data points of other technologies and the min/max/avg
algorithms cannot be trended in this firmware version.
BACnet trend logs are limited to interval and COV logs. The trigger mode is not supported
in BACnet. The setting linear and ring-buffer logging is mapped to the Stop_When_Full
property of the underlying BACnet trend log object. This setting in the Configurator
software is a default and can be overridden by writing to the Stop_When_Full property by
the OWS.
The fill-level action is mapped to generating a buffer event notification in the BACnet
trend log object. The fill-level trigger can still be used for e-mails even if no notification
class is configured in the BACnet trend log object. The fill-level percentage maps to the
Notification_Threshold property. The percentage setting in the Configurator software is a
default and can be changed by the OWS over the network.
Which type of BACnet object is created depends on the type of the simple NV or of the
structure member. For scalar types, analog objects are created. The scaling factors are
applied to the NV to get the resulting scalar value for the Present_Value property. Other
properties of analog objects are derived from the SNVT, including the engineering units,
min and max present value. Multi-state objects are created for NV enumeration types. The
CEA-709 state IDs are sorted and renumbered to start at ‘1’ in BACnet (i.e., a ‘-1’ of
MOTOR_NUL in CEA-709 maps to a ‘1’ of MOTOR_NUL in BACnet). This is necessary
as the SNVT states ‘-1’ and ‘0’ cannot be represented in BACnet as a raw value, because
allowed BACnet multi-states start at 1. Which state IDs exist is documented in the BACnet
multi-state texts array. Optionally, binary objects are created for enumerated NVs with
three states, excluding the ‘-1’ state.
In BACnet commandable objects can be written with values at a certain priority. The value
with the highest priority is in effect. When revoking a written value, the NULL value is
written. This takes back the value. When all written values are withdrawn, the
Relinquish_Default value is in effect. In CEA-709 there is no notion of taking a value back.
To model this behavior, a distinctive invalid value can be written to an NV. Most SNVTs
have such an invalid value. For those that do not an invalid value, it can be specified when
editing the data point. To make a BACnet object convey that invalid value to the CEA-709
side, enable the property “Relinquish to Invalid”.
This Chapter gives step-by-step instructions on how to commission the device, create a
data point configuration with input and output network variables, and how to map those
data points to BACnet and vice-versa. We show the configuration steps using
LonMaker TE but other LNS-based network management tools can be used as well to
install and configure the device. We also show how to configure the device without LNS.
6.1 Installation
6.1.1 Software Installation
The L-Gateway Configuration software must be used to setup the data point configuration
of the L-Gate. This configuration utility is installed as a plug-in tool for all LNS-based
network management tools as well as a stand-alone tool (for systems without LNS).
System requirements:
• LNS 3.1, Service Pack 8 or LNS TE SP5 or higher (for LNS mode),
• Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 2008
Server.
The L-Gate Configurator can be downloaded from the LOYTEC Web site
http://www.loytec.com. When asked for the type of installation, there are two options to
choose from. Select Typical to install the required program files. Select Full to install the
LONMARK resource files along with the software. This option is useful, when the system
does not have the newest resource files.
To Register in LonMaker TE
2. Click Next until the plug-in registration tab appears in the Network Wizard. Select the
LOYTEC L-Gate Configurator (Version X.Y) from the list of Not Registered (see
Figure 46).
4. Click Finish to complete the registration. Device templates for the L-Gate are added
automatically and XIF files are copied into the LNS import directory.
Note: If you are using multiple databases (projects) make sure you have registered the plug-in in
each project.
alarm objects (alarm server or client). To create an alarm log, select the folder
and use the context menu.
Using the context menu on a folder, sub-folders may be created to organize the available
objects. If new objects are created automatically, they are usually placed in the base folder
and can then be moved by the user to any of his sub-folders. Note, that the folder structure
described above cannot be changed by adding or deleting folders at that level.
The list can be sorted by clicking on one of the column headers. For example, clicking on
the Direction column header will sort the list by direction. Other columns display data
point name, NV name, and SNVT. To apply the current sort order as the new data point
order on the device, right-click on the column header and select Renumber Datapoints.
Alternatively, select from the menu Tools Æ Renumber Datapoints.
New objects may be created in the selected folder by pressing the New button to the right
of the list or via the New command in the context menu. A plus sign in the list indicates
that the data point contains sub-points. These can be structure members for structured
SNVTs. Clicking on the plus sign expands the view.
For the alarming, scheduling, trending (AST) features, there are columns, which display
icons for data points that are attached to an AST function. See Table 7 for details.
Table 7: Icons for used data points in the data point list view.
scaling factors. If enabled, the properties Custom Scaling Factor and Custom
Scaling Offset accept the scaling factors. See Section 5.2.6.
• Custom Scaling Factor, Custom Scaling Offset: These properties only exist, if linear
scaling is enabled. They apply to analog data points only. See Section 5.2.6.
• Only notify on COV: This property assists for binary and multi-state input data
points. It defines, if a data point shall trigger an update only when the value changes or
on every write. If this is enabled, consecutive writes with the same value do not trigger
an update. If you want to convey every write, disable COV on the data point.
• Persistent: This property defines, if the last written value shall be stored as a persistent
value. Persistent data points restore that value after a restart from the persistent
storage. See Section 5.2.4.
• Default Value: This property defines a default value (see Section 5.2.3). Enter a
default value to enable this feature in the data point. Delete the value entirely to
remove the default value. If no default value is defined, this property reads “N/A”. The
default is no default value.
• Point Type: This is the base data point type, e.g., “Analog Datapoint”.
• Direction: This is the data point direction. Use input or output as directions.
• Unit Text: For analog data points this property contains a human-readable text for the
engineering units of the scalar value, e.g., “kilogram”.
• Analog Datapoint Max Value: For analog data points this property contains the upper
limit of the supported value range. Note that this does not define an alarm limit.
• Analog Datapoint Min Value: For analog data points this property contains the lower
limit of the supported value range. Note that this does not define an alarm limit.
• Analog Datapoint Precision: For analog data points this property defines the number
of decimals. ‘0’ specifies an integer value. Display units may use this to format the
floating point value accordingly.
• Analog Datapoint Resolution: For analog data points this property defines the
smallest possible value increment.
• Analog Point COV Increment: This property is valid for analog input data points. It
specifies by which amount the value needs to change, before an update is generated. If
every write shall generate an update even when the value does not change, specify 0 as
the COV increment. If any value change shall generate an update, delete the value,
which results in Any.
• Active Text: For binary data points this property defines a human-readable text for the
active state (true).
• Inactive Text: For binary data points this property defines a human-readable text for
the inactive state (false).
• State Count: For multi-state data points this property defines the number of discrete
states.
• State Text: For multi-state data points this property defines a human-readable state
label for each state.
1. Click on the button in the State Count property of a multistate data point. This
opens the multistate map manager as shown in Figure 49.
2. Select an existing state map in the State Map list and click on Assign. Maps that are
fixed and cannot be changed are marked with a lock symbol .
4. Click on the Create button and enter a new multistate map name. Then hit Enter.
5. In the Configure States box enter the desired number of states and click Set.
8. Select the newly created multistate map and click the Assign button. The assigned map
is now displayed next to the data point.
• Invalid Value: This property defines the “invalid value” for the NV. If set, this
specific value will be interpreted as “invalid” in the data point. If known by the SNVT,
the invalid value is filled in. Otherwise, the user can specify an invalid value.
• CEA-709 Mapping Information: This information is derived from the SNVT. It
defines how the NV contents are mapped to the data point.
• NV Scaling A, B, C: These are the scaling factors known from the SNVT table. The
scaling factors are applied to translate a raw NV value into the scalar representation of
the data point.
• Data Type: This is the basic NV data type. This is usually filled in from the SNVT
definition.
• Local NV Member Index: This property specifies the NV member index within a
given functional block. This must be a unique index in the functional block, which
identifies the NV after other NVs have been added or removed from the interface.
• Local/Remote NV Index: This property specifies the NV index. For local, static NVs
this is the NV index of the static NV. For external NVs, this is the NV index of the NV
on the remote device.
• Local/Remote NV Name: This property specifies the programmatic name of the NV.
For local, static NVs this is the programmatic name of the static NV. For external NVs,
this is the programmatic name of the NV on the remote device.
• Local/Remote Functional Block: This property specifies the programmatic name of
the NV. For local, static NVs, one of the reserved functional blocks can be selected.
• Local/Remote NV Flags: This property specifies the NV flags. For local (static or
dynamic) NVs, the flags can be configured. For external NVs, these flags are only
informational.
• Remove NV Information: For external NVs, this property contains the information
on the remote device and the NV selector on that device.
• Remote Device ID: For external NVs, this property contains information on the
remote device by listing the program ID and location string.
• Remote Device Address: For external NVs, this property contains the CEA-709
network addressing information to access the node, i.e., subnet, node, and NID.
• Retry Count: For external NVs, this property defines the retry count. The default is 3.
• Repeat Timer: For external NVs, this property defines the repeat timer in
milliseconds. The default is 96 ms.
• Transmit Timer: For external NVs, this property defines the transmit timer in
milliseconds. The default is 768 ms.
• LNS Network Path: If available from an LNS scan, this property specifies the LNS
network path of the device where the given NV exists.
• LNS Channel Name: If available from an LNS scan, this property specifies the LNS
channel name of the device where the given NV exists.
• Server Object Type: This property defines the BACnet object type of the underlying
BACnet server object. It can be changed within the class, i.e., for an analog data point,
the server object type analog input, analog output, or analog value can be chosen.
• Commandable: This property defines, if the underlying BACnet server object is
commandable. For BACnet value objects (AV, BV, MSV) this property can be edited
to create commandable or non-commandable BACnet value objects.
• Relinquish to invalid value: This property defines whether the data point maintains
the Relinquish_Default value, if the priority array is empty or assumes the invalid
value. By default, this property is false and the Relinquish_Default value is used.
Setting this property to true can be beneficial when used in a connection to withdraw a
value in another technology.
• Server Object Name: This property defines the object name of the underlying
BACnet server object. It must be unique among all server objects. It can be up to 64
characters.
• Server Object Instance No: This property defines the object instance number of the
underlying BACnet server object.
• Server Object Description: This property defines the object description of the
underlying BACnet server object. It can be left blank.
• Server Object Device Type: This property defines the object device type of the
underlying BACnet server object. It can be left blank.
• Allocate Server Object: This Boolean property defines, if a server object shall be
allocated for the data point. This option is useful, when a local server object shall be
allocated for a client mapping.
• Allocate Client Mapping: This Boolean property defines, if a client mapping shall be
allocated for the data point. This option is always set, if at least on client mapping is
attached.
• Client Map Count: This property defines the number of client mappings attached to a
data point. A data point can have one read client map or n write client mappings.
• Client Map [n]: This is a list of client mappings. The property shows a summary of
the client mapping parameters. To edit a client mapping click on the … button.
• Confirmed COV: This Boolean property defines, if a client map subscribes with the
confirmed COV service. If not enabled, the unconfirmed COV is used.
6.3.1 General
The general tab of the project settings as shown in Figure 50 contains settings independent
of the technology port. The settings are:
• Project Name: This setting allows entering a descriptive name for the project.
• Default FTP Connection Settings: Enter a user name and password for the default
FTP access. This access method is used implicitly when connected via LNS and the
device is accessible over IP. For this implicit connection, there is no dialog to ask for a
username and password and the username and the default password from the project
settings are used.
The option Use programmatic name and Use display name decides whether the data
point name is assembled of the programmatic NV name or the LNS display name.
point manager will connect to one of these scheduler objects. There may be more
scheduler objects available on the device than are actually used at a certain time. It is a
good idea to have some spare scheduler objects ready, in case another scheduler is
needed.
• Number of daily schedules: This is the maximum number of schedules supported by
each scheduler object. This number must at least be 7, since a scheduler always needs
to provide one schedule for each day of the week (default weekly schedule). For each
special day defined by the calendar or embedded exception day, an additional daily
schedule is required to support it.
• Entries in Time/Value table: This is the total number of entries in each scheduler
defining a value template that should apply on a specific day starting at a specific time
(the time table).
• Number of value templates: This is the maximum number of value templates
supported by each scheduler.
• Data size per value template: This specifies the buffer size reserved to hold the data
for each value template. More data points or bigger data structures require a bigger
value buffer.
• Max. number of data point maps: Specifies the maximum number of individual data
points that this scheduler is able to control.
As can be seen from the above list, it is not easy to configure a LONMARK scheduler object.
There are many technical parameters which need to be set and which require some
knowledge of how these scheduler objects work internally. Therefore, the configuration
software provides the following mechanisms to help in choosing the right settings:
• Resources required by the current project: The absolute minimum settings required
by the current project are shown in a table at the left side of the window. This data may
be used to fill in the values at the right side, but some additional resources should be
planned to allow for configuration changes which need more resources.
• Auto-Set: This button may be used to let the configuration software decide on the best
settings to use, based on the current project. Since the current projects resource usage
is taken as a starting point, all schedulers and calendar patterns in the project should
first be configured as required before this button is used.
• Set Defaults: This button will choose standard values for all settings. In most cases,
these settings will provide more resources than necessary.
• Non-LNS 3.x network management tool with polling (see Section 6.4.3)
• Non-LNS 3.x network management tool with bindings (see Section 6.4.4)
First, the L-Gate device must be added to LNS (see Section 6.4.6). Then the L-Gate
Configurator must be started in plug-in mode to configure the L-Gate (see Section 6.7.1).
In the Configurator scan for the data points in the LNS database (see Section 6.7.4). Select
the NVs that the L-Gate shall expose to BACnet (see Section 6.7.7). Generate BACnet
objects and connections from the used NVs (see Section 6.7.11). Finally, the configuration
needs to be downloaded onto the L-Gate (see Section 6.7.13). It is recommended to save
the complete configuration to a disk file for being able to replace an L-Gate in the network.
START
Add L-Gate
Section 6.5
DONE
To add more NVs when all bindings are in place and the L-Gate is being used simply
repeat the steps described above. The Configurator software will back up the bindings,
create or delete the dynamic NVs, and re-create the bindings again.
Start the Configurator in stand-alone mode and connect to the L-Gate via the FTP method
(see Section 6.7.2). If changing an existing configuration upload the current configuration
from the L-Gate (see Section 4). In the Configurator import data points from a CSV import
file (see Section 6.7.5) or scan an CEA-709 network online (see Section 6.7.6). Select the
NVs that the L-Gate shall expose to BACnet (see Section 6.7.7). Alternatively, you can
create external NVs manually (see Section 6.7.10). Generate BACnet objects and
connections from the used NVs (see Section 6.7.11). Finally, the configuration needs to be
downloaded onto the L-Gate (see Section 6.7.13). It is recommended to save the complete
configuration to a disk file for being able to replace an L-Gate in the network.
START
Upload configuration
Section 6.7.3
Import network variables from file Scan NVs online from network
Section 6.7.5 Section 6.7.6
DONE
Start the L-Gate Configurator in stand-alone mode and connect to the L-Gate via the FTP
method (see Section 6.7.2). In the Configurator import data points from a CSV import file
(see Section 6.7.5) or scan a CEA-709 network online (see Section 6.7.6). Select the NVs
that the L-Gate shall expose to BACnet (see Section 6.7.7). For the NVs used on the
L-Gate select the “static NV” allocation type (see Section 6.7.8). Alternatively, you can
create static NVs manually (see Section 6.7.9).
For network management tools, which do not support the ECS (enhanced command set)
network management commands, the legacy network management mode must be
configured (see Section 6.7.15). Please contact the tool’s vendor for information whether
ECS is supported or not.
Generate BACnet objects and connections from the used NVs (see Section 6.7.11).
Download the configuration onto the L-Gate (see Section 6.7.13). Finally, export a XIF file
(see Section 6.7.14). It is recommended to save the complete configuration to a disk file for
being able to replace an L-Gate in the network.
START
Import network variables from file Scan NVs online from network
Section 6.7.5 Section 6.7.6
Tool supports
no
ECS ?
DONE
To use the L-Gate in the non-LNS management tool, commission the L-Gate using the
exported XIF file and create the bindings.
START
Replace L-Gate
Section 6.6
DONE
Start the L-Gate Configurator software stand-alone and connect via the FTP method (see
Section 6.7.2). Then load the L-Gate configuration project file from disk, which has been
saved when the original L-Gate has been configured or modified. Double-check, if the data
point configuration seems sensible. Then download the configuration to the L-Gate (see
Section 6.7.13).
If using an LNS-based tool, the L-Gate device needs to be replaced in that tool (see Section
6.6). If you are not using LNS, then refer to your network management tool’s reference
manual on how to replace a device. After replacing the device in the network management
tool, reboot the L-Gate (see Section 4.4)
creation. The remainder of this section assumes that NVs and the static interface have been
configured already.
Start the L-Gate Configurator in stand-alone mode and connect to the L-Gate via the FTP
method (see Section 6.7.2). In the Configurator use the BACnet network scan to find
BACnet objects in the network (see Section 6.10.1) or import BACnet objects from an
EDE file (see Section 6.10.2). Select the remote BACnet objects, that the L-Gate shall
access and use them on the device to create client mappings on the L-Gate (see Section
6.10.3). Alternatively, you can create BACnet server objects manually (see Section 6.10.5).
Once the BACnet client mappings or server objects have been created on the BACnet port,
connections need to be created (see Section 6.9.1). This has to be done manually by
selecting the BACnet object and the NV, where this BACnet object shall be exposed to.
START
Import BACnet objects from EDE file Scan BACnet online from network
Section 6.10.2 Section 6.10.1
DONE
1. In your LonMaker drawing, drag a device stencil into the drawing. Enter an
appropriate name as shown in Figure 60.
3. In the Device Template group box select the existing device template of the L-Gate.
Select “L-Gate-900 FT-10”, if the L-Gate is configured to use the FT-10 interface, or
“L-Gate-900 IP-10L”, if the L-Gate is configured to be on the IP channel. For
information on how to configure which port to use, refer to Section 4.2.5 for the Web
UI.
4. Select the channel, which the device is connected to and click Next.
6. Check Service Pin as the device identification method as shown in Figure 62 and click
Next.
7. Click Next in the following screens until you get to the final dialog shown in Figure
63.
10. Finally, you should get the device added to your drawing as depicted in Figure 64.
Channel FT-10
6. Select the Service pin method and click on Finish as shown in Figure 69.
7. Then the service pin requestor opens as shown in Figure 70. Press the service pin on
the replacement L-Gate on the correct port. You can also send the service pin using the
Web interface (see Section 4.1).
Figure 70: Wait for the service pin from the device.
8. After the service pin has been received, LonMaker commissions the replacement
device, creates the dynamic NVs again (if any), and installs the bindings.
In NL-220 the Plug-in is started by right clicking on the L-Gate node, then selecting the
Option LOYTEC L-Gate Configurator in the PlugIns sub menu.
In Alex the Plug-in is started by right-clicking on the L-Gate device and selecting the
LOYTEC L-Gate Configurator in the Starte PlugIn sub menu.
If the L-Gate is not yet connected to the network, go to the Firmware menu and select the
firmware version of the L-Gate to be configured. If the L-Gate is already connected to the
network it is recommended to connect the configuration software to the L-Gate.
1. Select the FTP connection method by clicking on the FTP connect button
in the tool bar of the main connections window. The FTP connect dialog as shown in
Figure 72 opens.
2. Enter the IP address of the L-Gate, the user and password. The default user is ‘admin’
and the default password is ‘admin’.
3. Optionally, click into the Recent Connections field and enter a user-defined name for
this connection. That name can be selected later to connect. Click on Save to store that
connection.
4. If your device is located behind a NAT router of firewall, you may change the FTP and
Telnet ports to your needs for accessing the device. Clicking Save also stored these
settings.
To Upload a Configuration
in the tool bar. The configuration upload dialog opens up as shown in Figure 73.
2. If the check-box Automatically sync local dynamic NVs is marked, any manually
created dynamic NVs will be uploaded and merged into the data point configuration.
3. Click on the button Start to start the transfer. This will upload the configuration of all
ports, if the software is connected stand-alone via FTP or the network variable
interface, for which the LNS plug-in was started for.
4. When asked, if schedules shall be uploaded also, click Yes, if you want the current
schedule configuration be extracted from the device. Note, that when doing so, the
original schedules in the project are replaced by the uploaded schedules.
2. Click on the button Scan channel. This scans in all NVs on all devices connected
to the CEA-709 channel of the device.
3. After the scan has completed, the folder LNS Database Scan is populated with the
found NVs. Data point names for those NVs are automatically generated, following the
data point naming rules defined in the project settings (see Section 6.3.2). By default
the name is generated from node name, object name, and NV name. These names are
ensured to be unique by adding a counter for multiple occurrences of the same name.
Figure 74 shows an example result of the database scan. The list can be sorted by each
column. Selecting a line will display a number of associated properties in the property view
below. Multiple items can be selected by using the <Ctrl> key and clicking with the mouse.
All items can be selected by pressing <Ctrl-A>.
3. Right-click and select Import File. In the following file selector dialog, choose the
CSV import file and click Ok.
4. Now the CSV File folder is populated with the imported NVs as shown in Figure 75.
The list can be sorted by each column. Selecting a line will display a number of associated
properties in the property view below. Multiple items can be selected by using the <Ctrl>
key and clicking with the mouse. All items can be selected by pressing <Ctrl-A>.
3. Right-click on that folder and select Scan CEA709/852 Network…. This opens the
CEA709/852 Network Scan dialog as shown in Figure 76.
4. If the device has not been installed with a network management tool (e.g. LNS-based
tool), select the Manually set domain check-box and click the Set button. This sets
the device configured, online to start the scan.
Note: You need to set the same domain as the devices to be scanned. Click Get Domain from
Network and press a service pin on some other, already installed device to retrieve the
domain information before setting the device online.
5. Click on the button Discover Devices. This starts a network scan. The results are put
in the device list box.
6. Alternatively, click the button Discover on Service Pin. Then press the service pin of
a particular device on the network. This device will be added to the device list.
7. Select a device in the device list. To give the device a usable name, enter the name
below and click on the Set button.
8. Then click the button Scan. This scans the NVs on the selected device and adds them
to the CEA709/852 Network Scan folder as a separate sub-folder for the device as
shown in Figure 77.
Tip! If you are not sure, which device you have selected, click on Wink Device. The selected
device will execute its wink sequence.
1. Go to any of the CEA709 LNS Scan, CEA709 Network Scan or the CEA709 CSV
File folder.
2. Use the multi-select feature by holding the Shift or Ctrl keys pressed.
4. This creates data points in the L-Gate/CEA709 Port folder. All data points in that
folder will actually be created on the L-Gate device after downloading the
configuration.
Tip! Data points can be edited by selecting a single point or using multi-select. The available
properties to be edited are displayed in the property view below.
1. In the data point view select the NVs in the L-Gate/CEA709 port folder, for which the
NV allocation shall be changed.
2. Select the NV allocation property as indicated by the red rectangle in Figure 78.
3. To make the data points static NVs on the L-Gate, select Static NV.
2. Right-click in the data point list and select New Datapoint… in the context menu.
This opens the NV creation dialog as shown in Figure 79.
3. Enter a data point name and a programmatic name. The programmatic name is the
name of the static NV, which is being created, while the data point name is used for
exposing the NV as a BACnet object.
4. Select a resource file. To create a SNVT let the STANDARD resource file be selected.
5. Select a SNVT and a direction. If a non-standard resource file has been selected,
choose from one of the UNVTs.
7. Click Create Static NV. The static NV is created and appears in the data point list.
8. Note, that the static interface of the L-Gate will change as soon as static NVs are added
or modified in the data point manager. This change is reflected in a new model
number, which the L-Gate will have after the configuration download (see Section
5.5.2). Also note that the manually created static NVs are not bound automatically by
the L-Gate Configurator. They simply appear on the device and need to be bound in
the network management tool.
2. Right-click in the data point list and select New Datapoint… in the context menu.
This opens the NV creation dialog.
4. Select the device in the box Select a Device on the left-hand side.
5. Enter the properties of the external NV on that device, starting with the local data point
name, the remote programmatic NV name, the NV type (SNVT) and direction. Note,
that the direction is the direction of the external NV on the L-Gate. Therefore, the
remote output NV nvo00_switch becomes an input on the L-Gate. Also enter the NV
selector in hexadecimal and the NV index in decimal. Choose the preferred addressing
mode, e.g., Node ID.
7. The external NV now appears in the data point list as shown in Figure 81. For external
NVs which are inputs to the L-Gate, adapt the poll cycle property to your needs.
2. In the L-Gate/CEA-709 folder select all the NVs, which shall be mapped. The multi-
select feature or <Ctrl-A> may be used for doing this.
3. Click on the speed button Generate Points and auto-connect in the tool bar.
4. Alternatively, you can select the L-Gate/CEA-709 Port folder and click the speed
button Folder-wide Generate points and auto-connect in the tool bar. This
generates BACnet objects and connections for all NVs in the folder.
5. When the generation is complete, a dialog reports how many connections have been
created. Click No to skip the report.
Note, when auto-creating the BACnet objects, the L-Gate Configurator initializes the
BACnet properties with default values derived from the properties of the CEA-709 NVs. In
particular, the object name, description, minimum and maximum present value, and
engineering units are generated. If the default properties do not have the desired values, the
user can edit them in the BACnet folder.
2. Right-click in the data point list and select New Datapoint… in the context menu.
This opens the register creation dialog as shown in Figure 83.
3. Enter a Datapoint Name for the register. You may leave the Register Name blank to
give the underlying register the same name as the data point.
6. Two data points now appear for the register, one for writing the register and one for
reading the register as shown in Figure 84.
If connected via LNS, and the NVs on the L-Gate are “Static NV” or “Dynamic NV”, the
Late Configurator can create the bindings automatically. This behavior can be influenced
by the download dialog. When connected via LNS, the download procedure also manages
the device template upgrade in the LNS database, if the static NV interface has been
changed.
To Download a Configuration
in the tool bar. The configuration upload dialog opens up as shown in Figure 85.
3. If the static NV interface has been changed, a new model number for the L-Gate needs
to be selected. This is necessary, as the static network interface of the L-Gate changes
on the CEA-709 network. The L-Gateway configuration software automatically selects
a usable value, which can be overridden in the field Model Number marked by the
blue rectangle in Figure 85.
4. Click Start to start the download. Each of the actions is displayed in the Task List
section of the dialog. The current progress is indicated by the progress bar below.
5. When the download process has finished, a notification window appears, which has to
be acknowledged by clicking Ok.
Note, that after the download is complete, the interface changes become active on the
L-Gate (i.e., the static NV interface has changed). Refresh the network management tool to
synchronize the tool with the changes to the LNS database made by the L-Gate
Configurator (e.g., use the menu “LonMaker|Refresh” in LonMaker or hit F5 in NL-220).
Normally, the Configurator software optimizes the download process by not executing
certain LNS operations, if not necessary. For example, only those bindings and dynamic
NVs are deleted and re-created, which correspond to real changes in the interface. The user
can check the Force Full Upgrade option to clean and re-do all steps.
2. Right-click on that folder and in the context menu select Build XIF ….
3. This opens a file requestor where the XIF file name needs to be entered. Select a useful
name to identify the L-Gate, e.g. as “lgate1.xif”.
4. Click OK.
2. Right-click and select Sync Dynamic NVs in the context menu. The L-Gateway
configuration software then loads any new dynamic NVs, which have been created and
are not yet part of the port interface definition. The process completes when the dialog
shown in Figure 86 appears.
3. Click on Finish. The new dynamic NVs now appear in the data point list and can be
edited and used for creating BACnet objects and connections.
1. Connect to the device via the FTP or LNS method (see Section 6.7.2).
in the tool bar. The upload system log dialog as shown in Figure 87 opens showing the
upload progress.
3. When the upload is finished, click on Show System Log. The system log window
appears as shown in Figure 88.
4. Click on Save to store the system log into a file on your local hard drive.
The L-Gate supports both, the LONMARK file transfer and the simpler direct memory
read/write method. In both cases, however, one has to keep in mind that a file transfer
incurs more overhead than a simple NV read/write. Therefore, polling CPs should be done
at a much slower rate than polling NVs.
Another aspect is how CPs are handled by network management tools. Formerly, those
tools were the only instance that could modify CPs in devices. Therefore, most tools do not
automatically read back CPs from the devices when browsing them. This can result in
inconsistencies between the actual CP contents on the device and their copy in the network
management tool. It is recommended to synchronize the CPs from the device into the LNS
database before editing and writing them back.
2. Press the Upload button on the Configuration tab of the device properties (see Figure
89).
1. Right-click on a device object and select Commissioning Æ Resync CPs… from the
context menu.
3. In this dialog select the radio button Upload values from device in the Operation
group box. To use the current settings of the device as default values for new devices,
select Set device template defaults from device.
To Install Devices
1. Open the CEA-709 network scan dialog and scan for devices as described in Section
6.7.6.
2. Click the Install button. This opens the Install Devices dialog as shown in Figure 91.
4. Enter the domain information or click Get Domain from Network and press a service
pin.
Some nodes, however, do not possess such feedback NVs for certain functions. To support
getting feedback values on such nodes, the Configurator can create feedback data points
based on existing output data points. This is especially interesting for bound output NVs
(static and dynamic alike). The corresponding feedback data point is an input, which uses
the original output NV for polling the target NV. Once the binding is changed the new
target is polled. No additional input NV needs to be created for the feedback value, if the
feedback data point feature is used.
1. Select an output data point in the data point list of the CEA-709 port folder, e.g.
‘nvoHumid101’.
3. A new input data point is created, having ‘_fb’ appended to the original name, e.g.,
‘nvoHumid101_fb’. Note, that the feedback data point maps to the same NV index as
the original output data point.
4. Choose an appropriate poll cycle in the data point properties for the feedback data
point.
Once the resource files are installed, the CEA-709 network scan and the LNS scan will
display the user-defined types from the resource files. Those data points can be used on the
device like regular, standard-type data points. Also manual creation of UNVTs can be
performed.
2. When the Create New NV dialog appears, change the resource file from
‘STANDARD’ in the Resource File drop-down box to the desired, user-defined
resource file
3. Then select the desired UNVT from the Type drop-down list below. This list will
display the types of the selected resource file only.
6.9 Connections
6.9.1 Create a New Connection
After having configured the device’s network ports with data points, internal connections
between those data points can be created. Usually, the manual method to create a
connection is used to create n-way connections or connections for data points, where the
generate-and-auto-connect method cannot be applied.
A connection is an internal mapping in the device between input and output data points. A
connection always consists of one hub data point and one or multiple target data points.
Hub data points can be input or output. If the hub data point is an input, then the target data
points must be output and vice versa. All data points in the connection must be of a
compatible type.
in the tool bar of the main connections window and press Add Connection…. A new
connection is added to the connection list. Rename the connection if you want to do so.
2. Click on Select Hub… to select the hub point. This opens a list of all available data
points. Select one and press OK.
3. Then click on Add Target… Similar to 2) select all target data points. You may use
multi-select to select more than one data point at a time.
Note: By default only compatible data points are displayed. Sometimes compatible data points
are available as member points (e.g., a SNVT structure member). Click on to expand
the data point and select the desired member point.
4. Now the connection display contains a hub and two target data point as shown in
Figure 92.
5. If connections that are not part of the connection CSV file shall be deleted, click Yes
when prompted. Click No if the other connections shall be left as is.
7. When the import has completed, optionally view the log to check, which connections
have been added, modified, and deleted.
To Edit a Connection
2. Select the connection to edit. Then follow the steps as applied when creating a
connection.
To Delete a Connection
2. Select the connection for removal. Use multi-select to select more than one connection.
3. Click Remove.
3. Right-click on that folder and select Scan BACnet Network…. This opens the
BACnet Network Scan dialog as shown in Figure 95.
4. Click on the button Discover Devices. This starts a network scan. The results are put
in the device list box. A progress bar below indicates how many devices are being
scanned.
5. Select a device in the device list and click the button Scan Objects. This scans the
BACnet objects on the selected device and adds them to the BACnet Network Scan
folder as a separate sub-folder for the device as shown in Figure 96.
There are a set of EDE files. Select the main EDE file, e.g. device.csv. The EDE import
will also search for the other components, which must be named device-states.csv. Which
components are expected, please refer to Section 7.3.3. Example EDE files can be found in
the ‘examples’ directory of the LOYTEC Gateway Configuration software installation
directory.
3. Right-click and select Import File. In the following file selector dialog, choose the
EDE import file and click Ok.
4. Now the BACnet EDE File folder is populated with the imported BACnet objects.
In an additional step, there can be also server objects allocated on the device. These server
objects can be created automatically from converting a client mapping to a server object.
This is usually done, if the imported BACnet objects shall also be directly modified over
the BACnet network on the device itself.
1. Go to the Datapoints tab and select the desired BACnet objects in one of the import
folders.
2. Use the multi-select feature by holding the Shift or Ctrl keys pressed.
4. This creates data points in the BACnet Port/Datapoints folder. All data points in that
folder will be created as client mappings. No server object is created automatically in
this case.
5. To also create server objects select the data points in question using the multi-select
feature. Then edit the property Allocate Server Object and set it to Yes.
1. Select the BACnet data point that has the client mapping to be edited.
3. This opens the Modify Client Mapping dialog as shown in Figure 97.
4. Edit the target device by selecting a different device in the Mapped Device list. Edit
the target object instance number. For read client mappings edit the COV expiry or
Pollcycle setting. For write client maps edit the Write Priority. When finished click
Save Changes.
2. Right-click in the data point list and select New Datapoint… in the context menu.
This opens the Create New BACnet Point dialog as shown in Figure 98.
4. In the Optional Properties you may select Engineering Units for analog objects. For
all object types you can enter the Description. The Device Type can be left empty.
5. Click Create Server Object. The BACnet data point is created and appears in the data
point list.
2. Right-click on the data point and select Add/Remove BACnet properties … . The
dialog appears as shown in Figure 99.
3. Check the additional properties. Checking the Read box will add an input data point,
checking the Write box will add an output data point.
4. Click Close. The selected data point can now be expanded with the plus icon and show
its additional properties as sub-data points.
5. To remove properties perform the same steps and uncheck the corresponding check-
boxes. Alternatively, select the property (or more) and press the Delete key.
3. Put a check mark either on ASCII (default), UCS-2 (Unicode, e.g., for Japanese), or
ISO-8859-1 (for Western European languages), as indicated by the red rectangle in
Figure 100.
4. Click Ok.
1. Under the Global Objects folder, select the E-Mail Configuration sub-folder.
2. Right-click and select New E-Mail Template … from the context menu.
3. In the Configure E-Mail Template dialog, which is shown in Figure 101 enter the To
address and the Subject. Optionally, Cc and Bcc addresses can be specified.
5. If the E-Mail text shall contain values of data points, add data points to the Data
Sources list by clicking the Add… button.
6. A data point selector dialog opens. Select one or more data points and click Ok. The
selected data point appears in the Data Sources list.
7. A data point selector dialog opens. Select one or more data points and click Ok. The
selected data point appears in the Data Sources list.
8. Select the data point in the Data Sources list. In the drop-down box underneath select
Selected Data Source Value and click the Paste to Text button.
9. A place holder %{v1} for the data point value appears now in the E-Mail text.
Note, that the behavior of the trigger data point is influenced by the COV properties of the
data point. If the Only notify on COV property is checked, the data point triggers only if
its value changes to the value of the trigger condition. If that property is not checked, the
data point triggers on every write with a value that matches the trigger condition.
The trigger for sending an E-Mail can be enabled or disabled altogether by using an enable
data point. This data point must be of type binary. If the value of that enable data point is
TRUE, the trigger conditions are evaluated. If the value of the enable is FALSE, no E-
Mails are be triggered.
1. Under the Global Objects folder, select the E-Mail Configuration sub-folder.
2. Right-click and select Configure E-Mail Template … from the context menu.
Note: Of course, you can also change directly to the Mail Triggers tab when creating an E-Mail
template.
6. The triggers appear now in the Mail Triggers list. The data points that server as E-
Mail triggers also appear with the E-Mail icon in the data point list.
7. In the Manage Trigger Conditions you can refine the trigger condition depending on
the trigger data point class.
8. If the trigger condition is depending on the value of an enabling data point, you can
add an enable data point by clicking on the … button.
9. To remove such a trigger enable, click the Remove Enable Trigger button.
6.11.3 Attachments
E-Mail templates can be configured to have file attachments. Basically, any file of the
device can be specified as an attachment.
To Configure Attachments
1. Under the Global Objects folder, select the E-Mail Configuration sub-folder.
2. Right-click and select Configure E-Mail Template … from the context menu.
Note: Of course, you can also change directly to the Attachments tab when creating an E-Mail
template.
5. Click the Add button. The file appears in the Attachments list.
6. To remove an attachment, select the attachment file in the Attachments list and click
the button Remove.
To Create a Calendar
2. Right-click in the data point list view and select New local Calendar ….
3. In the Create New Calendar dialog box (as shown in Figure 102) enter Name and
Description of the calendar.
4. Click Ok. The calendar appears now in the data point list view.
4. Click Create Pattern. The dialog closes and the calendar pattern appears beneath the
calendar data point.
2. Right-click in the data point list view and select New Local Scheduler ….
3. Enter a name for the schedule and a description. Note, that the schedule automatically
detects a calendar, if it has previously been created.
4. Click Create Schedule. The new schedule appears in the data point list of the
Scheduler sub-folder.
This configuration must be done as an initial setup. Which data points are scheduled cannot
be changed at run-time. The daily schedules, however, can be changed later in the Web UI
or over the network.
2. Right-click and select Configure Schedule from the context menu. The same dialog
which appears when a new scheduler is created is shown and allows to configure the
scheduler. Of course, this step can also be done directly when the point is created.
4. Click the button Attach Datapoints . This opens another data point selector window.
5. Select the data points to attach and click Ok. For each of the attached data points, one
or more lines appear in the list below the attach button. If the attached point is a
structure, there will be one line for each element of the structure.
Tip! Data points can also be attached to a scheduler by selecting a data point in the data point
manager, drag it onto a scheduler data point and drop it on the scheduler data point.
6. Enter a Description text in the second column of each line. This text will be shown
when the user changes a value set on the device later on.
7. Add new value presets by entering a name and pressing the Create button next to the
input field.
Tip! To generate presets automatically for multi-state data points, click the Auto-Create button.
This button is available, if no other presets have been defined yet.
8. For each new preset, a new column will appear in the list. In this column, enter the
desired value for each of the attached points, which will be set when this value
template is scheduled. The user may later edit the values for each preset on the device
but cannot add new value presets unless there is only one line (one value) in the list.
9. If there are multiple output values which belong together, they can be grouped in order
to save space on the device. For each group, the entered value is stored only once,
even if there are more data points in the same group.
10. When done with the point and value setup, switch back to the Configuration tab or
click Save Changes to leave the dialog.
Tip! A shortcut to creating a scheduler object and attaching a data point is to select a data
point in the data point manager, right-click on it and choose Schedule Datapoint from the
context menu. This generates a scheduler and links that data point to it.
In addition, daily schedules can be configured for exception days from a calendar, such as
“Holidays”. An exception day always overrides a normal weekday. If more than one
exception day is used, a priority must be assigned. This is necessary so that the system
knows which schedule to follow on a day which is part of more than one calendar pattern.
1. Open the Configure Schedule dialog and click on the Configuration tab (see Section
6.12.4).
3. Select a value preset in the Available Data Presets box on the upper right-hand side.
4. Drag and drop the preset from this list into the time table area to define the desired
output values on the day schedule.
5. Completed daily schedules may be copied to other days using the Copy to button. For
example, the Monday may serve as the template for a regular work day and be copied
to Tuesday till Friday. Then click Ok.
1. Select a calendar pattern, which shall be used as an exception day and place a
checkmark on it.
3. If more than one calendar pattern is used, edit the priorities. For example, if a given
calendar day falls in both categories, “Holidays” and “Maintenance”, the exception
day with the higher priority becomes effective on that day. The highest available
priority is marked highest. Note, that the actual priority values depend on the
technology (see Section 5.5.3).
Important! Choose different priorities for different exceptions. If two exceptions are valid for a given
day and their priorities are equal, it is not determined, which exception is in effect.
in the tool bar of the main connections window. Click Ok when the upload is finished.
2. Select the Calendar sub-folder and select the calendar pattern, which shall be
configured
4. The Configure Pattern dialog appears as shown in Figure 103. Add dates to the
calendar pattern by entering a Date Configuration. Then click Add Entry. The date
appears in the Pattern Entries list on the right-hand side.
5. Edit an exception by selecting the pattern entry in the Pattern Entries list. Then
modify the date configuration in the Date Configuration group box.
6. Click Save Changes when all exception days have been entered.
Tip! When not sure, how a date configuration affects the calendar days, click on a pattern in the
Pattern Entries list and the affected days will be highlighted in the Preview.
2. Click on the Create button below the Weekly/Exception Schedule Configuration list
3. The Create Pattern dialog opens. You can enter exactly one pattern entry for the
embedded exception. It is recommended to choose a descriptive name for the day, e.g.
‘24_12’xx’ for every 24th of December.
3. In the Control Datapoints group box, click the button to add the desired control
data point. A data point selection dialog opens.
4. Select a matching data point and click OK. For the preset name a string data point
must be selected.
• Next state: This is the next, future occupancy state in the schedule.
• Time to next state: This part reflects the time in minutes until the next state becomes
active.
To Use a SNVT_tod_event
2. Right-click in the data point list view and select New Alarm Server ….
3. In the Create New Alarm Server dialog box (as shown in Figure 104) enter Name
and Description of the alarm server.
4. Click Ok. The alarm server appears now in the data point list view.
5. For a BACnet alarm server, select the created object and edit the properties for
transition priorities (To-Normal, To-Fault, To-Offnormal) and the corresponding
check boxes, which define whether acknowledgements are required. These are the
standard BACnet settings in a Notification Class object.
2. Right-click and select Create Alarm Condition… from the context menu.
3. For an analog data point the dialog as shown in Figure 105 appears. Select the Alarm
Server. Optionally, enter an Alarm Description. If left empty, the description of the
data point is used. Enter a Time Delay, after which the condition is evaluated. Select
Low Limit and High Limit and put check marks, if they shall be employed. Enter a
Deadband, to account for hysteresis.
4. For a binary data point the dialog as shown in Figure 106 appears. Select the Alarm
Server. Optionally, enter an Alarm Description. If left empty, the description of the
data point is used. Enter a Time Delay, after which the condition is evaluated. Select
the Alarm Value which triggers the alarm.
5. For a multi-state data point the dialog as shown in Figure 107 appears. Select the
Alarm Server. Optionally, enter an Alarm Description. If left empty, the description
of the data point is used. Enter a Time Delay, after which the condition is evaluated.
Select the Alarm States, which triggers the alarm, by clicking the arrow buttons.
6. Click on Create. In the alarm column, the alarm sign will be added for those data
points, that have an alarm condition.
4. In the Mail Triggers list select the added trigger data point.
5. In the Manage Trigger Conditions list put a check mark on alarm conditions that
shall invoke the transmission of the e-mail.
7. Add the alarm data point as a data source and insert the place holder into the e-mail
text as described in Section 6.11.1.
An alarm log can log transitions of one or more alarm objects. Its size is configurable. The
alarm log is a ring buffer. As soon as its size limit is reached, the oldest alarm log records
are overwritten by new alarm transitions.
1. Under the Global Objects folder, select the Alarm Log Object Configuration sub-
folder.
2. In the data point list right-click and select New Alarm Log … from the context menu.
3. In the Create New Alarm Log dialog enter a Name for the alarm log. Optionally enter
a Description.
4. Enter a Log Size, which defines how many transitions are resident in the alarm log.
5. Click on the button Add… on top of the Logged Alarm Objects list.
6. A data point selector dialog opens. Select one or more alarm objects that shall be
logged and click OK. The alarm objects appear in the list.
Trend objects can generate trend logs for multiple data points and can be operated in one of
three basic modes:
• Interval Mode: In this mode a snapshot of all trended data points is logged into the
data logger file.
• COV Mode: In this mode, each of the trended data points is logged separately, if and
only if its value changes. For analog data points, a specific COV increment can be
configured in the data point configuration properties of the trended data point.
• Trigger Mode: In this mode a snapshot of all trended data points is logged each time a
trigger condition fires. The trigger condition is applied to a trigger data point.
1. Under the port folder, select the Trend sub-folder to create a trend log object.
3. In the Create New Trend Object dialog (shown in Figure 108) enter a name and
optionally a description for the trend log object.
5. Select the Log Size. The display in the dialog will adapt the estimations for needed
data logger file size in KB and duration of the trend log. Alternatively, for interval
trends, the estimated log duration and log interval can be edited.
6. Select a Fill Level Notification percentage. This will decide at which fill-level trigger
will fire. A fill-level trigger can be used to trigger the transmission of an e-mail (see
Section 6.14.5).
7. Click Save Changes to store the basic configuration of the trend object. The new trend
log object appears in the data point list of the Trend folder.
The trending can be enabled/disabled on behalf of an enable data point. This data point
should be of type binary. If the value of that enable data point is TRUE, the trend object
logs data as defined by the trend mode. If the value of the enable is FALSE, trending is
disabled. If no enable data point is configured, the trend log is always enabled.
2. Right-click and select Configure Trend from the context menu. The same dialog
which appears when a new trend object is created is shown and allows configuring the
trend object. Of course, this step can also be done directly when the object is created.
3. Add data points to be trended. Click on Add … which opens a data point selector
window.
4. Select the data points and click OK. For each of the attached data points, a line appears
in the list below the add button. The trended data points will also appear with the trend
icon in the data point manager.
Tip! Data points can also be attached to a trend by selecting a data point in the data point tab,
drag it onto a trend object and drop it on the trend object.
6. If COV mode was selected, the COV increment is displayed in the COV delta column.
This value can be increased to produce less trend data. Note, that it cannot be lowered
under the trended data point’s own COV increment. Go to the data point configuration
to change the COV increment in this case.
7. If the trended value of the data point shall be aggregated over the log interval, select
the desired aggregation in the Type column. Available options are Min, Max, Avg.
Tip! For creating multiple curves with min, average, and maximum values, add the same data
point three times and select the different aggregation types.
8. In addition, a special Trend Enable data point can be selected. If configured, the trend
log will only log data, if the value of this data point evaluates true, i.e., is not zero.
Click the … button to select a data point.
10. When done with the data point setup, click Save Changes to leave the dialog.
Tip! A shortcut to creating a trend log object and attaching a data point is to select a data point
in the data point manager, right-click on it and choose Trend Datapoint from the context
menu. This generates a trend log and links that data point to it.
Note, that the behavior of the trigger data point is influenced by the COV properties of the
data point. If the Only notify on COV property is checked, the data point triggers only if
its value changes to the value of the trigger condition. If that property is not checked, the
data point triggers on every write with a value that matches the trigger condition.
Note: Of course, you can also change directly to the Triggers tab when creating a trend object.
7. In the Manage Trigger Conditions you can refine the trigger condition depending on
the trigger data point class.
When done with the data point setup, click Save Changes to leave the dialog
Where TrendLogName is the data point name of the trend (Trend Name). The UID is the
unique ID of the trend log object. The UID can be obtained from the ID column in the data
point list of trend log data points as shown in Figure 109. This would result in the trend
CSV file ‘/data/trend/out_temp_107C.csv’.
Because the contents are generated on-the-fly, the file size in the FTP client will appear as
0 Bytes. The decimal point and CSV column separator can be configured over in the
system configuration of the Web UI (see Section 4.2.1) of the L-Gate. Note, that for a
comma “,” as the separator, the decimal point is a point. This is useful for English/U.S.
applications. For countries that use the comma as the decimal point, select the semicolon as
the CSV separator.
in the trend object can be used as a trigger to send an e-mail with the trend’s data logger
CSV file as an attachment.
For setting up e-mails, the account information has to be configured on the device, e.g., on
the Web UI (see Section 4.2.11). Then an e-mail template can be created and the trend
object attached as a trigger.
4. In the Mail Triggers list, the added trigger data point appears with the Fill Level
condition.
6. Select the trend log CSV file of the trend object in the Attach File drop-down box and
click Add.
Note: ZIP versions of the CSV files are also available. Select those to save transmission
bandwidth and mailbox space.
1. Execute a network scan, as described earlier in this document. The scan folder is filled
with available schedulers.
2. From the data points in the import folder, select the scheduler objects you are
interested in and click the Use on Device speed button. This creates suitable
remote scheduler and the corresponding calendar objects in the Remote Devices
folder.
3. Adjust the basic settings for the newly created objects, such as the object name and
description. The object name will be used as the name for the scheduler, as seen on the
Web UI.
4. For BACnet, also adjust the poll cycle, which will be used to periodically fetch the
current configuration in case the remote device does not support COV subscriptions.
5. For CEA709, a static NV is created to receive information from the remote device
about changes to the scheduler configuration, so that the local device does not need to
poll the remote device. Set a name for this NV (default is nviSchedLink<number>)
and assign it to a suitable function block.
On BACnet devices, the new data points can be used right away to exchange configuration
data with the scheduler on the remote device. Just connect the new scheduler data point to a
schedule control to view and edit the configuration of the remote devices scheduler.
On CEA709 devices, there is one extra step to take before the new data points will be
operational: The new input NV representing the remote calendar on the local device (this
NV is normally called nviCalLink) needs to be bound to the output NV called nvoCalLink
located in the Calendar functional block of the remote device and the new static
nviSchedLink NVs which were created for each remote scheduler point need to be bound to
the respective nvoSchedLink variable located in the Scheduler functional block of the
remote device. The binding between the nvoSchedLink variable on the remote device to the
nviSchedLink variable on the local device defines which of the scheduler data points on the
local device connect to which scheduler unit on the remote device. All required information
is transmitted over the link NVs, so it is possible to later change the binding to any other
remote scheduler without rescanning the network.
Note: If connected via LNS, the bindings to the nvoCalLink and nvoSchedLink NVs are made
automatically by the configuration software in the download process.
1. Execute a network scan, as described earlier in this document. The scan folder is filled
with available remote alarm servers.
2. From the points in the import folder, select the alarm server points you are interested in
and click the Use on Device speed button. This creates the corresponding alarm
client points in your project.
3. For CEA709, select the new alarm client point and adjust the name of the local NV
(default name is nviAlarm_2). This NV is located in the Clients functional block.
On BACnet devices, the new data points can be used right away to exchange alarm
information with the alarm server on the remote device. Just connect the new alarm client
data point to an alarm list control to view and acknowledge alarms reported by the
associated alarm server.
On CEA-709 devices, there is one extra step to take before the new data points will be
operational: The new static input NVs representing the alarm clients on the local device
need to be bound to the alarm outputs of the remote device. A CEA709 device normally
delivers alarms through an output NV of type SNVT_alarm_2 located in the node object of
the device, therefore the new input NV on the local device must be bound to the alarm
output NV of the remote devices node object. All required information is transmitted over
the alarm input NV, so it is possible to later bind the alarm client to any other alarm server
without rescanning the network.
Note: If connected via LNS, the binding to the nvoAlarm2 NV is made automatically by the
configuration software in the download process.
1. Under the Global Objects folder, select the Math Object sub-folder.
2. Right-click and select New Math Object … from the context menu.
3. In the Create New Math Object dialog, enter a name and optionally a description for
the math object.
5. In the data point selector dialog, select the input data points and click OK. The data
points appear as v1, v2, etc.
6. If the data point shall trigger the math calculation only after a certain change-of-value,
enter a value into the COV delta column.
7. Select the input data point and click Add Variable to push the variable on the
evaluation stack.
8. Select a function to be applied on the variables and click the Add Function button.
9. The resulting formula is displayed at the bottom of the dialog. Alternatively, the
formula can be entered there.
10. Add output data points by clicking the Add Output DP button.
11. In the data point selector dialog select the output data points and click OK.
1. Under the Global Objects folder, select the Math Object sub-folder.
3. Right-click and select Configure Math Object … from the context menu.
5. To replace an input data point by another input data point without re-writing the entire
formula, click the Replace Input DP … button. This opens a data point selector
dialog. Select the replacement data point there.
6. To detach an input data point click the Detach Input DP button. This leaves the
respective variable slot empty.
In the configuration software, only local schedulers and calendars that are hub in a
connection can be configured. The target schedules are synchronized automatically on the
device. Changing schedules or calendars on the Web UI or over the network automatically
synchronize the change with all members of the connection.
Since schedules and calendars in the two technologies have their own restrictions, the
mapping underlies a number of restrictions as well:
• Only schedules that schedule a single value can be mapped. In practice, all schedules
can be mapped where one only value can be defined per value preset, e.g., one analog
value.
• The target schedule, which is used to expose the actual scheduler to a different
technology, must not itself have data points attached, that are scheduled. The target
scheduler only acts as a shell that stores the daily schedules.
• CEA-709 schedulers, which schedule only one NV, but that NV is a structure (e.g.,
SNVT_switch) cannot be mapped to a BACnet scheduler. This is because the value
preset on the CEA-709 scheduler has two values to configure. This violates the one-
value rule.
• All calendars referred to by mapped schedulers must be added to a calendar
connection.
• On one port, only one calendar can exist. Therefore, all exposed calendars must be
added to a single connection. As a consequence all calendars are synchronized in the
system. There can exist only one calendar connection on a device, that contains all
exposed calendars.
• Once a scheduler is in a connection, do not change its scheduled data points. Doing so
after creating may violate the connection rules and result in a non-functioning
connection.
Figure 110 shows an example, how two remote CEA-709 schedulers are exposed to
BACnet schedulers. There are three connections involved. One connection sched_1_conn
is created for lon_sched_1 and bac_sched_1. A second connection sched_2_conn is created
for lon_sched_2 and bac_sched_2. Since there is only one BACnet calendar, all calendar
objects must be put into a single connection cal_conn, containing lon_cal_1, lon_cal_2,
and bac_cal.
lon_cal_1
cal_conn bac_cal
lon_cal_2
2. Create a local BACnet scheduler as in Section 6.12. Do not attach data points to that
scheduler.
3. Create a new connection (see Section 6.9.1). Give it a descriptive name, e.g.
sched_conn.
Important: Once a scheduler is in a connection, do not change the scheduled data points!
7. Create a local BACnet calendar object, if not existing yet. Add the required number of
calendar patterns, i.e., the number of calendar patterns used in the CEA-709 calendar.
It is recommended to allocate a number of spare calendar patterns, too. This can be
handy, because BACnet calendars cannot dynamically add calendar patterns at run-
time, while CEA-709 calendars can. Do not specify names for the calendar patterns.
Important: If there already exists a calendar connection, don’t create a new connection and add the
exposed calendar as a target to the existing connection! There can only be one calendar
connection that contains all exposed calendars.
9. Select the CEA-709 calendar as the hub. When exposing a remote schedule, select the
calendar from the same remote device folder where the schedule was selected from.
11. Click Save. Now a calendar connection appears in the connections list as shown in
Figure 111.
2. Create a local CEA-709 scheduler as in Section 6.12. Do not attach data points to that
scheduler.
3. Create a new connection (see Section 6.9.1). Give it a descriptive name, e.g.
sched_conn.
Important: Once a scheduler is in a connection, do not change the scheduled data points!
7. Create a local CEA-709 calendar object, if not existing yet. Do not add any calendar
patterns.
Important: If there already exists a calendar connection, don’t create a new connection and add the
exposed calendar as a target to the existing connection! There can only be one calendar
connection that contains all exposed calendars.
9. Select the BACnet calendar as the hub. When exposing a remote schedule, select the
calendar from the same remote device folder where the schedule was selected from.
11. Click Save. Now a calendar connection appears in the connections list.
2. Select the created connection and select the radio button hub Æ target in the
Connection Properties.
7 Operating Interfaces
The UID is the unique ID of the data point. The UID can be obtained from the ID column
in the data point list as shown in Figure 109. A schedule data point with UID 107C would
result in the schedule XML file ‘/tmp/uid/sched/107C.xml’. The UID remains
constant for the life time of the data point even when the name or description is changed.
The content of the XML file must be compliant to the scheduleCfg schema. This schema
can be found at the LOYTEC Web site. The XML documents can refer to the target
namespace ‘http://www.loytec.com/xsd/scheduleCfg/1.0/’.
The UID is the unique ID of the data point. The UID can be obtained from the ID column
in the data point list as shown in Figure 109. For a more user-friendly listing of the files,
the Datapointname contains the trend log’s object name. It is truncated after 23 ASCII
characters to fit the requirements of the file system. A trend CSV file for the trend object
‘trend0’ and the UID ‘107C’ would result in the CSV file
‘/data/trend/trend0_107C.csv’. The UID remains constant for the life time of
the object even when the name is changed.
The CSV file format for a trend log is defined in this section. The CSV file starts with a
header, containing at least the first line, which specifies the CSV format (log_csv_ver). The
current version is 2. The next line contains the field log_device. It has trailing fields that
specify the vendor, product code, firmware version and device ID string. The Device ID
String can be one of the following: (IP) 192.168.24.100, (BACnet Device) 224100, (CEA-
709 NID) NID.
The log_info line specifies the fields UID and name of the trend log object. The line
log_create has two fields specifying the date and time when this CSV log was generated.
The line log_capacity has two fields: the current number of log entries in the file and the
log capacity.
Following are one or more lines of log_item. Each line specifies a trended data point. The
first field is the index, the second the ID of the logged data point, the third the data point
name. The data point name can be augmented by engineering units in square brackets. Log
entries in the CSV refer to the item index to identify the data point, for which the entry was
logged.
#log_csv_ver;2
#log_device;LOYTEC;Product Code;Firmware Version;Device ID String; Serial No
#log_info;Log-ID;Log Name
#log_create;YYY-MM-DD;HH:MM:SS
#log_capacity;filled;capacity
#log_item;index;UID;data point name [units]
After those lines any number of comment lines starting with a hash character ‘#’ are
allowed. One line contains the column headings. Lines that are not comments specify one
log record per line, using the column information as described below. The columns are
separated by commas ‘,’ or semi-colons ‘;’. If commas are used as a separator, the decimal
point must be a point ‘.’. If semi-colons are used, the decimal point must be a comma ‘,’.
There are as many value columns as value sources specified in the header. If at a given
date/time more values are logged, all of them appear in the same line. If at that given time
some sources did not log values, those columns are left empty.
There are as many value columns as value sources specified in the header. If at a given
date/time more values are logged, all of them appear in the same line. If at that given time
some sources did not log values, those columns are left empty. The “Source” column in a
multi-value CSV refers to the first data source that supplied a value in a given line.
The UID is the unique ID of the alarm log object. The UID can be obtained from the ID
column in the data point list of the alarm log folder, similar to obtaining the UID of trend
log objects. For a more user-friendly listing of the files, the Alarmlogname contains the
alarm log’s object name. It is truncated after 23 ASCII characters to fit the requirements of
the file system. A trend CSV file for the alarm log object ‘alarmlog0’ and the UID ‘100C’
would result in the CSV file ‘/data/allog/alarmlog0_100C.csv’. The UID
remains constant for the life time of the object even when the name is changed.
The CSV format of the alarm log CSV file is identical to the trend log CSV format as
described in Section 7.1.2.
The first line of the file must contain a comment, starting with a hash character ‘#’
specifying the format version and import technology:
#dpal_csv_config;Version=1;Technology=CEA709
After that line any number of comment lines starting with a hash character ‘#’ are allowed.
Lines that are not comments specify one NV per line, using the column information as
described in Table 9. The columns are separated by commas ‘,’ or semi-colons ‘;’. Which
separator is used can be configured in the Web UI (see Section 4.2.1).
Node Object
nviRequest nvoStatus
nviFileReq nvoFileStat
nviFilePos nvoAlarm
nvoAlarm_2
For remote schedulers and calendars, nviSchedLink and nviCalLink NVs are created. For
alarm clients nviAlarm_2 NVs are created.
Object_Identifier BACnetObjectIdentifier R
Object_Name CharacterString R
Object_Type BACnetObjectType R
System_Status BACnetDeviceStatus R
Vendor_Name CharacterString R
Vendor_Identifier Unsigned16 R
Model_Name CharacterString R
Firmware_Revision CharacterString R
Application_Software_Version CharacterString R
Location CharacterString R
Description CharacterString R
Protocol_Version Unsigned R
Protocol_Revision Unsigned R
Protocol_Services_Supported BACnetServicesSupported R
Protocol_Object_Types_Supported BACnetObjectTypesSupported R
Object_List BACnetARRAY[N]of R
BACnetObjectIdentifier
Max_APDU_Length_Accepted Unsigned R
Segmentation_Supported BACnetSegmentation R
Max_Segments_Accepted Unsigned R
APDU_Segment_Timeout Unsigned R
APDU_Timeout Unsigned R
Number_Of_APDU_Retries Unsigned R
Max_Master Unsigned(1..127) R
Max_Info_Frames Unsigned R
Device_Address_Binding List of BACnetAddressBinding R
Database_Revision Unsigned R
Active_COV_Subscriptions List of BACnetCOVSubscription R
Profile_Name CharacterString R
Table 10: Properties of the Device Object
The “Object Type” part of the “Object_Identifier” is 8 (=device). The “Instance” part of
this property is configurable via the configuration UI (see Section 4.2.7). The default value
for the “Instance” part is 17800.
7.3.1.28 Profile_Name
The value of this property is “178-LGATE”.
The CSV file must be named “bacclnt.csv” and stored in the directory “/var/lib/bacnet” on
the L-Gate. The file is read when the device boots. If any errors occur they are reported in
“/tmp/bacclnt.err”.
The column format is shown in Table 11. Lines beginning with a hash (‘#’) sign are
comment lines. The example values in Table 11 setup a client mapping named “Lamp
Room 302”, which writes (mapping type 2) the present value of the local object AI,4 to the
remote object AO,1 on the device with the instance number 17801.
A Description Lamp Room 302 User-defined description of this client mapping. Can be
left empty. Don’t use commas or semi-colons in the
text!
B Local Object-Type AI The BACnet object type of the local server object (AI,
AO, AV, BI, BO, BV, MI, MO, MV)
C Local Object 4 The object instance number of the above object.
Instance Number
D Remote Device 17801 The device object instance number of the remote
Instance BACnet device
E Remote Object- AO The BACnet object type of the remote server object (AI,
Type AO, AV, BI, BO, BV, MI, MO, MV)
F Remote Object 1 The object instance number of the above object.
Instance Number
G Map Type 2 Defines the type of the mapping: 0=Poll, 1=COV,
2=Write
H Interval/ 8 Defines the poll interval in seconds for poll mappings
Priority and the COV lifetime in seconds for COV mappings.
For write mappings this defines the write priority
(1..16). Omit this field or set it to ‘-1’ to write w/o
priority.
Table 11: CSV Columns of the BACnet Client Mappings File
8 Network Media
8.1 FT
The L-Gate FT port is fully compatible to the parameters specified by LONMARK for this
channel. FT ports can also be used on Link Power (LP-10) channels. However, the L-Gate
does not provide the power supply for Link Power channels.
When using the Free Topology Segment feature of the FT, only one termination (Figure
113) is required and can be placed anywhere on the free topology segment. Instead of
building the termination, one can order the L-Term module (LT-33) from LOYTEC, which
can be used to properly terminate the bus.
52,3 Ω
+
100 µF, 50V
In a double terminated bus topology, two terminations are required (Figure 114). These
terminations need to be placed at each end of the bus. Here, also L-Term modules can be
used at either end.
Fehler! Es ist nicht möglich, durch die Bearbeitung von Feldfunktionen Objekte zu erstellen.
Figure 114: Termination in an FT Bus Topology
The L-Gate firmware supports remote upgrade over the network and the serial console.
To guarantee that the L-Gate is not destroyed due to a failed firmware update, the L-Gate
firmware consists of two images:
• L-Gate fallback image,
• L-Gate primary image.
The L-Gate fallback image cannot be changed. Thus, if the update of the primary image
fails or the image is destroyed by some other means, the fallback image is booted and
allows to reinstall a valid primary image.
When the L-Gate boots up with the fallback image, the CEA-709 port LED and the
STATUS LED are flashing red.
1. Start the L-Gate Configurator from the Windows Start menu: Start Æ Programs Æ
LOYTEC L-Gate Configuratior Æ Configure L-Gate.
2. Select the menu: Connection Æ Connect via FTP. This opens the FTP connection
dialog as shown in Figure 115.
3. In the FTP connection dialog enter the IP address of the device to upgrade and the FTP
user name and password. The default user name and password are ‘admin’ and
‘admin’. This can be changed via the Web interface (see Section 4.1) and reset via the
console UI (see Section 10.2.2).
4. Click on Connect.
6. This opens the Firmware Update dialog as shown in Figure 116. Click on the button
“…” and select the firmware image (“lgate900_3_1_0.dl”).
8. Observe the download progress. When the download is complete the dialog shown in
Figure 117 appears.
9. Click Ok.
Please make sure that the L-Gate console shows the main menu otherwise navigate to the
main menu or simply reset the L-Gate.
1. Double click on the *.dlc file that comes with the new firmware package. This should
start the LSU Tool and load the firmware image referenced in the dlc file. Please note
that the dlc file and the dl file must be stored in the same folder. The start window of
the LSU tool is shown in Figure 118.
2. If the L-Gate is not connected to COM1 you can change the port to COM2, COM3, or
COM4. Make sure that the product shown under “Product” matches the device you are
upgrading. Press Download to start the download. A progress bar as shown in Figure
119 can be seen.
4. Double check that the new firmware is executed by selecting ‘1’ and pressing Enter in
the console window. This will bring up the device information which shows the
current firmware version.
10 Troubleshooting
email : support@loytec.com
web : http://www.loytec.com
tel : +43/1/4020805-100
fax : +43/1/4020805-99
or
Email: support@loytec-americas.com
web: http://www.loytec-americas.com
tel: +1/512/402 5319
fax: +1/972/243 6886
Please choose:
Figure 121: Console Main Menu.
[q] Quit
Please choose:
Figure 122: Reset to Factory Defaults Menu.
Select option ‘1’ to reset the entire device to factory defaults (including error log,
configuration files, passwords etc.). Select option ‘3’ to reset all passwords (Web interface,
FTP server etc.) to factory defaults.
Select option ‘4’ to clear all configured data points, such as CEA-709 network variables or
user registers. This effectively clears the entire port configuration. The device must be
rebooted to let the changes take effect.
[q] Quit
Please choose:
Figure 123: Device Statistics Menu on the Console.
10.2.3.1 IP statistics
A sample console output is shown in Figure 124.
The IP statistics menu has the additional feature of displaying any IP address conflicts. If
the device’s IP address conflicts with another host on the network, the banner shown in
Figure 125 is displayed.
WARNING: Conflicting IP address detected!
IP address 10.125.123.95 also used by device with MAC address
00 04 5A CC 10 41!
As useful information, the MAC address of the conflicting host is shown. If the information
about this conflict shall be cleared, enter ‘y’. If ‘n’ is selected, the conflict will show up
again the next time this menu is entered.
11 Application Notes
12 Firmware Versions
Table 12 shows the most important features available only in certain firmware versions.
Firmware Version/
Features
1.0.0
1.1.0
1.2.0
3.0.0
3.1.0
3.2.0
CEA-709/BACnet gateway √ √ √ √ √ √
BACnet Network Scan - √ √ √ √ √
CEA-709 Network Scan - √ √ √ √ √
UNVTs, SCPTs - - √ √ √ √
XML configuration - - - √ √ √
Scheduler - - - √ √ √
Trendlog - - - √ √ √
Alarming (Intrinsic Reporting) - - - √ √ √
E-Mail - - - √ √ √
L-Gate Backup/Restore configuration - - - - √ √
Default, Persistent Values - - - - √ √
Math Objects & Registers - - - - √ √
Schedule/Write parts of NVs - - - - √ √
Next state (SNVT_tod_event) - - - - √ √
Embedded calendar - - - - √ √
Min/max/average trends (CEA-709) - - - - √ √
BACnet BBMD - - - - √ √
Map all BACnet Properties - - - - √ √
CEA-709 Self-Installation - - - - √ √
LWEB-801 Support - - - - - √
Run-time Configuration - - - - - √
Table 12: Available Features depending on Firmware Version
13 Specifications
13.1 LGATE-900
13.1.1 Physical Specifications
Operating Voltage 12-35 VDC or 12-24 VAC ±10%
BACnet trend log objects 100 (total aggregated size of 130000 log records
or roughly 2MB.
Alarm logs 10
Connections 1000
14 Revision History