Slides from a Q&A Webinar with Tony Marshallsay, CME at Omrania. We take a deep dive into how we can Improve Networking in Building Management Systems by taking IPv6 to the Edge.

1. REAL IP to the Edge
Why don’t we have it?

2. What I hope you will learn
• A little history
• Why present Building Automation Systems (BAS) are the way they are
• What the consequence is
• A jumble of proprietary, semi-open and open hardware and software
• Why that’s preventing the IoT from taking off
• By putting slush puddles all along the runway
• How this problem could be solved
• Provided everyone is willing to help shovel away the slush

3. A little history

4. It all really began with the silicon chip (IC)
• It shrank
• Cost
• Size
• Implementation time
• So BAS wasn’t just for heavy industry anymore
• Many companies – existing and startup – jumped on the bandwagon
• And they all did their own thing
• Lashing up systems to meet clients’ requirements
• Eventually ending up with stuff that worked pretty well for the time

5. But because it “just growed”…
• Everyone protected their trade secrets
• So everyone ended up with hardware that was more or less different
• Unless they all “badge engineered” gear from the guys who knew how to do it good
enough and cheap enough
• And everyone ended up with software (programming languages) and
firmware (DIP switches, jumpers etc.) that was even more different
• So you could forget about having a conversation between your gear and someone else’s
• And trying to match up voltages, balanced & unbalanced lines etc. was REAL
fun
• Especially if the controls and hardware were both 48V DC, but one was negative ground
and the other positive!

6. However, eventually
• BAS suppliers did start talking to one another
• Even if VERY grudgingly
• They did start to arrange for exchange of information between their
systems
• Usually in a pretty cumbersome way
• But it was amazing what you could do with ASCII text files and “quick and dirty” BASIC
programming
• And “Industry Standard” and “Open” data protocols emerged
• But getting them adopted has been like pulling wisdom teeth

7. What the consequence is

8. Welcome to the Jumble
• BAS suppliers would like to entice you into their clutches, then lock
you in with:
• Proprietary hardware with “MUCH better performance”
• Proprietary software which is “MUCH easier to program”
• Extensive O&M add-on packages with “MANY more features”
• But they can’t, because:
• Equipment manufacturers want to use their own controls
• There maybe someone else’s controls already there
• The Client’s Architect wants a special all-singing, all-dancing “Son et Lumière”
water feature in the atrium with its own special controls

9. So…
• Most BAS* are conglomerations of equipment and controls from
various sources [* No “s”, because it’s plural too!]
• And getting all the bits to talk to one another and to the Central Control and
Monitoring System (CCMS) can make handover of a complete system look as
if it’s fading into the distance
• The problems have been reduced by
• Consolidation of the BAS market to fewer suppliers, and
• Uptake of open protocol systems
• But there’s still a LOT of interfacing required
• And the IoT won’t be able to live with that

10. What’s preventing the IoT from
taking off

11. In a word: Slush
• The problem is the interfacing
• Each interface in a BAS slows it down
• Like puddles of slush on an aircraft runway
• Or a string of long jump sand pits on the course of a marathon
• But the IoT will have VERY MANY more devices than today’s BAS
• So there will be VERY MUCH more traffic
• And the network will have to run VERY MUCH faster to prevent gridlock
• So, we have to get rid of the slush
• Otherwise the people who have been sold on the wonders of the IoT will be
sorely disappointed when it doesn’t perform as expected

12. What is the slush?
• It’s data processing overhead
• It’s necessary for conversion of measured analog values from sensors to
digital data
• And it’s necessary when every smart device connected to a data bus has to
“sniff” every passing packet to check the delivery address and ask “Is it for
me?”
• It shouldn’t be necessary for transferring data between different sections of a
BAS network
• But presently it is, because different sections use different data protocols
• So protocol translation has to happen at the interfaces

13. How big a problem is it?
• VERY BIG!
• To show just how big, we’ll compare the transfer of information about an
analog sensor on the fringe of a BAS network to the Operator Work Station
(OWS) with the journey of a group of football fans to a special match
If you’re in UK, imagine they are Liverpool supporters from North Wales going by train to
watch a cup match in Paris (this is what you’ll see on the map)
If you’re in USA, imagine they’re Dallas Cowboys supporters from South Texas flying to
watch an exhibition match in Paris
• Please download the accompanying PDF description (which includes a place
name conversion chart for folk in USA), so you can follow the journey

14. How the problem could be solved

15. The next slide shows two schematic maps
• The upper one represents both sensor value transmission in a typical
BAS network and the way the football fans would travel on the UK rail
network and the Eurostar link to France
• The lower one shows what would be the difference if, instead of
multiple data protocols, each with its own addressing system, the IoT
used only one universal protocol and the common IPv6 address
system needed for the huge number of IoT devices
• The difference will, I hope, convince you of the need for REAL IP to
the Edge
NOTE: Colors on the maps match the description highlights

17. Look at it another way

18. See the Difference
BAS Operations
A-D
Process
Pack/Unpack
Wrap/Unwrap
Add/Read Tag
Send
NOP
IUP Operations
A-D
Process
Pack/Unpack
Wrap/Unwrap
Add/Read Tag
Send
NOP

19. What the pie charts show
• The pie charts are based on a comparison of operations carried out in
each type of system
• Where the BAS requires an operation but IUP doesn’t, IUP show NOP
– No Operation
• The pie charts show clearly that REAL IP to the Edge saves more
than 50% of the operations
• And if you reckon in encryption to stop hacking, the improvement is
even bigger:

20. With encryption you save nearly 60%
IUP Operations with Encryption
A-D
Process
Encrypt/Decrypt
Pack/Unpack
Wrap/Unwrap
Add/Read Tag
Send
NOP
BAS Operations with Encryption
A-D
Process
Encrypt/Decrypt
Pack/Unpack
Wrap/Unwrap
Add/Read Tag
Send
NOP

21. Think about it
But not for too long