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Communication is becoming increasingly important for measuring devices in homes and industrial facilities. This is especially true for remote retrieval of information from meters. In addition, the new EU standard «Energy Efficiency in Buildings» (prEN15232) requires that the customer be able to monitor and manage their energy consumption at any time.
To meet these requirements, the FIGAWA association, which includes more than 1,000 different manufacturers of water, heat and gas meters, has decided to adopt the KNX RF (Radio Frequency) data transmission technology as a standard for building and home automation.
Designers, constructors and engineers servicing metering systems with remote monitoring capabilities are increasingly faced with the challenges associated with different communication technologies, protocols and data transmission environments. This is especially true when expanding and modifying existing systems. To overcome these challenges, manufacturers have formulated clear criteria for standards applicable in homes and buildings.
Products of the KNX standard meet these criteria and allow one single receiving device to receive both protocol telegrams: M-Bus and KNX.
There are specific standards for building automation system technology. Today, KNX is the only internationally recognized standard for building and home automation system technology. It meets the requirements of both European standards (CENELEC EN50090 and CEN EN 13321-1) as well as the international standard ISO/IEC 14543-3.
The standard provides the possibility of both wired (twisted pair, powerline, IP/Ethernet) and wireless communication (radio frequency 868 MHz – KNX RF), which is based on the ISO-OSI model. The physical layer and the link layer for KNX meters are consistent with the relevant sections of the EN 13757 (M-Bus) standard.
When designing, it is necessary to choose the right radio frequency range. In Europe, the frequency range from 868 MHz to 870 MHz is used for short-distance communication in the home. Therefore, this frequency range should also be used for KNX meters for short-distance signal transmission. Due to the limited range, it is not recommended to use frequencies exceeding 1 GHz in the building, therefore, in contrast to the frequency of 868 MHz, at a frequency of 2.4 GHz, one should expect an additional attenuation of the signal by 15-40 dB (attenuation of 40 dB means that the signal power at the receiving location will be ten thousand times lower).
The previously mentioned FIGAWA association recommends the use of the KNX standard as an international standard for building and home automation system technology for all data transmission media: twisted pair, electrical wiring (Powerline), radio channel and IP protocol.
An analysis of the application results shows that different industrial sectors with different goals, approaches and target groups can work together very well. This cooperation between companies and the new possibilities for monitoring energy consumption data using the already established KNX standard will further strengthen its success. The first KNX meters were already presented at the ISH 2007.
For reference: The KNX Association is the founder and owner of the KNX technology – an open standard for use in the field of automated building management and home automation: from lighting control and blind control to regulation of security systems, heating, ventilation, cooling, control, alarms, water supply, energy management, electricity meters and household appliances, etc.
KNX is a standard for home and building management systems with uniform commissioning tools for all manufacturers and products, as well as a full range of different data transmission media (twisted pair, PL, RF and IP) and configuration types (for system, simple and automatic mode).
The technology is recognized by the European (CENELEC EN 50090 and CEN EN 13321-1) and international standard (ISO/IEC 14543-3). It is based on 15 years of experience of the founders of KNX, the EIB, EHS and BatiBUS organizations.
Currently, there are more than 100 member companies of the association and almost 7,000 groups of certified KNX products in the world. The KNX Association has already concluded partnership agreements with more than 21,000 installation companies in almost 70 countries. |
