BACnet Connector Configuration

• Section “general”: description and configuration parameters
  • Device object settings
    • Key settings for “attributes”
    • Key settings for “timeseries”
    • Key settings for “attributeUpdates”
    • Key settings for “serverSideRpc”
  • Object identifiers
  • Property identifiers
• Next steps

The BACnet connector is a way to read and write some basic objects and properties in BACnet IP device. Use general configuration to enable this connector.
We will describe connector configuration file below.

{
  "general": {
    "objectName": "TB_gateway",
    "address": "192.168.188.181:1052",
    "objectIdentifier": 599,
    "maxApduLengthAccepted": 1024,
    "segmentationSupported": "segmentedBoth",
    "vendorIdentifier": 15
  },
  "devices": [
    {
      "deviceName": "BACnet Device ${objectName}",
      "deviceType": "default",
      "address": "192.168.188.181:10520",
      "pollPeriod": 10000,
      "attributes": [
        {
          "key": "temperature",
          "objectId": "analogOutput:1",
          "propertyId": "presentValue"
        }
      ],
      "timeseries": [
        {
          "key": "state",
          "objectId": "binaryValue:1",
          "propertyId": "presentValue"
        }
      ],
      "attributeUpdates": [
        {
          "key": "brightness",
          "requestType": "writeProperty",
          "objectId": "analogOutput:1",
          "propertyId": "presentValue"
        }
      ],
      "serverSideRpc": [
        {
          "method": "set_state",
          "requestType": "writeProperty",
          "requestTimeout": 10000,
          "objectId": "binaryOutput:1",
          "propertyId": "presentValue"
        },
        {
          "method": "get_state",
          "requestType": "readProperty",
          "requestTimeout": 10000,
          "objectId": "binaryOutput:1",
          "propertyId": "presentValue"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Section “general”: description and configuration parameters

Configuration in this section uses to configure the gateway in the BACnet network.

Example:

  "general": {
    "objectName": "TB_gateway",
    "address": "192.168.188.181:1052",
    "objectIdentifier": 599,
    "maxApduLengthAccepted": 1024,
    "segmentationSupported": "segmentedBoth",
    "vendorIdentifier": 15
  },

Device object settings

This configuration contains common connection parameters and settings for data processing.
Available parameters are as follows:

Example:

  "devices": [
    {
      "deviceName": "BACnet Device ${objectName}",
      "deviceType": "default",
      "address": "192.168.188.181:10520",
      "pollPeriod": 10000,

Key settings for “attributes”

Configuration in this sub-section units provides settings for processing data from BACnet device as attribute of device on ThingsBoard platform instance.

Example:

      "attributes": [
        {
          "key": "temperature",
          "objectId": "analogOutput:1",
          "propertyId": "presentValue"
        }
      ],

Key settings for “timeseries”

Configuration in this sub-section units provides settings for processing data from BACnet device as a telemetry of device on ThingsBoard platform instance.

Example:

      "timeseries": [
        {
          "key": "state",
          "objectId": "binaryValue:1",
          "propertyId": "presentValue"
        }
      ],

Key settings for “attributeUpdates”

Configuration in this sub-section units provides settings for processing data from shared attributes on ThingsBoard platform instance to the BACnet device.

Example:

      "attributeUpdates": [
        {
          "key": "brightness",
          "requestType": "writeProperty",
          "objectId": "analogOutput:1",
          "propertyId": "presentValue"
        }
      ],

Key settings for “serverSideRpc”

Configuration in this sub-section units provides settings for processing RPC from ThingsBoard instance to the BACnet device.

Examples:

      "serverSideRpc": [
        {
          "method": "set_state",
          "requestType": "writeProperty",
          "requestTimeout": 30,
          "objectId": "binaryOutput:1",
          "propertyId": "presentValue"
        },
        {
          "method": "get_state",
          "requestType": "readProperty",
          "requestTimeout": 30,
          "objectId": "binaryOutput:1",
          "propertyId": "presentValue"
        }
      ]

Object identifiers

The BACnet connector Object identifiers consist of two parts separated by colon (“:”) symbol:
the name of object and the number of this object on the device.

Tested and supported objects:

Objects in testing:

• accumulatorObject
• averagingObject
• calendarObject
• commandObject
• fileObject
• lifeSafetyPointObject
• lifeSafetyZoneObject
• loopObject
• multiStateInputObject
• multiStateOutputObject
• multiStateValueObject
• notificationClassObject
• programObject
• pulseConverterObject
• scheduleObject
• structuredViewObject
• trendLogObject

Property identifiers

Property identifiers depend on type of the BACnet object, provided in camelCase, e.g. presentValue objectName objectDescription etc.

Next steps

Explore guides related to main ThingsBoard features:

• Data Visualization - how to visualize collected data.
• Device attributes - how to use device attributes.
• Telemetry data collection - how to collect telemetry data.
• Using RPC capabilities - how to send commands to/from devices.
• Rule Engine - how to use rule engine to analyze data from devices.