www.bacnetinternational.org Ver. 1.

Introduction to BACnet
For Building Owners and Engineers

Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of
BACnet history, terminology and philosophy for building
owners, managers and others involved with BACnet projects.
The document provides an introduction to the topic of BACnet
but it is not a comprehensive description of BACnet and it is
not a product or system implementation guide.
 www.bacnetinternational.org Ver. 1.0

Introduction to BACnet
For Building Owners and Engineers

Table of Contents
Briefly, What is BACnet? ................................................................................................................... 1
BACnet History.............................................................................................................................................. 1
Purpose of BACnet ....................................................................................................................................... 1
BACnet Overview................................................................................................................................ 3
Devices ............................................................................................................................................................ 3
Device Interoperability ............................................................................................................................... 3
Objects ............................................................................................................................................................. 4
Properties ....................................................................................................................................................... 4
Services ........................................................................................................................................................... 4
Transport Systems ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Network Types ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Network Type Caveats ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Interoperability Areas....................................................................................................................... 7
Data Sharing................................................................................................................................................... 7
BACnet Priority .................................................................................................................................................... 8
Change Of Value (COV) ..................................................................................................................................... 8
Trending.......................................................................................................................................................... 8
Scheduling ...................................................................................................................................................... 9
Alarm & Event Management................................................................................................................... 10
Device & Network Management ............................................................................................................ 10
Specifying Interoperability with BACnet ................................................................................... 11
Protocol Implementation and Conformance Statement (PICS) .................................................... 11
BACnet Interoperability Building Blocks (BIBBs) ............................................................................ 12
BACnet Listing ............................................................................................................................................ 13
BACnet Terminology ....................................................................................................................... 14
BACnet International Contact Information ...............................................................................20

Every effort has been made to assure that the content of this guide is accurate. However it is
not a reference document. The definitive document is the BACnet standard.

© Copyright 2014 BACnet International

Briefly, What is BACnet? with wide support and adoption worldwide by a
constantly growing number of manufacturers whose
products serve the building automation and related
BACnet®, short for “Building Automation Control markets.
Network”, is a data communication protocol for
building automation and control networks. BACnet is Purpose of BACnet
both an international (ISO) and ANSI standard for BACnet is a standard data communication protocol
interoperability between cooperating building that enables interoperability between different
automation devices. building systems and devices in building automation
and control applications. The term “interoperability”
BACnet History has a variety of meanings from simple information
Originally developed in 1987 under the auspices of the exchange, to deeper integration, to complete and
American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air- complex interoperation between component devices
conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), BACnet has been an and systems. While BACnet does not enable "plug and
ANSI standard since 1995 and an ISO standard since play" device interchangeability, BACnet provides the
2003. BACnet is a registered trademark of ASHRAE. means for many kinds of basic and complex
interoperations to take place using standardized
techniques that have proven to be flexible and robust
in over 15 years of practice in tens of millions of
devices. BACnet does not replace the need for DDC or
control logic and does not attempt to standardize how
devices are programmed.
BACnet was developed, and is under continuous
maintenance, using an open consensus process where BACnet offers a flexible range of networking options
any and all interested parties are welcome and may including the use of Ethernet or IP-centric
participate without fees. infrastructure and a simple, low cost twisted pair
communication called MS/TP that is based on EIA-
485. A sophisticated routing capability allows scaling
of BACnet internetworks into large and efficient
systems, all within the same unified standard.

BACnet uses an object-oriented model for abstracting

and representing information. BACnet includes 54
standard objects that cover many common and
Figure 1: BACnet is a consensus standard developed with all generally useful applications. In addition, there is a
stakeholders represented at the table. mechanism for implementers to create and use their
ASHRAE (an ANSI-certified standards-body) oversees own non-standard objects that can be easily
the standards activities and assures a balanced roster interoperable with other devices that choose to use
of voting members representing manufacturers, them. This extensibility is free and guaranteed to be
owners, consulting engineers, academia, government safe against unintended interference from other
and general interest. This long history and open devices’ proprietary extensions. The object-based
process has resulted in an extremely strong standard model has been proven to be both robust and reliable

© Copyright 2014 BACnet International

while providing a high degree of backward and BACnet currently employs a rigorous classification
forward compatibility. methodology for defining device capabilities. This
allows vendors to publish the specific capabilities of
their BACnet devices using standard terms and format,
and for building owners and project specifiers to
define their requirements for BACnet devices.

A global, independent third party testing and listing

program for BACnet devices has been established. The
BACnet Testing Laboratories (BTL) is managed under
Figure 2: BACnet provides a collection of objects manufacturers
can combine to build devices tailored to specific applications.
auspices of BACnet International. BTL awards the “BTL
Mark” to devices that are shown to be tested according
BACnet also has an extensive application services to ASHRAE Standard 135.1, the companion test
model that provides many types of useful services that standard to BACnet.
implementers may elect to support in their devices.
These services are grouped into the following logical
areas: object access, alarm and event management,
scheduling, trending, files, device and network
management.
Figure 3: The BTL Mark on products assures users that they
In the increasingly important area of enterprise
have been independently tested according to
integration, BACnet has made a specific effort to define industry standard test requirements.
and standardize a suite of Web Services that provide
enterprise applications with well-defined access to BTL requires the use of a single testing methodology
building automation information. In addition, regardless of the specific organization performing the
initiatives have been undertaken to define XML tests. Various third party companies also offer test-
schema for BACnet-oriented information. related tools, services and consultation independent of
Strong network security is of particular interest for device manufacturers.
applications in security and access control, some
specific types of physical venues, and applications that
use the public Internet. BACnet includes provisions for
a very strong network security layer that address the
needs of these kinds of applications.

© Copyright 2014 BACnet International

BACnet Overview products available in each of these categories: fire,
security, lighting, HVAC, elevators, etc.

BACnet addresses the goal of interoperability by

The BACnet data communication protocol defines
defining a generalized model of how automation
standard methods that manufacturers can implement
devices work, a method for describing the information
to make components and systems that can be
that they contain, and a method for describing
interoperable with other BACnet components and
protocols that one device can use to ask another device
systems.
to perform some desired action.

Figure 6: BACnet addresses interoperability at all levels of

device communication architecture.

Figure 4: The BACnet Standard was developed and is currently

extended and maintained by the ASHRAE SSPC 135 committee Devices
commCommittee
A BACnet device is often comprised of a
Building owners and system specifiers can also use
microprocessor-based controller and software
BACnet as a tool for the specification of interoperable
combination that is designed to understand and use
systems.
the BACnet protocol. A BACnet device is typically a
BACnet does not replace the need for specifying what a controller, gateway, or user interface. Every BACnet
user wants or needs. It simply provides some device contains a device object that defines certain
standardized tools to help enable the creation and device information, including the device object
specification of systems that can interoperate. identifier or instance number. A BACnet device object
instance number must be field-configurable to be
unique across the entire BACnet network where the
device in installed. For brevity this number is often
called the device instance. In addition to the device
instance, each BACnet device contains a collection of
information about the device and any input and output
points that it monitors and controls. The collection of
information frequently includes control programs and
Figure 5: The BACnet Standard addresses integration across a
broad range of building systems. logic as well as data values.

BACnet includes but is not limited to HVAC Device Interoperability

applications. It is intended to apply to all types of
BACnet divides the task of device interoperability into
automated building systems. There are interoperable
three distinct areas: Objects (information), Services

© Copyright 2014 BACnet International

(action requests), and Transport systems
Properties
(internetworking, electronic messages). BACnet
defines methods and requirements for implementation A BACnet property conveys information about a
of each of these areas. BACnet object. Objects have a collection of properties,
based on the function and purpose of the object. Each
Objects property contains two pieces of information: a
property identifier and the property’s value. Property
All information within an interoperable BACnet device Identifiers are numbers that uniquely identify a given
is modeled in terms of one or more information property in the context of the Object type. Properties
objects. Each object represents some important may be defined as read-only or read/write. A
component of the device, or some collection of property’s purpose is to allow other BACnet devices to
information that may be of interest to other BACnet read information about the object containing the
devices. Objects may represent single pieces of property, and potentially write (change) a different
information, or a collection of multiple pieces of value to the property. Depending on the type of object
information such as a logical grouping. Objects that the property belongs to, particular object
represent either physical or virtual information, such properties may be optional or required for
as analog and binary inputs and outputs, control implementation per the BACnet standard. For each
algorithms, specific applications, and calculations.

The BACnet standard defines 54 different standard

object types. The implementation of a given device
may make use of arbitrary combinations of these
standard object types to represent information and Figure 7: BACnet Objects include properties that define their
capabilities, operation and related data
control logic that are relevant to the device’s specific
application. Standard object types are useful because standard BACnet object type, the BACnet standard
their meaning and application are well defined and defines which properties are required and which are
their components consistently implemented from one optional. Objects may also contain properties that are
device to another. The BACnet standard also allows for non-standard or proprietary.
the creation of non-standard or proprietary objects for
which interoperability with other vendors may not be Services
as consistent.
BACnet services are formal requests that one BACnet
Each object is identified with an object identifier. An device sends to another BACnet device to ask it to do
object identifier is a 32-bit binary number containing a something.
code for the object type and the object instance
Services are grouped into five categories of
number. In addition, every object, no matter its
functionality – object access (read, write, create,
purpose or function, has a collection of properties that
delete); device management (discover, time
define the object. Each property includes at least a
synchronization, initialize, backup and restore
name and a value.
database); alarm and event (alarms and changes of
state); file transfer (trend data, program transfer); and
virtual terminal (human machine interface via
prompts and menus). The service defines each request,

© Copyright 2014 BACnet International

and any parameters that need to be conveyed in the BACnet over LonTalk Foreign Frames
request and its reply. BACnet over ZigBee
The model of objects and services is realized by The network types encompass the physical and
encoding messages into a stream of numeric codes that datalink layers of the protocol. This combination of
represent the desired functions or services to be physical and datalink layers is often called the MAC
performed. The "language" of this encoding is common (Medium Access Control) layer.
to all BACnet devices. BACnet devices exchange
A BACnet message itself is independent of the MAC
information and do things by sending and receiving
layer used to transport the message.
electronic messages containing this coded language.
BACnet provides flexibility by allowing multiple types Therefore, in BACnet, messages to command or
of transport systems to be used to convey these coded monitor information are the same, no matter which
messages between devices. MAC layer used for transport.

Transport Systems A BACnet router is used to join multiple network types.

A BACnet router is a device that links dissimilar
The transport system uses different types of electronic
messaging standards and methods to convey coded
messages. Even though different transport methods
are used, the coded message content remains the same.
This philosophy allows the designer or specifier to
choose the most cost-effective transport method for a Figure 9: BACnet allows for routers to connect various network
given application. types. Routers can be standalone devices or can be built into
automation controllers.
network types (e.g., BACnet/IP to MS/TP, BACnet
8802-3 to ARCNET) and passes BACnet messages
among the network types without changing or
disturbing the message content.

Figure 8: BACnet provides multiple message transport

options to meet the needs of different applications
Network Type Caveats
Network Types BACnet/IP
The 2012 BACnet standard defines seven network This MAC type is commonly used with existing
types, which serve as the transport for BACnet Ethernet infrastructure, VLAN and WAN networks.
messages. The seven supported network types are: Devices plug directly into Ethernet switches or hubs.
This is a fast and high performance type of LAN, but
BACnet/IP also the most expensive. BACnet/IP uses UDP/IP for
BACnet MS/TP (Master-Slave/Token Passing) compatibility with existing IP infrastructure. When
BACnet ISO 8802-3 (Ethernet) BACnet/IP is used with multiple IP subnets, then
special additional device functionality called BACnet
BACnet over ARCNET
Broadcast Management Devices (BBMDs) are required
BACnet Point-to-Point (EIA-232 and Telephone) to manage inter-subnet BACnet broadcast messages.

© Copyright 2014 BACnet International

BACnet MS/TP BACnet Point-to-Point
This LAN type uses EIA-485 twisted pair for signaling This MAC type is only used over dial-up telephone
up to 4000 feet. It is the most popular type of BACnet networks. The direct EIA-232 connection style is
LAN for unitary and application-specific controllers, generally no longer used in favor of direct Ethernet
and is also the lowest cost. connection.

BACnet over LonTalk Foreign Frames

BACnet allows the transport component of LonTalk to
be used to carry BACnet messages. However, the two
protocols are not interoperable.

BACnet over ZigBee

This MAC is a wireless mesh network generally used
Figure 10: Standard twisted pair wiring is one of the options with very low-cost devices. It is typically used as a
supported by BACnet gateway to ZigBee devices and not as a native BACnet
BACnet ISO 8802-3 (Ethernet) transport.
BACnet can be used directly with Ethernet 8802-3
networks. This MAC type is comparable to BACnet/IP
in terms of cost and speed, but limited to a single
physical infrastructure that does not make use of IP
routers.

BACnet over ARCNET

This MAC type has two forms: 2.5Mbs coax, and
156Kbs over EIA-485. The ARC156K form has a
modest increase in performance compared to MS/TP
for a slight cost difference. A limited number of
vendors support BACnet using ARCNET. Figure 11: ZigBee is one of the wireless networks
supported by BACnet

© Copyright 2014 BACnet International

Interoperability Areas A WriteProperty request allows a client device to write
to (possibly changing) a property of an object in the
server device. If two or more clients write to the same
Using the concepts of devices, objects, properties, and property of the same object in the same device, then
services, BACnet provides functional capabilities the most recent write takes effect.
referred to as “Interoperability Areas.” There are five
In situations where there is a need to synchronize the
Interoperability Areas: Data Sharing, Trending,
actions of multiple clients potentially writing to the
Scheduling, Alarm & Event Management, and Device &
same property, implementers may elect to use a
Network Management. These Interoperability Areas
command prioritization mechanism. In this case, the
are defined by BACnet Interoperability Building Blocks
write property request will be accompanied by a
(BIBBs), which are discussed in the Specifying
command priority from 1 to 16 where 1 is most
Interoperability with BACnet section later in this
important and 16 is least important. If the command
document.
priority is absent from a write request, it defaults to 16
(least important). If a command priority is provided to
Data Sharing an object that does not support prioritization, then the
Data Sharing is the exchange of information between priority is ignored.
BACnet devices. It may be uni-directional or bi-
directional. Interoperability in this area permits the A commandable object usually has one property, often
collection of data for archival storage, graphics, and the Present_Value property, which benefits from this
reports, the sharing of common sensor or calculated special behavior.
values between devices, the carrying out of interlocked
Additionally, a commandable object has two special
control strategies, and the modification of setpoints or
properties: Priority_Array and Relinquish_Default.
other operational parameters of BACnet objects. When a new value is written to a commandable
Present_Value at priority X, that new value is recorded
in the Xth slot in the Priority_Array. After the value is
recorded, the Priority_Array is examined from slot 1 to
16 (in decreasing order of importance). The value
contained in first non-empty slot is then used to set the
commandable Present_Value property. Values
associated with less important (lower priority) writes
are still saved in the Priority_Array. When a client no
longer requires control of the commandable object, it
relinquishes control at the priority level it had
Figure 12: BACnet enables data sharing among different types previously written by writing a special null or empty
of devices from a broad set of suppliers
value to that priority. After control is relinquished, the
In Data Sharing, a client device requests data from a Priority_Array is again examined for the lowest (most
server device, and may also send control commands to important) non-empty slot. If all 16 slots of the
the server. Typical Data Sharing requests that a client Priority_Array are empty, then the special property
will make to a server are ReadProperty and Relinquish_Default’s value is used to set the
WriteProperty. commandable Present_Value property.

© Copyright 2014 BACnet International

BACnet Priority change that is required for notification. After the
As a rule, a given BACnet “site” may use its own unique subscription is accepted, the server device itself
interpretation of the meaning for each priority level as watches the object property. If the value changes by
long as those meanings are consistent throughout that more than the trigger amount since the last reported
location. However, BACnet recommends the following value, then the server issues a COV Notification
standard priority-level meanings that should be used message that reports the change. In this way, only
unless there is a compelling reason not to: changing values get reported, thus saving a lot of
network traffic. But COV is not a substitute for reading
1. Manual Life-Safety values. When the client tries to make a subscription,
2. Automatic Life-Safety the server may not be able to accept it. Servers
3. Available typically have a limited number of subscriptions
available and they may all be in use. The client must
4. Available
fall back to using a ReadProperty in that case. Once
5. Critical Equipment Control subscribed, if the client has not seen a change
6. Minimum On/Off notification for “a while” it may be because the value
7. Available hasn’t changed, or because the notification has not
8. Manual Operator been able to reach the client due to traffic, router
congestion and other causes. So clients must
9. Available
periodically re-subscribe in order to keep values from
10. Available becoming stale, and to keep using the subscription
11. Available resource.
12. Available
13. Available Trending
14. Available Trending allows BACnet devices to enable trend
15. Available collection and request trend data from other BACnet
devices. Although it is possible to use ReadProperty or
16. Available (Default)
COV methods to sample data periodically from a
Change Of Value (COV) central location, these techniques do not scale very
well. As the number of sampled data points gets larger,
In the simplest cases, data sharing uses reading and
more and more data must be brought back to the
writing of object property values to exchange
central location within the sample interval. In BACnet,
information between devices. However, when a large
rather than having the central location gather the
number of values are exchanged frequently, a side
accumulated trend data, the burden of sampling is
effect is that a lot of traffic must occur on the network
distributed into multiple devices.
to carry the back and forth exchanges. In many cases
values don’t actually change very often so this Trend Log objects manage the sampling of data at
continuous updating wastes available network time some interval, and the storing the data samples
exchanging values that haven’t changed since the last themselves. The Trend Log uses COV (when possible)
time they were sent. One way to mitigate this traffic is to attempt to sample data from a monitored object
to use a Change Of Value (COV) scheme. With COV, the property, falling back to ReadProperty when
client subscribes to the server device that contains the necessary. A supervisory client or workstation may
value of interest and indicates a minimum amount of
8

© Copyright 2014 BACnet International

periodically check the Trend Log and read its data in day. The Schedule also has an Effective_Period that
bulk. Alternatively the Trend Log can send a special specifies when it should be used.
EventNotification after some number of samples or
when the Trend Log starts to near its capacity. This Although the Weekly_Schedule may suffice for most
signals the supervisory device to come and collect the days, if there are special days or a period where a
trend data. different schedule is needed, that is accommodated by
an Exception_Schedule. BACnet calls these special
Some Trend Log implementations can only trend events which are themselves an ordered list of
(sample) data from object properties of objects in the (activedays, time values, priority). The activedays may
same device as the Trend Log object (so-called internal reference a Calendar so that the special event is only
trending). Other implementations in client devices may
also be able to communicate outside of the device to
sample data from objects in other devices (external
trending).

Scheduling
Scheduling allows BACnet devices to establish and edit
schedules that reside in BACnet devices so that control
can be coordinated based on dates and times. BACnet
Calendar objects are used to indicate whether each day
is active or inactive according to that calendar. Device
Figure 13: BACnet provides robust scheduling mechanisms to
programs may look at the Calendar and decide to do support a broad set of building system requirements
something based on that status. Individual dates may
be specified, as well as ranges of dates. The date list valid on days when the Calendar is active. Alternatively
may also include WeekNDays which are (day-of-week, the special event may be active for a particular Date,
week-of-month, month) ordered lists. Individual parts Date Range or WeekNDay. The time values represent
of dates, date ranges and WeekNDays may include times on those days when the special event takes
special values for ANY. For example (Tuesday,2,ANY) precedence over any Weekly_Schedule that may be in
means the second Tuesday every month. These allow effect on that day and time. If more than one special
for powerful repeating schedules to be created that do event is scheduled for the same day and time, the
not have to be revised every month or year. EventPriority specifies their relative importance to
each other.
Schedule objects are based on the idea of time values
which are pairs (time,value) that specify a value to use Although device programs may monitor a Schedule
at a particular time. One way of thinking of BACnet object value to determine what to do from moment to
schedules is a variable value that changes at different moment, it is more common for the Schedule to write
times during each day. In its simplest form the to other object properties when the schedule value
Schedule object has a Weekly_Schedule which is an changes. The Schedule includes a list of references or
array of seven slots that correspond to the days of a bindings to other object properties that are written by
normal week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. Each the Schedule object. Some devices are only servers and
slot contains a list of time values to be used on that do not have the ability to write to objects except those
that reside in the same device as the schedule. These

© Copyright 2014 BACnet International

are called internal schedule devices. Devices that are The notifications may be prioritized and classified as
also clients may have the ability to write to object well.
properties in other BACnet devices. These kinds of
devices often can also provide external scheduling. Device & Network Management
Device & Network Management allows BACnet devices
Alarm & Event Management to discover other BACnet devices, discover objects
Alarm & Event Management defines the exchange of within devices, establish and re-establish
data based on pre-defined alarm limits or event communications, synchronize time, and re-initialize a
triggers. The event or alarm may require human device’s program.
intervention and acknowledgement. Alarms and events
may also be logged and summaries generated. In Binding is the process of establishing connections
BACnet, alarms and events are essentially the same. An between devices. One device needs to know the
object that detects an alarm uses an associated BACnet network segment and MAC address where
Notification Class object to determine if, when and another device is located. BACnet requires a unique
where the alarm should be reported. An one-to-one relationship between a given device
EventNotification message can be sent to one or more instance and a (network number, MAC address) pair. A
alarm recipients. device binding is the relationship between a device
instance and the (network,MAC) pair. Although device
Intrinsic Reporting means that a particular object has bindings can be created statically (by a human
alarm detection built in to the logic of the object itself. configuration), when there are many devices, this can
Algorithmic Reporting means that an Event Enrollment be a big maintenance challenge if network numbers or
object is used to do the detection by constant MAC addresses ever change. Typically devices only
monitoring of some other object and applying one of remember the device instance and perform dynamic
several standard algorithms (procedural rules) and device binding. Dynamic device binding requires the
parameters to detect the alarm. BACnet devices may use of BACnet Who-Is and I-Am services so that a client
use one or both mechanisms for alarm detection. can transmit a “Who-Is device X” request and then only
device instance X will reply with “I-Am device X”. The
For alarm detection, BACnet objects maintain an event reply contains the device’s current network number,
state, which is NORMAL, OFFNORMAL or FAULT. There MAC address and additional information (like Vendor
are several kinds of OFFNORMAL and FAULT ID). This allows devices to discover each other
conditions that can occur. The Notification Class object dynamically.
is a dispatcher that evaluates the alarm transition from
one state to another. It can decide whether to ignore There is also a dynamic object binding which allows
the alarm, or to initiate a notification. It can choose devices to remember objects by name and issue “Who-
among recipient devices for notification based on the Has object name” in order to locate the object (and its
new state, time of day, days of week and several other instance) and the object identifier of that named
criteria. Notifications can be transmitted once, or object.
repeatedly until a confirmation is received from the
recipient. They can also specify whether a human
acknowledgement is required for a given notification.

10

© Copyright 2014 BACnet International

Specifying Interoperability building automation interoperability is beyond the
scope of this guide.

with BACnet Protocol Implementation and Conformance

Statement (PICS)
BACnet devices can vary greatly in their
implementation of BACnet features and functionality. The PICS is a tool for consulting engineers, vendors
There is no such thing as “one size fits all” for building and customers to determine what functionality devices
automation, so BACnet had to be flexible in allowing support and what functionality is interoperable with
the many different kinds of features that are found in a other devices. The PICS format may vary between
wide range of devices, yet still assure that devices vendors, but it defines basic information in BACnet
could interoperate with each other at a feature level. terms that is common among vendors. The PICS
discloses the following areas of information about a
The standard defines a format for disclosing BACnet BACnet device:
information such that vendors, customers and Product name, version, and description
consulting engineers can use that information to
Device profile (BACnet standard Annex L) to which
understand the functionality implemented in a given
the device conforms
device. The Protocol Implementation and Conformance
Statement (PICS) is a standardized BACnet datasheet o B-OD, B-OWS, B-AWS (BACnet Operator
for disclosing BACnet features implemented in a given Workstations)
device. A key element of the PICS is the use of BACnet o B-BC (BACnet Building Controller)
Interoperability Building Blocks (BIBBs). BIBBs define o B-AAC (BACnet Advanced Application
sets and groupings of functionality that can be easily Controller)
compared from device to device, to determine which
o B-ASC (BACnet Application Specific
BACnet features should be interoperable between
Controller)
devices.
o B-SS (BACnet Smart Sensor)
o B-SA (BACnet Smart Actuator)
BIBBs supported by the device
o Data Sharing
o Trending
o Scheduling
o Alarm and Event
o Network Management
o Device Management
Figure 14: BACnet Interoperability Building Blocks (BIBBs)
Segmentation support and window size
simplify specification development and product selection. Standard object types supported, plus an indication
A robust treatment of the many considerations of objects that can be created and deleted by a
required for writing specifications that include third-party BACnet system/device. For each object
type supported, the PICS also lists those optional

11

© Copyright 2014 BACnet International

 properties that are implemented, and any range c. COV (Change of Value)
restrictions on property values. d. Unsubscribed COV
MAC layers support 2. Trending
o BACnet/IP (Annex J) a. Viewing and modifying trends – internal
o BACnet Ethernet (10,100,1000Mbs and b. Viewing and modifying trends – external
media types) c. Automated trend retrieval
o BACnet ARCNET (2.5Mbs, 156Kbs) 3. Scheduling
o BACnet MS/TP (EIA-485 Master- a. Scheduling – internal
Slave/Token Passing datarates)
b. Scheduling - external
o BACnet Point-To-Point (EIA-232,modem)
4. Alarm and Event Management
o BACnet LonTalk over Foreign Frames
a. Alarm and event notification – internal
o BACnet over ZigBee
b. Alarm and event notification – external
Device address static binding support
c. Alarm acknowledgement
Networking options support
d. Life safety alarm
o Router
5. Device Management
o BACnet Tunneling (Annex H)
a. Device binding - discovery and connection
o BACnet/IP BBMD (BACnet Broadcast
b. Object binding - discovery and connection
Management Device)
c. Device communication control
Character sets support
d. Private transfer of message
o UTF-8
e. Text message
o ISO 10646 (UCS-4)
f. Time synchronization
o IBM/Microsoft DBCS
g. UTC time synchronization
o ISO 10646 (UCS-2)
h. Reinitialize device and restart notification
o JIS X 0208
i. Backup and restore device database
o ISO 8859-1
j. List manipulation
BACnet Interoperability Building Blocks k. Object creation and deletion
(BIBBs) l. Virtual terminal
BIBBs provide a logical method for disclosure of 6. Network Management
BACnet device support for all of the BACnet a. Device connection establishment
interoperability areas. Interoperability functions are b. Router configuration
grouped into categories or areas: Each BIBB is defined with an A or B in terms of
1. Data Sharing prescribed functional support:
a. Read/write property – A: User of data as a client - initiate function
b. Read/write multiple properties – B: Provider of data as a server - execute function

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Achieving interoperability between two or more test BACnet implementations in a broad, multi-
BACnet devices requires support for the A type vendor interoperability environment.
functionality in the device acting as the user of data,
and support for the B type of functionality in the BTL awards the “BTL Mark” to devices which
provider of the data. All devices that claim to are shown to be tested according to ASHRAE
implement a given BIBB must support the function Standard 135.1, the companion test standard to
required (BIBB) and the “Initiate” or “Execute” side of BACnet. To maximize global testing
the functionality, depending on the role of the device. consistency, BTL requires the use of a single
For example, if one device supports DS-RP-A and a testing methodology regardless of the specific
second device supports DS-RP-B then it is expected organization performing the tests.
that those two devices can interoperate the DS-RP
feature together.

BACnet Listing
In 2000, the BACnet community created a not-for-
profit organization to address interoperability testing Figure 16: The BTL Mark on products assures users that they
have been independently tested according to
and listing services for manufacturers of BACnet industry standard test requirements.
devices. This organization is called the BACnet Testing
Laboratories, or BTL, and it operates under the Vendors may or may not submit their products for
auspices of BACnet International. independent testing according to the globally
recognized BTL methodology. Customers can identify
products that have been tested through the BTL
process by referring to the BTL listing maintained at
http://www.bacnetinternational.net/btl/ or by the
presence of the BTL Mark on the product itself.
BACnet International recommends that Customers
require the use of BTL Listed products whenever
Figure 15: BACnet Interoperability Workshops help to ensure possible.
multi-vendor projects go smoothly

Two key tasks of this organization are:

Sponsoring an annual BACnet Interoperability

Workshop (“PlugFest”) where suppliers can

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BACnet Terminology to support BACnet users. There is BACnet
International, BIG-EU Europe , BIG-CA China/Asia, BIG-
FI Finland, BIG-ME Middle East, BIG-PL Poland, BIG-RU
ANSI Russia, BIG-SE Sweden and BIG-AA AustralAsia.
Acronym for American National Standards Institute
BACnet International
ASHRAE BACnet International is the international organization
Acronym for American Society of Heating, that encourages the successful use of BACnet in
Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers building automation and control systems through
interoperability testing, educational programs and
Analog promotional activities. BACnet International
A variable number used to measure a continuously complements the work of other BACnet-related groups
varying entity, such as pressure or temperature. whose charters limit their commercial activities.
BACnet BACnet International community membership includes
Acronym for “Building Automation Control Network”. a who's who list of top tier companies involved in the
Also ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135-2012. BACnet is an design, manufacturing, installation, commissioning and
ASHRAE and ANSI standard protocol, which is a maintenance of control and other equipment that use
protocol designed for the building automation BACnet for communication.
industry. This is also an international standard known (More Information on BACnet International)
as ISO 16484-5. The testing of BACnet is based on a
companion standard ANSI/ASHRAE 135.1-2011. BACnet International was formed from the merger of
the BACnet Manufacturers Association (BMA) and BIG-
BACnet Broadcast Management Device (BBMD) NA North America.
Some BACnet operations such as dynamic device
binding rely on broadcast messages that are received BACnet Interoperability Building Blocks (BIBBs)
by every BACnet device on a local segment, and in Collections of one or more BACnet services that
some cases across segments or globally within the function to define the interoperational capabilities of
whole BACnet internetwork. Because of how IP BACnet device. Certain BIBBs may also be predicated
handles routing, broadcasts cannot cross IP subnets. In on the support of certain, otherwise optional, BACnet
situations when there are multiple IP subnets with objects or properties. BIBBs may also constrain
BACnet/IP devices, a special device functionality is allowable values of specific properties or service
required to deliver broadcasts to all members of a parameters.
multi-subnet community. BBMDs fill this role. The
functionality of BBMDs is often built in to larger BACnet Testing Laboratories™ (BTL)
BACnet Testing Laboratories was established by
controllers or routers, but not always.
BACnet International to support conformance testing
BACnet Interest Group (BIG) and interoperability testing activities and consists of
Associations formed by BACnet users for the benefit of BTL Manager and the BTL-WG (BTL Working Group).
BACnet users. BIGs enable individuals to exchange (More BTL Information)
information and share experiences about the
implementation and application of BACnet. Many
BACnet Interest Groups have formed around the world

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BACnet/IP or B/IP each device may contain only one Device object. The
BACnet/IP or B/IP refers to the BACnet MAC layer that instance number of this Device object must be field-
uses UDP/IP messaging to transport BACnet messages configurable so that it may be assigned a unique
across IP infrastructures. instance number among all of the Device objects of all
of the devices on a given BACnet internetwork.
Binary
In BACnet, binary generally refers to discrete two-state Digital
values. See also Digital. Discretely valued entities represented by two states,
such as an on/off switch. See also Binary.
Bridge
A device that connects two datalinks together. A bridge Ethernet
can connect a wired Ethernet and fiber-optic Ethernet, A high-speed MAC layer also known as ISO8802-3.
for example. Unlike routers, bridges are protocol-
independent. They forward messages without Extensible Markup Language (XML)
analyzing their content. XML is a worldwide standard for defining documents
and data structure that has many applications. In the
Client context of BACnet, XML is used with BACnet/WS web
In networked systems, an application or device acting services to facilitate the exchange of data and requests
as a requestor or consumer of data. A client makes with enterprise application programs.
requests to a server device for data resident in the
server or for the server to perform actions on its Half-router
behalf. In BACnet, a device that can participate as one partner
in a point-to-point (PTP) connection. Two half-routers
Datalink form an active PTP connection and act as a single
The datalink layer as defined in the OSI (Open Systems router.
Interconnection) model. The datalink organizes a
package of data into a structure and manages the HTML
delivery of that data to a specific destination. In HyperText Markup Language is a worldwide standard
BACnet ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135-2012, there are for defining and identifying format and grouping
seven distinct datalink network types: information (“markup”) within text documents.
Characteristic styling such as bold, italic, font, color
BACnet/IP and so forth are indicated by the tagging of words or
BACnet ARCNET sections of documents. Most commonly used in web
pages.
BACnet Ethernet 8802-3
MS/TP (master-slave/token passing) HTTP
The HyperText Transport Protocol is carried over TCP
BACnet over LonTalk Foreign Frames
and is used to facilitate exchange of information
BACnet PTP (point-to-point) typically encoded using text, HTML or XML. Most
BACnet over ZigBee commonly used in web pages and web services.

Device Instance ID (Identifier)

The instance portion of the Object_Identifier of a given BACnet defines three important IDs used to identify
device’s Device object. Unlike all other object types, BACnet devices, objects, and properties. An Object ID

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identifies an object’s type and instance number. A Medium Access Control (MAC)
Vendor ID defines the vendor who manufactured a The part of a network that handles access to the
device. A Property ID identifies a property by a code. physical network (medium) for a particular datalink.
In BACnet, each device has a unique MAC
IP Address/Network Number combination that identifies
Acronym for Internet Protocol. IP handles the breaking it on the BACnet internetwork.
up of data messages into packets (also called
datagrams), the routing of the packets from their MS/TP
origin to the destination network and node, and the Acronym for Master-Slave/Token Passing. It is a type
reassembling of the packets into the data message at of MAC layer implemented using the EIA-485 signaling
the destination. IP operates at the internetwork layer standard. This LAN type is suitable for unitary
of the TCP/IP model, which is equivalent to the controller and terminal control communications. To
network layer of the ISO/OSI reference model. initiate communications on the network, a node must
receive a "token" (actually a small message), that is
ISO/OSI Reference Model passed from one node to another around the network.
Short for International Organization for Master devices are allowed to have and manage the
Standardization /Open Systems token, whereas slave devices are allowed only to
Interconnection Reference Model respond to requests from master devices.
The model is the foundation of most network
National Institute of Standards &Technology
standards. It breaks down network communications
(NIST)
into seven conceptual levels, each concerned with a An agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The
specific aspect of network communications. The seven NIST charter is to strengthen the U.S. economy and
layers are Application, Presentation, Session, improve the quality of life by working with industry to
Transport, Network, Data Link and Physical. develop and apply technology, measurements, and
Instance standards. NIST has played an integral role in the
In BACnet, a number that uniquely identifies an object development of BACnet.
within a device or a device on a BACnet internetwork.
Object
See also Device Instance. A collection of information in a BACnet system,
Internetwork described by its properties. An object might represent
A set of two or more networks interconnected by information about a physical input or output, or it may
routers. represent a logical grouping of points that perform
some function, such as a setpoint. Every object has an
LAN identifier (such as AI-1) that allows the BACnet system
Acronym for Local Area Network. A single network to identify it. An object is a collection of data points
providing the physical infrastructure for device that contain additional information other than present
communication based on a common MAC layer value. An object is monitored and controlled through
datalink. its properties.

Native BACnet
A device that uses BACnet as its principal if not only
means of communication.

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Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement
A type of network in which messages are passed (PICS)
between each node, and each node is an equal peer on A document that details the particular BACnet objects,
the network that may act as a client or server or both. services and capabilities supported by a type of
BACnet device. Every BACnet-conforming device has
PlugFest an associated PICS published by the manufacturer.
Every year BACnet International sponsors an event
called PlugFest. BIG-EU sponsors a similar event in Router
Europe. Interested manufacturers and developers of A device that connects two or more, usually different,
BACnet products get together in host locations MAC layers together. Routers are similar to bridges,
(locations vary from year to year), to have a multi-day but provide additional functions, such as message
interoperability test. Groups of vendors with common routing and forwarding based on various criteria.
interests connect their equipment together and do
performance and interoperability tests with each Schema
other; first testing in small focus groups, and then in a Refers to the standardized definition of specific XML
larger network. The results of these tests are tags that make them suitable for a particular
confidential to encourage a collegial and interactive application. BACnet/WS defines an explicit schema for
event where the whole point is to discover issues and information sharing and interoperability.
failures without concern or embarrassment. Server
In electronic networked systems, an application or
Point-to-Point
A type of network in which disconnection is the normal device acting as a provider of data, responding to a
status, but when messages are to be passed between request from a client.
nodes, and the nodes are on different networks, then Services
network routers make a temporary connection. Used How one BACnet device gets information from another
primarily for dial-up telephone connections. device, or commands a device to perform certain
actions (through its objects and properties, of course),
Properties
An individual data element of an object. Every object or lets other devices know that something has
may contain an arbitrary number of properties that happened. The only service required by all devices is
define aspects of the object’s operation or knowledge. the ReadProperty service. There are 41 standard
Properties may act as indicators of information known services in the 135-2012 standard.
to the object or as “setpoints” or receivers of TCP/IP
information from outside of the object. BACnet Acronym for Transport Control Protocol/Internet
specifies over 350 standardized properties for objects. Protocol. TCP/IP is one of several protocol standards
Three properties (Object_Identifier, Object_Name, and used by the public Internet and IP-centric
Object_Type) must be present in every object. BACnet infrastructures in general. IP deals only with packet
also requires that certain objects support specific transmission and routing and is analogous to BACnet’s
additional properties. The type of object and the type Network Layer. TCP provides a connection-oriented
of device in which that object resides determine which delivery mechanism that can multiplex between
properties are present. Some properties can accept multiple destination and source “ports” maintained by
writes, and others can only be read. a target destination IP address. TCP/IP is a stream-

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oriented protocol that enables two hosts to establish a delivery mechanism that can multiplex between
connection and exchange streams of data. Although multiple destination and source “ports” maintained by
TCP/IP is used extensively in Internet a target destination IP address. This should not be
communications, it is not used by BACnet except in confused with TCP/IP.
BACnet/WS which can exchange messages using HTTP
over TCP/IP. BACnet/IP uses the combination of IP address and UDP
port as a pseudo-MAC address in combination with a
UDP/IP BACnet Virtual Link Layer (BVLL). This combination
Acronym for User Datagram Protocol/Internet acts like a MAC layer in its own right for conveying
Protocol. UDP/IP is one of several protocol standards BACnet datagrams over UDP/IP.
used by the public Internet and IP-centric
infrastructures in general. IP deals only with packet XML
transmission and routing and is analogous to BACnet’s See Extensible Markup Language.
Network Layer. UDP provides a connectionless

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Trademarks
All logos, trademarks and registered trademarks used
in this document are the property of their respective
owners.

ARCNET is a registered trademark of Datapoint

Corporation.

LonTalk is a registered trademark of Echelon

Corporation.

ZigBee is a registered trademark of ZigBee Alliance.

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BACnet International Contact Information

BACnet International Executive Office


PMB 321
 2900
Delk Rd, Suite 700
Marietta, GA 30067-5350
 


Ph: 770-971-6003 

Fax: 678-229-2777

[email protected]
www.bacnetinternational.org

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