“THE TRUTH IS OUT THEREâ€
The famous quote used in the seminal work of the 1990’s the X-Files. Those of you who know me are aware of the various wild and wonderful things I’ve done from investigating Crop circles for Harvard University, to investigating Ghosts on TV and UFO’s, yes I’ve looked into all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff and thats because, firstly , I have an enquiring mind and secondly want to know how the Martians have cracked the Internet of Things.
Sci-Fi shows us that the connected world is nothing new and that integrating smarts to control lighting, access to your room, or space ship are quite common place, and when we become enhanced humans or Cyborgs then we will be the embodiment of the Internet of things.
Don't panic though we have a few millennia before we integrate fully into our smart world of the future. The challenge today is what direction do we go, do we follow the Betamax or VHS route, is it the Mini disc or MP3 route. History has taught us that when faced with a choice between technologies, the winners isn’t always the best technology but the one that commercially has the edge. Sometimes this can be justified as with digital downloads as technology evolved rapidly to support the market.
In lighting we have seen a battle played out between different lighting technologies and LED’s have outperformed and out smarted the competition. We live in a world of digital lighting and therefore we need systems in place that reflect these changes.
We need controls that are designed to work in the digital age and reflect the needs of both the building owners and users. What we don’t need is dated technology that is basically a skinned version of a last century technology. Its like having a Walkman with Mp3’s loaded onto tape, it's a work around that doesn’t ultimately work as the technology is still dated. The result might be music being played through the headphones, but you still need to turn the tape over and if you don’t maintain the player then your tape will get caught up and destroyed.
We at zencontrol developed our lighting controls and emergency around a digital platform that we all use daily. TCP/IP is a protocol that defines the rules for communication and outlines a framework for various devices to communicate on one common platform. However, you still need a subnet to run the basic functions. The reason for this is primarily about data and speed, do I need to know every time the sensor is triggered or when someone is dims a luminaire; sometimes you might but wiring each point into your wired or wireless network would result in a level of complexity and fragility that may cause the system to fail. A subnet runs these routines and records the interaction and can report the information as and when you need it. TCP/IP then packages that data and delivers it to software that can then collate this data and provide an interface for the data.
This works well when you have devices working on various platforms which have unique subnet languages. Heating, ventilation, security, access control etc all have industry specific languages that allow them to provide functionality specific to their industries.
Lighting is no different and we as an industry have agreed that IEC 62386 will be our subnet, protocol of choice. This is more commonly known as DALI or to give it, its full name Digital Addressable Lighting Interface. Its important to understand that DALI has for many years been interpreted by different companies in many ways to reduce cost and functionality and that the term DALI doesn’t always mean compliance. Stating IEC 62386 leaves no wiggle room for DALI esq devices.
So we have an industry standard IEC 62386 and within that standard we have defined a gateway structure called an Application controller which interestingly used TCP/IP as backbone language to connect multiple Application controllers together. This is Digital Lighting Control as we now have a seamless transition from subnet to network. DALI 2.0 takes the further with the development of Part 103 for the inputs used within the subnet. Sensors and switches are now intelligent and can be browsed. Also up to 64 intelligent sensors or switches can be connected to a single DALI 2.0 subnet.
At a basic level we have the basis of what the “Martians†must be using to operate and power their flying saucers. Once they have connected their smart subnets to the mighty “Brain†that is software then we have a truly intelligent system.
Ok so the Martians may not have DALI but all advance cultures from Star Trek to Star Wars have something similar. Now Science Fiction is just that, Fiction a story and in time many of the ideas mentioned in some of these early stories have come to be a reality. The personal communication devices that we carry in our pockets is something we take for granted today, but back in the 1960’s when Star Trek was written it was all science fiction.
So where am I going with this; we cannot see where the future will ultimately take us and some of the claims put forward regarding the Internet of Things will happen, of that I have no doubts, but there are some ground rules that need to be followed within Lighting.
Firstly, the lighting management needs to be a truly digital system and designed to communicate with each connected device, not a re-hashed old school system.
Secondly the system must use open standards to allow additional devices to connect to a common network. Currently DALI 2.0 and TCP/IP ( BACnet)
Thirdly, delivering these IoT project needs to be carried out by a specialist. You cannot just purchase a smart piece of equipment and plug it in and expect a system to work. You may achieve a level of functionality but a specialist Lighting Management company can design a truly integrated system. Lighting Management companies such as zencontrol have hardware and software teams and engineers that deliver projects.
So the truth is out their, but don’t always believe the Hype, speak to the people who deliver the solution and use an expert to deliver your smart project.
After all:
“No one would have believed, in the last years of the twentieth century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of the boardroomâ€
I wonder how many will spot the references to various Sci-Fi quotes, if you want to know more about how we are transitioning to the internet of Things and how we at zencontrol can help you develop truly integrated Digital Lighting then do drop me a line.
Stewart Langdown FSLL
stewart.langdown@zencontrol.co.uk
m+44(0)7774 821093