Basic Concept of Applications

The basic idea of the Applications container is to group the components meant to build applications.

Applications

In order to build universal applications, the place of reference is the Applications container. The first step is to place the Application component in the Applications container (or as many of them as necessary–with the nano EDGE ENGINE it is possible to create more than one user application on the device, and all of the applications are cycle-driven and can work simultaneously). 

Multiple applications

Once the Application component is added to the Applications container, it is ready to have the Data Points added, and the user application with complementary components can now be created. The components needed for this purpose are grouped in the Applications libraries.

The distinctive thing about the Data Points used in the applications is that they are BACnet and Modbus native–each Data Point contains built-in BACnet and Modbus extensions, which allow to automatically expose it as a BACnet object to the BACnet network and Modbus point to the Modbus network.

Using Equipment Folders

Good Practice Tip

In future developments, the RAC18-IP controller will have a Haystack functionality implemented in its firmware, which calls for some good practice mechanisms that can be introduced now, with the current functionalities.

The Haystack functionality will offer multiple advantages of using tags–it will help identify parts of equipment controlled by the application and used Data Points, filter data by equipment, sensor, or value, any many more.

In order to facilitate a future use of the full Haystack functionality, the Equipment component has been included in the Core library. It is therefore recommended to use the following structure when creating applications:

• Applications container

  • Application component

    • Equipment component

      • Data Point(s)

      • other components

    • Equipment component

      • Data Point(s)

      • other components

Such structure will be fully recognized in the Haystack functionality and will require minimum effort to use its full potential once updated.

Difference Between Equipment and Folder Components

The Equipment component with Haystack functionality will allow to identify the types and other characteristics of controlled devices by tags, which will be a main difference between the Equipment and Folder components–the Folder component is merely an organizing component; in the future, it will not carry any Haystack tags functionalities. It is therefore very important to use the Equipment components in the applications structure.

Also refer to: Equipment Manager

Data Points

Data Points are universal components that represent a value in the application logic; they may serve as setpoints, sensors values, non-volatile variables, or any other data values. Data Points represent a layer of the application logic that is presented to an end user—this is where the end user is able to adjust desired setpoints (e.g., for air conditioning) or evoke other actions outlined in the application logic. Data Points also read values calculated in applications and control local or remote outputs.

Data Points in the application logic may work as regular writable variables with priorities, or—with Reference linking—they may be connected with network points, such as local I/O components.

Data Points are universal components that facilitate building application logics. They are adaptable by extensions, which expand their functionality by enabling them to be exposed to communication protocols. Among the fundamental extensions for Data Points are AnalogPriorities, BinaryPriorities, and MultistatePriorities—they add 16 priority input slots to Data Points, which allows to build logics based on using value significance priorities—a value given in the highest priority slot dismisses all values of lower priorities, which enables, for example, making sure that no emergency is omitted due to values of lower significance. Slots, which are not linked and have a value entered, save the value on a given priority.

The available Data Points:

• AnalogDataPoint with native BACnetAnalogPoint and ModbusAnalogPoint extensions;
• BinaryDataPoint with native BACnetBinaryPoint and ModbusBinaryPoint extensions;
• MultistateDataPoint with native BACnetMultistatePoint and ModbusMultistatePoint extensions.

In order to operate properly, Data Points must be placed in one of Application components in the Applications container. Only from this position, they may work properly included in the application logic.

Data Points and Network Points

Simply put, in the nano EDGE ENGINE, Data Points are value-carriers, and network points are communication-carriers. Data Points are always located in the Applications container (in individual Application components), and network points are always located in the Networks container (in the LocalIO component or BACnet/Modbus devices). The below table lists nano EDGE ENGINE component referred to as Data Point–and network point–class components: