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communicate via one protocol, allowing
a simplified approach to building
automation. Having a protocol defined
by a standard provides security for users
against changes made by manufacturers
according to their will.
BENEFIT TO THE COMMUNITY
KNX
-
The lack of an Australian/New
Zealand standard in this sector does not
provide a mechanism for convergence
of a variety of applications into an easily
integrated system. The purpose of this
draft AS/NZS Standard is to provide
such a mechanism.
A major feature of this Standard
proposal is that the defined protocol is
non-proprietary and independent, and is
freely available to all market segments
and manufacturers. This will promote
competition in the market between
manufacturers that will benefit the
Australian community.
The effect of not having a building
automation standard in Australia
encourages numerous protocols across
the market with no compliance between
them and leaves the industry subject to
manufacturer’s decisions on product/
protocol life cycle.
The intent of the AS/NZS 14543.3
Parts 1-6 is to provide a defined, open
protocol where various manufacturers
or applications can communicate
effectively to allow interoperability.
While standalone systems may be
acceptable in domestic situations, the
lack of standardisation in commercial
developments can cause increased
costs due to individualised control
systems on various applications and
duplicated resources.
Lighting Council
-
Every Australian
Standard must demonstrate positive net
benefit to the community as a whole.
All Australian Standards must provide a
value or benefit that exceeds the costs
likely to be imposed on suppliers, users
and other parties in the community as
a result of its development or adoption
and implementation. In this case, the
lighting industry is saying that it does
not use the KNX protocol in Australia
now and significant costs would be
imposed on lighting suppliers and
installers if KNX were to become the
Australian Standard.
Other industry stakeholders have not
yet been consulted on whether they will
be impacted if KNX were to become the
Australian Standard.
ETS CONFIGURATION
Lighting Council
-
KNX products
are required to be configured and
commissioned by a software tool called
ETS. ETS software is licensed and
controlled outside of the standards
process and offshore to Australia by a
commercial entity. If KNX is published as
an Australian Standard, ETS would tie
the Australian Standard to an overseas
commercial entity.
KNX
-
There is no obligation whatsoever
imposed in the ISO/IEC 14543- 3
Standard to have products compliant
to the Standard certified by the KNX
Association, nor does the Standard
mention the compulsory use of the ETS
Software tool for configuration of ISO/IEC
14543-3 compliant products.
It is fully left up to the manufacturer
to decide whether or not the company
would wish to join the KNX Association
and/or whether the company wishes
to label the product with the KNX
Trademark (only then requiring
certification of the product by
KNX Association).
However, many of the manufacturers
who have ISO/IEC 14543-3 compliant
products have opted to ensure that their
products are configurable by the ETS,
as the ETS software is used by many
thousands of system integrators around
the world. Such manufacturers
provide their own application software
that is incorporated by the integrator into
their project. The application software
is offered as a free download by the
manufacturer ensuring no additional cost
burden is placed on the system integrator.
The reason for embracing the ETS
software as a manufacturer for the
configuration of ISO/IEC 14543-3
compliant products is the advantage for
integrators to use one single common
software tool across multiple vendors and
applications. The software is essentially
a commissioning tool with a single licence
for the integrator. No additional licence
is required for the project, irrespective
of the project size, products used or
manufacturers supplying the equipment.
There are also no on-going licence or
royalty requirements for the integrator or
for the project.
FREQUENCY
Lighting Council
-
Another matter is
the technical incompatibility of the KNX
radio frequency with the Australian
spectrum allocation (the 868MHz
frequency is not allowed in Australia
for low interference potential device
wireless communication). This poses
two issues.
Firstly, if KNX becomes the
Australian Standard, global 868MHz
products could inadvertently enter the
Australian market under the overall
KNX brand without an assessment
of the radio frequency allocation and
interference considerations. Wireless
communication is increasingly being
used in automation systems.
Secondly, the Australian automation
market is moving towards wireless
communication; however, this channel
In 2012, the KNX National Group Australia was
established as the local representative of the
International KNX Association.