General information, Lonworks network, Eneral – IDEC SX5L Series User Manual
Page 6: Nformation, Network, Introduction
SX5L C
OMMUNICATION
T
ERMINAL
U
SER
’
S
M
ANUAL
1-1
1: G
ENERAL
I
NFORMATION
Introduction
This chapter describes general information about the L
ON
W
ORKS
network system and provides the features and functions
of the SX5L communication terminals.
L
ON
W
ORKS
Network
L
ON
W
ORKS
refers to the whole multi-purpose network technology developed by Echelon Corporation to provide solutions
for building and home automation, industrial, transportation, and public utility control networks. L
ON
W
ORKS
is a field-
level open network that enables to build open, multi-vendor control systems of the peer-to-peer distributed control config-
uration.
In the above control system, L
ON
W
ORKS
devices are connected to the L
ON
W
ORKS
network, such as air-conditioner, con-
trol valve, digital data loader, thermometer, fluorescent light, blind, illumination meter, intrusion detector as well as SX5L
communication terminals. These L
ON
W
ORKS
devices contain a microprocessor called Neuron Chip and a L
ON
W
ORKS
transceiver to communicate with other devices using the LonTalk protocol.
In the centralized control system, the network consists of one host controller, such as a PLC or computer, and multiple ter-
minals, such as sensors and actuators, connected in the 1:N configuration. The host takes care of almost all processing for
intended control operations while terminals work as instructed by the host through the network communication. Therefore,
the host alone contains the control program and network settings.
In contrast to the centralized control system, L
ON
W
ORKS
is a distributed control system with each device containing an
application program. Operation of each device can be programmed by changing configuration parameters. The destination
and contents of communication can be designated for each device using a network management tool.
Example of L
ON
W
ORKS
Network for Building Automation (BA)
L
ON
W
ORKS
Ethernet
L
ON
W
ORKS
Gateway
L
ON
W
ORKS
Gateway
L
ON
W
ORKS
Gateway
Voltage
Air-conditioner
Control Valve
Digital Data Loader
Thermometer
I/O Module
Current
Power
Alarm
Failure
Control
Non-L
ON
W
ORKS
Device
SX5L
SX5L
SX5L
SX5L
SX5L
SX5L
SX5L
Fluorescent Light
Blind
Illumination Meter
Intrusion Detector
Network
Status monitor / scheduled operation control signals
Sensor data / actuator operation control signals
Control Ser ver / Control Monitor Terminal