Reliable control network gateways for building automation networks

In building automation systems, the diversity of existing field level networks is a major challenge for fully integrated solutions. Typical approaches achieve integration by shifting the needed complexity to the automation or management layer. In contrast, this paper focuses on leaving the complexity at the field level to provide a homogeneous view to upper layers without compromising reliability. Therefore, a gateway device architecture is advised which enables the seamless integration and communication between field level protocols of building automation networks. The necessary translation between field level protocols is done by utilizing a stateful solution incorporating a unifying information model. The reliability aspect is achieved by combining several gateway devices into a redundant compound.