Instruction manual

C-Bus By Demand 3
Training Manual 19
2.3 Network Bridge Topology
Thenetworkbridgetopology,describestheway thatnetwork bridgesare connected.Thereare
threetypesofnetworktopologiesthatmaybeusedwithnetworkbridges.Thesetopologiesare:
 • DaisyChainTopology
 • BackboneTopology
 • FullyConnectedTopology.
Acombinationofthesethreetopologiesmayalsobeused.

2.3.1 DaisyChainTopology

A daisy chain topology refers to when multiple C‐Bus networks are connected in series via
network bridges (see Figure 12). The daisy chain topology will only communicate 7 networks
deepinseries(utilisingnetworkbridges).
WhenusingToolkittoscanthoughnetworkbridges,thereisasmalltimedelaytoretrievedata
from remote networks. So when s
canning across 6 network bridges, Toolkit will take much
longertoscanthe7
th
network,thanitwouldtoscanthe1
st
network.
Sending a message across a network bridge also causes a small time delay, which is generally
unnoticeable. When sending a command across 6 network bridges, the delay time will be
increased,andmaybevisible.
Toreducetimedelays,itisrecommendedthatadaisychaintopology onlybe4networksdeep
(using3net
workbridges).

Figure 8: Three C-Bus networks in a daisy chain topology.
Itisrecommendedthatthistypeofnetworkconfigurationbeusedin:
 • smallsizedinstallations
 • mediumsizedinstallations.
AdvantagesoftheDaisyChaintopologyare:
 • thereareaminimumnumberofnetworkbridgesneeded.
DisadvantagesoftheDaisyChaintopologyare:
 • notallmessagesareroutedtoallothernetworks
 • moredifficulttomodel.