Manual

SX5L COMMUNICATION TERMINAL USER’S MANUAL 1-1

1: GENERAL INFORMATION

Introduction

This chapter describes general information about the LONWORKS network system and provides the features and functions

of the SX5L communication terminals.

LONWORKS Network

LONWORKS 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. LONWORKS 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, LONWORKS devices are connected to the LONWORKS 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 LONWORKS devices contain a microprocessor called Neuron Chip and a LONWORKS

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, LONWORKS 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 LONWORKS Network for Building Automation (BA)

LONWORKS

Ethernet

LONWORKS Gateway LONWORKS Gateway LONWORKS Gateway

Voltage

Air-conditioner

Control Valve

Digital Data Loader

Thermometer

I/O Module

Current

Power

Alarm

Failure

Control

Non-LONWORKS

Device

SX5L

Fluorescent Light

Blind

Illumination Meter

Intrusion Detector

Network

Status monitor / scheduled operation control signals

Sensor data / actuator operation control signals

Control Server / Control Monitor Terminal