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{{Short description|Building automation network}}
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'''LonWorks''' or '''Local Operating Network''' is an open standard (ISO/IEC 14908) for networking platforms specifically created to address the needs of control applications. The platform is built on a protocol created by [[Echelon Corporation]] for networking devices over media such as [[twisted pair]], [[Power-line communication|power lines]], [[Optical fiber|fiber optics]], and [[wireless]]. It is used for the automation of various functions within buildings such as [[lighting]] and [[HVAC]]; see [[building automation]].

== Origins and uptake ==

The technology had its origins with chip designs, power lines, [[Twisted pair|twisted pairs]], signaling technology, [[Router (computing)|routers]], network management software, and other products from [[Echelon Corporation]]. In 1999 the communications protocol (then known as [[LonTalk]]) was submitted to [[American National Standards Institute|ANSI]] and accepted as a standard for control networking ('''ANSI/CEA-709.1-B'''). Echelon's power line and [[twisted pair]] signaling technology were also submitted to [[ANSI]] for standardization and acceptance. Since then, ANSI/CEA-709.1 has been accepted as the basis for IEEE 1473-L (in-train controls), [[Association of American Railroads|AAR]] electro-pneumatic braking systems for freight trains, [[International Forecourt Standards Forum|IFSF]] (European petrol station control), [[Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International|SEMI]] (semiconductor equipment manufacturing), and in 2005 as [[EN 14908]] (European building automation standard). The protocol is also one of several data link/physical layers of the [[BACnet]] [[American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers|ASHRAE]]/[[ANSI]] standard for [[building automation]].

[[China]] ratified the technology as a national controls standard, GB/Z 20177.1-2006, and as a building and intelligent community standard, GB/T 20299.4-2006; and in 2007 CECED, the European Committee of Domestic Equipment Manufacturers, adopted the protocol as part of its Household Appliances Control and Monitoring – Application Interworking Specification (AIS) standards.

In 2008, [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] and [[International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]] granted the communications protocol, twisted pair signaling technology, power line signaling technology, and [[Internet Protocol]] (IP) compatibility standard numbers ISO/IEC 14908-1, -2, -3, and -4.<ref>{{cite press release |date=2008-12-03 |title=LonWorks Technology Achieves ISO/IEC Standardization |url=http://www.lonmark.org/news_events/press/2008/1208_iso_standard |access-date=2014-02-11}}</ref>

== Usage ==

By 2010, approximately 90 million devices were installed with LonWorks technology. Manufacturers in a variety of industries including building, home, street lighting, transportation, utility, and industrial automation have adopted the platform as the basis for their product and service offerings. Statistics as to the number of locations using the LonWorks technology are scarce, but products and applications built on top of the platform include such diverse functions as embedded machine control, municipal and highway/tunnel/street lighting, heating and air conditioning systems, intelligent electricity metering, subway train control, building lighting, stadium lighting and speaker control, security systems, fire detection and suppression, and newborn location monitoring and alarming, as well as remote power generation load control.

== Technical details ==
Two physical-layer signaling technologies, [[twisted pair]] ''free topology'' and power-line carrier, are typically included in each of the standards created around the LonWorks technology. The two-wire layer operates at 78&nbsp;kbit/s using [[differential Manchester encoding]], while the power line achieves either 5.4 or 3.6&nbsp;kbit/s, depending on frequency.<ref>http://www.echelon.com/support/documentation/manuals/transceivers/005-0154-01D.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927005459/http://www.echelon.com/support/documentation/manuals/transceivers/005-0154-01D.pdf |date=2007-09-27 }} PL3120/3150 transceiver data book, p5</ref>

Additionally, the LonWorks platform uses an affiliated IP tunneling standard—ISO/IEC 14908-4<ref>{{Cite web |title=IP Tunneling Protocol (International) |url=http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=50360 |access-date=2024-10-07}}</ref> (ANSI/CEA-852)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://global.ihs.com/doc_detail.cfm?document_name=CTA-852.1 |title=CTA-852.1 : Enhanced Protocol for Tunneling Component Network Protocols over Internet Protocol Channels}}</ref>—in use by a number of manufacturers<ref>http://www.lonmark.org/membership/directory/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830021840/http://www.lonmark.org/membership/directory/ |date=2019-08-30 }} Directory of LonMark International Member Companies</ref> to connect the devices on previously deployed and new LonWorks platform-based networks to IP-aware applications or remote network-management tools. Many LonWorks platform-based control applications are being implemented with some sort of IP integration, either at the UI/application level or in the controls infrastructure. This is accomplished with Web services or IP-routing products available in the market.

An Echelon Corporation-designed [[integrated circuit|IC]] consisting of several 8-bit processors, the ''Neuron chip'' was initially the only way to implement a LonTalk protocol node and is used in the large majority of LonWorks platform-based hardware. Since 1999, the protocol has been available for general-purpose processors: A port of the ANSI/CEA-709.1 standard to IP-based or 32-bit chips.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://global.ihs.com/doc_detail.cfm?document_name=CTA-709.1 |title=CTA-709.1 : Control Network Protocol Specification}}</ref>

== Acquisitions ==

As of 14 September, 2018, Echelon Corporation was acquired by [[Adesto Technologies]] Corporation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=MarketScreener |date=2018-09-14 |title=Adesto Technologies Corporation completed the acquisition of Echelon Corporation from Royce & Associates, LP, Renaissance Technologies Corp., Enel Investment Holding B.V. and other shareholders. - MarketScreener |url=https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/ECHELON-CORPORATION-25342735/news/Adesto-Technologies-Corporation-completed-the-acquisition-of-Echelon-Corporation-from-Royce-Associ-34580623/ |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=www.marketscreener.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Adesto was then acquired by [[Dialog Semiconductor]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dialog Semiconductor to Acquire Adesto Technologies, Broadening Presence in the Industrial Internet of Things Market (IIoT) {{!}} Renesas |url=https://www.renesas.com/en/about/newsroom/dialog-semiconductor-acquire-adesto-technologies-broadening-presence-industrial-internet-things |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=www.renesas.com |language=en}}</ref> who were then acquired by [[Renesas Electronics]].<ref>https://www.eetimes.com/renesas-targets-iot-mixed-signal-expansion-with-dialog-purchase/</ref> As of 2024, Renesas continues to offer LonWorks (and BACnet) products.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BACnet and LON Industrial Protocols {{!}} Renesas |url=https://www.renesas.com/en/products/interface/bacnet-and-lon-industrial-protocols |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=www.renesas.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Applications using LonWorks==
* [[Semiconductor device|Semiconductor]] [[manufacturing]]
* [[Lighting control system]]s
* [[Energy management system]]s
* [[HVAC|Heating/ventilation/air-conditioning systems]]
* [[Security systems]]
* [[Home automation]]
* [[Home appliance|Consumer appliance controls]]
* [[Street light|Public street lighting, monitoring, and control]]
* [[IFSF|Petrol station control]]
* [[Electronically controlled pneumatic braking]]
* Distributed avionics<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/eb037379/full/html|doi = 10.1108/eb037379|title = The ARNAV FMS 7000 Flight Management System|journal = Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology|year = 1993|volume = 65|issue = 5|page = 16|url-access = subscription}}</ref>

==SNVTs (Standard Network Variable Types)==
One of the keys to the interoperability of the system is the standardisation of the variables used to describe physical things to LonWorks. This standards list is maintained by LonMark International, and each standard parameter is known as Standard Network Variable Type (SNVT, pronounced "sniv-it.") For example, a thermostat might report temperature using the ''SNVT_temp,'' defined as a 2-byte integer between zero and 65535, and representing a temperature between [[Absolute zero|-274.0]] and 6279.5 degrees Celsius at a precision of 0.1&nbsp;°C.<ref>{{cite book |title=LONMARK® SNVT Master List |date=May 2002 |publisher=Echelon Corporation |page=118 |edition=Version 11, Revision 2 |url=http://www.tsd.org/ieee1473/SNVT.pdf |access-date=9 March 2020}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Modbus]]
* [[BACnet]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|http://www.lonmark.org/}}
*[https://www.renesas.com/en/document/oth/introduction-lonworks-platform/ Introduction to the LonWorks® Platform, revision 2]

{{List of automation protocols}}

{{Home automation}}
{{HVAC}}

[[Category:Home automation]]
[[Category:Building automation]]