Network setup

BACnet is a common and standard protocol with which you are probably very familiar. Even so, the BACnet driver contains multiple properties, which can easily become confusing.

This topic assumes that the Supervisor and controller station are using a standard Ip Port. These are the defaults. The topics that follow provide step-by-step procedures to perform each task.

Configure the BACnet network in a Supervisor station

Set up your Supervisor with a BACnet AWS or OWS network. As a minimum, configure the AWS/OWS network properties in this table.

Property Where to find this property (Supervisor station) How to configure
Object ID Expand the AWS/OWS network followed by expanding Local Device under the network node. Select device (the Supervisor station is a BACnet device) and give the device a unique number.
Routing Enabled Expand the AWS/OWS network followed by expanding Bacnet Comm and double-click Network. Confirm that this property is set to true. If the Supervisor cannot connect to the controller station, it may automatically disable this property (set it to false), which prevents the station log from being filled with redundant messages.
Network Number Expand or double-click Ip Port. Change this from -1 (disabled) the network number. A network diagram may provide this information.
Adapter Expand the AWS/OWS network followed by expanding Bacnet Comm > Network > Ip Port > Link.
Defines the Supervisor PC’s network adapter or VPN connection.
Ip Address Same location as Adapter. Confirm that this address is correct. This identifies the Supervisor PC on the network.

Set up the BACnet network in a controller station.

Add a BacnetNetwork to each controller station. As a minimum, configure these properties in each controller station.

Property Where to find this property (controller station) How to configure
Object ID Expand BacnetNetwork and double-click Local Device. Select device (the controller station is a BACnet device) and give the device a unique number.

If this is a new installation, consider using the final two or three digits of the controller’s IP address as its device ID.

Routing Enabled Expand the AWS/OWS network followed by expanding Bacnet Comm and double-click Network. Confirm that this property is set to true. If the Supervisor cannot connect to the controller station, it may automatically disable this property (set it to false), which prevents the station log from being filled with redundant messages.
Network Number Expand BacnetNetwork > Bacnet Comm > Network > Ip Port. Change this from -1 (disabled) the network number. A network diagram may provide this information. This should be the same network number as that for the Supervisor station.
Ip Address Expand BacnetNetwork > Bacnet Comm > Network > Ip Port > Link. Confirm that this address is correct. This identifies the controller on the network.

If you are unable to connect from the Supervisor to a controller, use this topic as a checklist to make sure you configured each property in the Supervisor and each connector station.

Set up each controller under the Supervisor’s network in the Supervisor station

Under the Supervisor’s AWS or OWS network, each controller appears as a BACnet AWS or OWS device. These configurations in the Supervisor station make it possible to display points and their values from the controller stations in the Supervisor station.

You may discover the controller stations, add each controller configuration as a New AWS or OWS device, or you may drag a BacnetAwsDevice or BacnetOwsDevice from the appropriate palette to the BACnet network node in the Supervisor station.

As a minimum, if you created a new object or used the palette to create the object, configure these properties in the Supervisor station for each controller station.

Property Where to find this property (controller station) How to configure
Object Id Expand the station name followed by expanding Config, then double-click Device Object. This is the device ID assigned when you set up the controller station.

When you define the Object Id the Supervisor makes the connection and populates the rest of the Device Object properties with information from the controller.

Additional options

If needed, in addition to an Ip Port, you can add one EthernetPort (per adapter), one or more ScPorts, and/or up to four MstpPorts. You can also add additional Ip Ports to enable the communications on additional UDP ports. In this case, the station acts as a BACnet/IP router between two logical BACnet/IP networks (that actually exist on the same physical network).

Once additional ports are added and enabled, the Niagara station becomes a router when the Routing Enabled property set to true. Routing Enabled set to false is useful when a client-only station has multiple ports but only connects with one port at a time.