ELON: if you are serious read this. looong post. LONWORKS Technology - Open for Use on Any Processor
Question & Answer
What exactly did Echelon announce? --- this ? is not about the ilon announcement---david---
Until May, 1996, manufacturers building LONWORKS(R) products have used Neuron(R) Chips supplied by Motorola and Toshiba. Echelon announced that, in addition, the LONWORKS protocol (known as LonTalk(R)) can be implemented on other processors by following a published specification.
Why is this important?
This step will allow any control application - distributed or centralized, small or large, low-cost or high-performance - to use LONWORKS technology.
To someone considering a control network, this step is significant. LONWORKS technology now becomes useable in every control network application.
LONWORKS technology is inherently highly scalable. You can make systems with ten, ten thousand, or even a million nodes, using the same protocol. You can use small or large messages. And there are no physical limitations based on any functional specification such as media access method.
The Neuron Chip, with its processing power and architecture, has historically defined the limits of a LONWORKS application's space. With the protocol now portable, these limits are eliminated. Now, if you have a legacy processor with enough spare cycles, you can run the LONWORKS protocol on it.
Or if you need more performance than what the Neuron Chip offers, you can choose a more powerful processor.
What kind of control systems use ten nodes? Who needs a million or more?
Think of a machine the size of a refrigerator, such as a vending machine, a gas pump, or a wafer inspection station. Ten or so nodes can cover many such needs. Consider a house; it may need 100+ nodes in two years. Now think of a utility company that wants the utility meter at every home in a city of 1 million people (roughly 200,000 homes) to be remotely readable and writable over a network, and furthermore wants to support communications to and from devices within the home. It would need more than a million nodes. LONWORKS is unique in offering this level of scalability. With a wider range of CPU choices, it will be even better equipped to cover the widest application base.
Where does this step fit into LONWORKS technology's market evolution?
Echelon identified three phases leading to widespread use of LONWORKS technology:
Phase I for (i) defining and debugging the protocol, (ii) gaining a critical mass of OEMs, consultants and integrators, and (iii) facilitating interoperability,
Phase II for getting mainstream adoption and ensuring interoperability, and
Phase III for unconstrained growth in new applications across the full range of markets.
Making LONWORKS technology portable is a key step for Phase III.
Why not sooner? What would have hindered unconstrained growth if the protocol had been released earlier?
With respect to ensuring interoperability, it would have been like jumping off a precipice into a dark hole without knowing what may be at the bottom. The key common theme in Phases I and II was interoperability - a must for any networking technology. A protocol spec is not enough for interoperability. What is essential is overwhelming commitment to its 100% consistent use; even implied agreement for such use is not enough.
Phase II was critical for building the needed commitment. In Phase I, we implemented a 100% consistent protocol in the Neuron Chip and subjected it to the test of elbow grease - real use - among early adopters. In Phase II, LONWORKS gained the overwhelming commitment for its 100% consistent use -
3,000 OEM companies and 4 million installed nodes. What defines interoperability for TCP/IP is not that there is a spec, but that your implementation is a non-starter against your competitor unless you are 100% compatible with the installed base. No more, no less. Even 99% compatibility is inadequate. With its installed base, the LONWORKS protocol has enough commitment behind it to ensure 100% compatibility. If we had done this earlier, we could have ended up at the 99% point.
How do you judge when you are at the 100% point? Why not wait a little longer?
LONWORKS is already the clear leader in several industries. It is a part of the ANSI-approved ASHRAE 135-1995 BACnet standard for building automation. It has the highest deployment in home automation. And, it has been deployed in every key application segment of industrial controls - chemicals, food processing, petrochemicals, power generation, water/wastewater treatment, and many others. According to a September 1995 study by Venture Development Corporation (VDC), LONWORKS had the highest installed base of any sensor bus in the US industrial controls market.
LONWORKS technology is in use worldwide. At 3,000 OEMs and 4 million nodes, it has the largest adoption base of any control network, larger by an order of magnitude than any other. Mainstream companies are using it for mainstream applications. There is a rich infrastructure of consultants, training, interoperability groups, user groups, system integrators, contractors, specifying and consulting engineers, worldwide. There are over 1,000 products that already allow the creation of any type of system in each of the major markets - building, industrial, transportation and home automation.
What applications will this open up for LONWORKS technology?
...those where a product can be optimized further with a different host CPU. For example, in home automation, this would allow the use of the PC or set top box host CPU as the applications as well as protocol engine. In discrete controls, it would allow the protocol to be built into the PLC or microPLC. In process controls, it would allow the protocol to be integrated into the host CPU of the DCS, or of a high-performance instrument that executes fast floating point PID loops.
Do you think this step will also reduce confusion about standards?
We have always felt the market is very large, with many applications, and for most of them, the question of using control networks is not "whether" but "when." Multiple choices create confusion, and delay buying decisions. Especially when you are choosing a platform or an architecture with long term product line implications, the stakes are high.
We believe this step will focus users and reduce confusion and risk. In fact, we believe this confusion will be resolved in two years for several markets. LONWORKS is already the leading standard. It delivers interoperability; it delivers an evolved support infrastructure, and the experience of many real users. It has headroom in every aspect - system size, architecture, etc. Now it offers all the headroom for the future for platform choices too. It is the least risky choice.
How do Motorola and Toshiba feel about this?
To allow the LONWORKS protocol on any processor was a joint decision. Motorola and Toshiba did their analysis, and are clearly excited about this step.
The Neuron Chip is and will remain the most efficient and optimized engine for LONWORKS technology for most applications. And Motorola and Toshiba intend to keep it that way. If anything, they will hone the Neuron Chip's already highly competitive edge.
Both Motorola and Toshiba are certain that the overall market for LONWORKS technology will be much larger as a result of this move and that Neuron Chip volumes will grow at a faster rate.
What processors can and cannot be used? Is there a certain class of processors that you recommend?
We think a processor such as the 68360 would be a good start for high performance needs. Of course, you can choose any processor you like; the license imposes no restrictions.
Will this step impact Echelon's business focus?
Echelon will continue to focus on what it has always done best - delivering value to customers from technical innovation in its OEM hardware and software building block products and systems integrator solutions. Echelon has an innovative lineup of free topology and link power transceivers, power line transceivers, small routers, and now a network operating system and an object oriented framework for plug-and-play MMIs for monitoring, installation, and diagnostics of control systems. Our development tools are the envy of the competition. No one has been able to emulate their sophistication and seamlessness. Echelon easily has the most impressive lineup of OEM building blocks of any control network. We have introduced 90+ products in 5 years. In the future, these products may be faster, smaller, more integrated, more sophisticated, or better in some other way, but the basic strategy will not change. Also, like Motorola and Toshiba, we are committed to the Neuron Chip as the optimal platform for LONWORKS.
Will Echelon develop tools for other processors? How about other tool developers?
We have no plans to create development tools for other processors at the present time. The Neuron is very efficient in memory - stack, data variables, functions, I/O objects. It is also very efficient in processing power.
Anyone should be able to make tools for non-Neuron hosts. We welcome such initiatives. Application development tools for most of these processors, including high level tools such as C, C++, are already available. We expect that vendors will adapt these tools and add support for the protocol and networking. To the extent that we may find some of these markets attractive, we may choose to compete as well.
Will Echelon help other companies in becoming interoperable?
As we discussed earlier, Echelon is very cognizant of the importance of 100% interoperability. Yet we also have our business to tend to. Our goal is to provide the information and tools to allow companies to achieve interoperability on their own steam. For example, we will provide the specification and facilitate the reference implementation. We will also administer the licenses and ensure interoperability.
What is the cost?
There is no license fee for becoming a licensee. There are small material costs, such as the cost of the protocol spec document ($50); this will change from time to time, as reference code and example code is added.
Each LONWORKS node has a unique 48-bit ID. Echelon will administer these IDs. Licensees will pay Echelon, or at Echelon's option, the LONMARK Interoperability Association, US $0.15 per ID assigned. This fee covers the cost of administration of licenses and assigning ID numbers. There are no other costs.
Is this administrative fee a royalty?
There is no royalty.
Does Echelon foresee a standards organization administering the protocol at some point?
We are open to considering any proposal that is in the interest of the LONWORKS market.
Is Echelon working with standards organizations at this time?
Yes. We are working with several organizations in key markets - home automation, building automation, semiconductor manufacturing, gas stations, textile manufacture, and others.
When will the spec be available? When will the reference implementation be available?
Both processes are already in motion. We expect to be able to announce an availability date once the organization that will do the reference implementation is selected and the project gets under way. Suffice it to say, we want this done as quickly as possible.
How will conformance testing be handled? Who will verify implementations for compatibility?
The Neuron Chip will serve as the reference standard for interoperability. Licensees will be responsible for ensuring their own compliance. If there is a problem, the burden of proof is on the licensee. If a licensee's product is found to be incompatible in any way which prevents interoperability, they would have to repair or withdraw the product.
What about outside agencies? They exist, and support certification for certain other networks.
They may play a role in due course. The fact that the Neuron Chip provides the conformance standard makes it easier for licensees to verify compliance. A third party may create a test suite and may either license it or use it in their testing lab. We will welcome such a step, but it is not necessary.
How will suggestions for upgrades to the protocol be handled?
We will examine every reasonable suggestion.
Is Echelon doing something in relation to the Internet?
We are a control networking company. LONWORKS is not a solution for Internet or intranet pipes. LONWORKS is the infranet - it connects "things." It is complementary to both the Internet and intranets. It is the third leg of the connectivity stool.
Echelon and other companies are working toward defining and implementing LONWORKS to Internet connectivity. In the very near future, you will be able to control a LONWORKS network using any browser.
¸Echelon
** Note that there is no date on this and some of the info has changed
eg - Motorola is no longer involved, Cypress is on Board, and I've read that they're increasing their capacity substantially, altho this may not be directly tied to the Neuron, but they do seem pretty excited about Neuron.
- Lonworks appears to now be fully internet ready.
the link for this post is : echelon.com
There is also a terrific product catalogue..pdf....avaialble for download. Go to search.echelon.com and enter 'product catalog'.
I sincerely hope all this helps and is not too much posting on my part. |
