About non-NiagaraAX networks

About non-NiagaraAX networks

In any NiagaraAX station, one or more driver networks are used to fetch and model data values using proxy points, lower-tier components in that particular driver's architecture. To support a driver's proxy points, the station must have that driver's network architecture.

Networks are the top-level component for any NiagaraAX driver. For drivers that use field bus communications, such as Lonworks, BACnet, and Modbus (among many others), this often corresponds directly to a physical network of devices. Often (except for BACnet), the network component matches one-to-one with a specific comm port on the NiagaraAX host platform, such as a serial (RS-232 or RS-485) port, Lonworks FTT-10 port, or Ethernet port.

Note: A BACnetNetwork component is unique because it supports multiple logical BACnet networks, which sometimes use different comm ports (e.g. if a JACE-4/5 with BACnet MS/TP, one or more RS-485 ports). See the BACnet Guide for more details.

Other “non field bus” drivers also use a network architecture, for example the Ndio (Niagara Direct Input / Output) driver has an NdioNetwork to interface to physical I/O points on the host JACE (Ndio applies only to a JACE model with onboard I/O or with an attached hardware I/O board). Also, “database” drivers also use a network architecture, for example the “rdbSqlServer” driver includes an RdbmsNetwork. (Database drivers apply only to Supervisor or SoftJACE hosts.).

Within a driver architecture are a hierarchy of components that have properties that affect network activity. These component properties are used to monitor and control the network status (enabled, disabled, health, and similar items) and communication schedules, including polling updates and refresh rates.