Compressor fleet monitoring over BACnet/IP, from a custom ARM controller to SCADA

The challenge

A compressor fleet is run from a supervisory platform, and the people running it want every unit’s status and settings there, not on a laptop plugged into each machine in turn.

The manufacturer’s controller is its own ARM design. It needed a standard network interface that SCADA platforms already understand, exposing the controller’s analog and digital I/O for both status and configuration.

Why the CAS BACnet Stack

• The stack is portable C++ behind a flat C interface, so it builds on a custom ARM board as readily as on a stock one; the product supplies a socket and a clock.
• Analog and binary input, output and value objects map the controller’s I/O directly, and writable values carry configuration with BACnet’s command priorities.
• The source is included and royalty-free across the fleet, with support from the engineers who maintain the stack.

The solution

The CAS BACnet Stack runs in the controller as a BACnet/IP server. The controller’s analog and digital I/O appear as BACnet objects: inputs for status, and writable outputs and values for configuration.

Each compressor joins the SCADA network as its own BACnet device, so a fleet is a list of devices the platform discovers.

Results

• SCADA platforms monitor and control each compressor over BACnet/IP.
• Configuration and status are available remotely through the controller’s analog and digital I/O.