KNX support in Ignition

General Discussion
1

Hello.
We deliver solutions for building automation and are looking for a new scada solution.

Today we use iFix and Citech.
Our systems consist of KNX on all field equipment and bacnet on ventilation, heat pump etc.

I can not find any modules for KNX support in Ignition. Does anyone know if support for KNX is planned. Or if any of the third party vendors are planning this?

How do you others solve this? KNX for bacnet / OPC-ua gateways? Kepware?

I must say I am surprised that Ignition does not support KNX.

Does anyone have any idea how difficult it is to adapt one of the free drivers to Ignition?

Sorry_I_Can_ONLY_POST_TWO_LINKS_flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-knx-ultimate
Sorry_I_Can_ONLY_POST_TWO_LINKS_flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-knx
Sorry_I_Can_ONLY_POST_TWO_LINKS_flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-knx-easy
Sorry_I_Can_ONLY_POST_TWO_LINKS_github.com/IOT-DSA/dslink-java-knx/blob/master/LICENSE
Sorry_I_Can_ONLY_POST_TWO_LINKS_github.com/calimero-project/calimero-server
Sorry_I_Can_ONLY_POST_TWO_LINKS_xknx.io/
Sorry_I_Can_ONLY_POST_TWO_LINKS_github.com/vapourismo/knx-go

I think knxd can be a simple solution. Install it as a deamon on a linux machine running ignition. And make a simple integration between the two.

Espen

1 Like
2

A quick Google shows there’s a couple OPC UA options. I’d probably start with those.

There’s nothing planned on our side. To be honest I’ve never even heard of KNX. Building automation is not something we have much/any expertise in.

3

Youre product looks to fit well with building automation. We usually work against municipalities or property owners.

The municipalities has a rule that everything up to the scada system must be bacnet. But the property owner don’t have strikt rules. Today we use wago PLC to gateway the KNX vaules to bacnet. And we can use them to gateway to opc-ua (Testing thise at home now).

One building is typical 1500-3000 tags. Depends how big the building is and type, school, office, gym…
Every building the town(municipalities) builds is going in to a scada so the iFix server is getting lots of tags and images. And the operating personnel can control the buildings from on place.

I think you should look inn to building automation, it could be a big market for you.
And KNX is the standard in Europe for building automation.

KNX is an open standard for commercial and domestic building automation. KNX devices can manage lighting, blinds and shutters, HVAC, security systems, energy management, audio video, white goods, displays, remote control, etc.

https://www.knx.org/knx-en/for-professionals/index.php

4

I just spent some time skimming the specification and "cookbook". It is very dependent on MS Visual Studio, which is a problem for a cross-platform product like Ignition. Not that it can't be done, but it would be a big project. Don't hold your breath.

1 Like
5

There is a Java api here for knx

https://calimero-project.github.io/#usage

3 Likes
6

I understand that i nobody have heard of or used KNX it will not be a top priority to support it.
But I would say that in build automation in Europe it’s inn much use.
In my first post I linked to diffrent project for KNX support. If any of thes could be used to easyer give Ignition easy support for KNX that would be nice.

1 Like
7

Sigh. All of the Calimero resources are GPLv2. No way to include that in Ignition.

8

I think most knx projects that are on github or gitlab are GPL. I do not think the are much with BSD projects.

But http://www.knx.org has an overview of all certified drivers from different vendors. It may be possible to customize an existing driver from one of them.

https://www.knx.org/knx-en/for-manufacturers/members/

Weinzierl is one of the firms
https://weinzierl.de/index.php/en/all-knx/knx-stacks-en

9

SDKs for C and .Net. So a JNI would be needed for each platform. ):

I think I'll stop here. For now, at least. Too much else on my plate, and too nebulous a path forward to add it to my driver module to-do list.

10

May your only free choose is to use node red knx driver with ignition.

1 Like
11

https://plc4x.apache.org/users/protocols/knxnetip.html

1 Like
12

that link looks good. It even APACHE licence. I think thats a better licence for Ignition

13

KNX makes it easier for others to communicate with them.

I'm still hoping for Ignition support on KNX

https://schema.knx.org/

Video that explains what they are working on

14

Bringing up this thread again.
Since I really want KNX support in Ignition. KNX.org invest in IoT and how to get knx equipment easier to the cloud. They have a github page here with information about their KNX IoT Point API stack. It is an open-source stack, [Apache-2.0 license.

Sorry. It's not Java.

If you to would like ignition to support KNX please vote

We use KNX as a field equipment in all rooms of the buildings. Today we convert it to opc/ua or bacnet to get it into ignition

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15

That's a big barrier to implementing a native Ignition driver.

Like, a deal-breaker.

16

Yeah... I mean this looks neat and all, but with no Java toolkit, and apparently multiple already working avenues to get this data... why would we prioritize this?

17

Hmm, I think that repo was misleading - their IoT platform isn't what we'd need.

It looks like KNX things are capable of exposing their points via a CoAP API... which is a little more reasonable a target.

18

Where'd you see that?

The only thing I found on the KNX site is their "Falcon SDK". Which is .Net.

Which likely means Windows-only. (Mono on Linux is not great, by all accounts.) That means I, as a third party, am not going to be interested at all.

19
20

It's hard to maneuver through their offerings, but I'm getting the impression that API is not at the device level, but at the orchestration level (somewhere). May or may not suffice.