BatiBus was a network protocol for

building automation Building automation (BAS), also known as building management system (BMS) or building energy management system (BEMS), is the automatic centralized control of a building's HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, lighting, ...

that was introduced in 1989 and has since been succeeded by

KNX KNX is an open standard (see EN 50090, ISO/IEC 14543) 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 ...

. It was a relatively simple low-cost

protocol Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technology ...

that did not rely on dedicated

chips ''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The serie ...

. The system was run by the BatiBus Club International (BCI), which was founded by the Swiss company

Landis & Gyr Landis+Gyr is a publicly listed, multinational corporation operating in over 30 countries and headquartered in Cham, Switzerland. Landis+Gyr makes meters and related software for electricity and gas utilities. History Landis+Gyr was founded in 18 ...

and the French companies AIRELEC, Electricité de France and Merlin Gerin (who originated the concept). Predominately used in France and captured by French Electrical Standard NF C 46620, it provided layers 1, 2 and 7 of the

OSI model The Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI model) is a conceptual model that 'provides a common basis for the coordination of SOstandards development for the purpose of systems interconnection'. In the OSI reference model, the communications ...

. Approximately 500,000 BatiBus network units were installed, mainly in France. BatiBus communicated over

twisted pair Twisted pair cabling is a type of wiring used for communications in which two conductors of a single circuit are twisted together for the purposes of improving electromagnetic compatibility. Compared to a single conductor or an untwisted ba ...

lines and in

topologies In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ho ...

that could be divided into several segments. Each segment was powered with a 15 volt power supply rated at 150 milliamps. A device (

node In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics *Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines, ...

) could be reached at one of 240 possible addresses. In addition, 16 group addresses could be established under which all nodes in a group could be reached. The nodes avoided data collisions via

CSMA/CA Carrier-sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) in computer networking, is a network multiple access method in which carrier sensing is used, but nodes attempt to avoid collisions by beginning transmission only after the channel i ...

and had data flow controls. The maximum

data transfer rate Data rate and data transfer rate can refer to several related and overlapping concepts in communications networks: Achieved rate * Bit rate, the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time ** Data signaling rate or gross bit rate ...

was 4800 bits/s.

References

Network protocols Building automation {{Automation protocols