Integrations
What is BACnet?
BACnet (Building Automation and Control Network) is the dominant open protocol for building automation. Most modern BMS speak it natively.
What BACnet is. BACnet (Building Automation and Control Network) is an ANSI/ASHRAE standard, ISO 16484-5, for communication between building automation devices. It defines how controllers, sensors, and applications exchange object data, temperatures, setpoints, occupancy, alarm states, over IP, Ethernet, or older serial buses.
What it does. BACnet models a building as a set of standard object types, analog and binary values, schedules, trend logs, alarms, so devices from different vendors describe the same kind of point the same way. A controller doesn't need a proprietary driver for every brand on site; it reads and writes BACnet objects using one protocol.
BACnet vs Modbus, OPC UA and oBIX. BACnet is purpose-built for buildings, unlike the industrial-general Modbus. OPC UA carries a richer data model and stronger built-in security, which is why it's spreading from manufacturing into buildings. oBIX sits a level above all three, exposing a supervisor's picture of the building over plain HTTP. See the full comparison in our protocol guide for integrators.
| Protocol | What it's for | Transport model | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|---|
| BACnet | Building automation, purpose-built | Standard objects over IP, Ethernet or MS/TP serial | Most modern BMS |
| Modbus | General industrial control, adopted by buildings | Register reads/writes over RTU serial or TCP | Meters, VFDs, older controllers |
| OPC UA | Secure industrial and building data exchange | Service-oriented, typed object model | Modern manufacturing, upgraded BMS |
| oBIX | Reading a supervisor's data as a web service | XML over HTTP | Niagara stations and supervisors |
Standards context. BACnet is maintained by ASHRAE's SSPC 135 committee and published internationally as ISO 16484-5. It has been extended over three decades, most BMS platforms sold today, from Siemens Desigo to Schneider EcoStruxure to Honeywell Niagara-based systems, support it as a native or add-on protocol.
How FrostLogic Explore connects. FrostLogic Explore reads BACnet, BACnet/IP and BACnet MS/TP via a gateway, natively. Write access starts off; we subscribe to point updates. You grant writes one scope at a time.
Before you ask
BACnet, the questions that come up.
Building Automation and Control Network. It's a communication standard, not a brand or a single vendor's product.
BACnet is purpose-built for buildings, with object types for things like schedules and alarms baked in. Modbus is older and simpler, just register values, built for general industrial control, and lacks that building-specific context. OPC UA carries a richer data model and stronger built-in security, and is increasingly used in both manufacturing and modernised buildings.
Both. BACnet/IP runs over standard Ethernet networks. BACnet MS/TP is the older serial variant, still common on legacy field buses, and is usually bridged to IP with a gateway.
Most of them. Siemens Desigo, Schneider EcoStruxure Building, Honeywell's Niagara-based systems and Johnson Controls Metasys all support BACnet natively or through an add-on card.
Yes, once you turn it on. Write access starts off. You grant it one scope at a time, and Explore proposes the change with its reasoning before anything moves. You choose whether that proposal waits for approval or runs automatically inside the scope you set.
Only for BACnet MS/TP serial devices. BACnet/IP points are read directly over the network. Older serial-only sites need a cheap IP gateway, which most integrators already stock.
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