Industrial Communication Systems

41-1

41.1 Introduction

LonWorks or local operating network (LON) is an event-triggered control network system originally

designed

by

Echelon

Corporation

in

1990.

It

consists

of

a

communication

protocol

called

LonTalk,

a

special

controller

(the

Neuron

Chip),

transceivers

for

bus

access,

and

a

set

of

development

and

manage-

ment

tool

s.

e

main

application

of

LonWorks

is

building

and

home

automation,

where

it

is

used

to

control

and

monitor,

among

others,

heating,

ventilating,

and

air-conditioning

(HVAC),

lighting,

security,

and

elevators.

But

also

other

application

areas

exist,

such

as

industrial

automation,

transportation

automa-

tion,

and str

eet ...