Deborah, (01)
> I thought about combining with the BACnet-type products but could see how
>that would be anything new either. So, am not sure where to go with this. What
>is the objective of a BACnet ontology? The ideal inferences or assertions and
>over what kinds of data sets? (02)
The lowest hanging fruit is automated classification and query support. Using
BACnet terminology, if I plug all of our device and object definitions into a
triple-store, layer on the ontology so things that aren't explicitly stated can
be inferred, can I get answers for queries about device capabilities? Can I
get a list of all of the objects that are vendor extended versions of standard
objects? Can I get a list of all of the devices on a specific network? Where
the devices use information from other devices (BACnet is a peer-to-peer
protocol) can I get a graph of those relationships? (03)
I can answer many of these queries now with relational database tables, but for
the "next generation" energy management system I'd rather not build the
hundreds of SQL tables I would need, along with a disastrous ORM layer, for the
many variations of BACnet equipment that we have from many vendors. Rather
than build something that no-so-gracefully degrades into a triple-store, start
with that and build up. (04)
The next step is automated validation of a protocol conformance statement for
some kind of vendor device. If "Joel's Smart Thermostat" says it conforms to
some interoperability specification, then there are services it has to support
and there are objects that it has to have. If my conformance statement doesn't
have those things, it's is an error. (05)
Now my EMCS can have a hundred instances of "Joel's Smart Thermostat" in a new
building and they will be automagically counted in all of those things that are
"Smart". Some of those might be located in labs and some in offices, so the
EMCS graph database will have its device information extended with locations,
which are in turn classified into room types. Now I can "easily" map out all
of the temperatures of the labs. (06)
The next layer up is the relationship between more complicated systems like a
central air handler and the labs/offices it serves, and maybe the offices in
some cases aren't BACnet but something else. I still want a formal definition
that X is "the space temperature in room 101A" and a way to stay X can be found
by reading Y, the "present value" of "analog input 1" of device Y which is
measured in "degrees Fahrenheit". I can't begin to describe that relationship
without having a very good definition of Y. (07)
I'm rambling a bit. I have no idea how that might or might not fit in with
NAISC, probably not much. (08)
Joel (09)
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