LonMark International – the non-profit, mutual-benefit member trade association based on the ISO/IEC 14908 standards – has announced plans to undertake an innovative control-networking standard for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in partnership with Echelon Corporation, the CEN (European Committee for Standardisation) Technical Committee TC-247, and LonMark Germany.

The new LonTalk/IP standard adds native IP addressing to the Control Networking Protocol defined in ISO/IEC 14908-1 and allows control networking platforms to connect to bigger enterprise networks and the Internet. It also enables control networking applications to leverage standard IP infrastructure, IP diagnostic tools, and IP network administration tools.

“IIoT Rapidly Entering The Market”

“The time is right for a new control networking standard for IP because the global market for control networking products is rapidly evolving for consumers and industry as new mobile products, IoT devices, and IIoT solutions rapidly enter the market,” explains Ron Bernstein, LonMark International executive director. “Some of the leading IIoT solutions where the new standard will be deployed will be in building automation systems, lighting control systems, transportation automation systems, smart city applications, and utility metering systems.”

Echelon, a developer of open-standard control networking platforms, has informed CEN TC-247 that it intends to make some of its intellectual property for control networking on IP networks available to developers of LON products, as required by the standards bodies.

This intellectual property proposal was recently accepted by the TC-247 committee in Switzerland. Professor Fischer will now work with the committee to develop an initial draft of the new standard.

Simultaneously, LonMark International aims to present the same standard to the ANSI/CTA standards body. This LonTalk/IP addendum to the LON catalogue of standards will improve the usability and deployment of bigger systems and deliver an open control networking solution for the IIoT.

LonMark International

LonMark International has trialled and certified over 950 products that are in compliance with its interoperability guidelines. It has also certified nearly one thousand industry specialists worldwide for their expertise in the ISO/IEC 14908 standard. Products based on this standard are currently installed in more than half a million buildings worldwide.