Interview with Joost Demarest, Financial and Technical Director of the KNX Association
In an exclusive interview with KNXtoday, Joost Demarest explains what IoT means for the KNX community worldwide, how the KNX Association is helping to drive development in this area and what we can expect in the future.
KNXtoday: What do you think about IoT - what do you think its purpose is?
JD: The IoT is an interconnected world that is not limited to devices such as personal computers, tablets and mobile phones, but is connected down to the level of every "thing" imaginable on the planet. In building automation terms, this means every single sensor and actuator communicating in homes and buildings. In my opinion, KNX, even in the very first systems, was able to create an "intranet of things" Since 2007, these intranets have been connected to "the Internet of Things" via KNXnet/IP. Now, with KNX IoT, we can create additional tools to make KNX part of the IoT.
KNXtoday: Why IoT is important for the KNX community - what does it currently enable us to do?
JD: The IoT creates a win-win situation: KNX can become part of the IoT and provide data to it, while the IoT itself can send data to KNX. In the latter case, KNX might not be able to provide this data on its own. For example, none of our manufacturer members are likely to invest in developing their own weather forecasting service. The KNX manufacturers could create weather stations that provide current weather data, but for example the Customer Energy Manager (CEM) in KNX could rely on existing weather forecasting services on the Internet to forecast energy production.
In this way, a CEM connected to KNX and IoT can receive all possible data to optimise energy consumption.
KNXtoday: What opportunities does IoT hold for us - where do you think it's heading?
JD: We cannot imagine all the potential uses that IoT could have, just as we could not imagine the current potential of the internet 30 years ago. But what we can say is that just as the Internet today can harness all the data that exists on the Internet, in homes and buildings, an IoT application that is implemented will benefit from the fact that the adjacent product creates data that it can use in combination with its own data. Cloud Services and Artificial Intelligence can implement applications based on this data without requiring products in the facility to communicate directly with each other, even if the core functions of the buildings still need to be connected by skilled integrators.
KNXtoday: What are the prerequisites for a building management system using IoT?
JD: For a building management system to be part of the IoT, it must be able to deliver data in a way that is easily understood by IT systems, not in its own "exotic" way. It should be accessible via protocols designed by the Internet Engineering Task Force, even if a proprietary protocol is used within the building management system. If you were to compare this to spoken languages, it would be like speaking a particular language within an ecosystem, but when you're talking to the IoT, you have to speak English.
KNXtoday: What has the KNX Association done to ensure that the KNX system can fully embrace the IoT?
JD: KNX and KNX members have invested a lot in developing better integration possibilities for IoT, which is known as KNX IoT.
On the one hand, they agreed on a vendor-independent RESTful web service API for classic KNX devices, called the 3rd Party API. Since this is now standardized, others - even non-KNX members - can much faster design clients that connect to third-party API servers from different vendors, which have to offer a minimum set of data based on certification.
On the other hand, they agreed to offer KNX manufacturers more possibilities to use IPv6-compatible transmission media such as Wi-Fi, LAN or Thread networks.
In this way, a KNX system can still consist of KNX TP (twisted pair) and KNX RF (radio frequency) devices, but can now also include Thread-based devices that communicate in KNX and can be configured in ETS. These are called KNX Point API devices.
KNXtoday: How is the implementation going?
JD: The first version of the 3rd Party API specifications has already been released and some manufacturers have already used them in their products. The second version is nearing completion with the corresponding Proof of Concept planned by KNX. This is also available to potential server and client developers at .
The Point API specification is also in its final development phase; the last comments from internal testing on the specification are currently being resolved. KNX is working with a subcontractor to design the first open source stack of this kind, which will also be available to KNX members soon.
KNXtoday: What future developments can we expect from the KNX Association?
JD: All KNX developments need ETS support. In order for 3rd Party API gateways to provide useful and meaningful data for the "things" accessing the data, it would be beneficial if vendor product data included more semantics (help to understand the meaning of the data). To do this, KNX should provide the possibility for manufacturers to extend their product data using the ETS Manufacturer Tool and export this data to third party API servers.
In addition, it is necessary to support Point API devices in ETS, so that the installer can simply connect such a device to an IP line in the ETS topology window and configure/download it like any other KNX device.
KNXtoday: Why KNX IoT is the right way?
JD: The above shows that KNX is constantly expanding its technology and is constantly starting from the best, rather than starting from scratch again and again. This is a huge advantage for anyone investing in KNX: a system with the very first EIB product from the nineties can be upgraded with the latest KNX Point API tool. Which other technology offers such possibilities?