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Author
Bushby, S. T.
Title
Testing Conformance to Energy Management and Control System Communication Protocols. Part 2. Test Suite Generation.
Coporate
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
Journal
ASHRAE Transactions, Vol. 96, No. 1, 1134-1141, 1990
Report
AT-90-14-4,
Keywords
energy management | control systems | communication protocol | test suite generation | tests | test methods | test suite design | sequence generation
Abstract
ASHRAE has formed a committee to develop a standard communication protocol for energy management and control systems (EMCS). The goal of being able to connect control equipment from any vendor and make it work as part of an integrated system will not be achieved until tests to determine conformance to the standard are developed. This paper is the second in a two-part series addressing the question of testing conformance to an EMCS protocol. This paper reviews international efforts to develop procedures for generating test suites used to determine conformance to a communication protocol standard. Four criteria are defined for evaluating the alternatives, and recommendations for the ASHRAE standard are made. An outline for the ASHRAE test suite is presented along with comments about the future steps needed to completely define it.