Cornerstones- October 2010

American Auto-Matrix is pleased to announce the newest addition to our HVAC product line, and the fourth product to the NB-GPC family: the NB-GPC4.

As a member of the GPC Product Family, the NB-GPC4 is a fully programmable, networkable, and expandable BACnet Advanced Application Controller (B-AAC). The device is designed to provide hardware and software flexibility using onboard I/O and STATbus - AAM's innovative sensor networking technology.

The NB-GPC4 can be used in a wide variety of applications that require stand-alone control, as well as full peer-to-peer capabilities with other devices on the BACnet network. The hardware platform includes status LEDs for power, communications, output status, and other features helpful for field usage. All NB-GPC products comply with the ANSI/ASHRAE BACnet Standard and are BTL-listed as B-AAC profile devices.

GPC Technology features built-in logic blocks that enable you to create and implement functional
and scalable program routines without having to write a single instance of line-by-line programming.

10 BACnet Schedule objects and 4 BACnet Calendar objects

Supports dynamic and flexible weekly and exception scheduling control.

4 Notification Class objects

Define destinations to where object alarms and events are sent.

16 PID Loop objects

Provides standard closed loop analog control with flexible setpoint scheduling.

24 Thermostatic Loop objects

Provides closed loop, thermostatic (on/off) control with seasonal and schedule control.

6 Pulse Pair PID Loop objects

Provides closed loop paired-output control with flexible setpoint scheduling.

8 Math objects

Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide, Min, Max, and Average

16 Logic objects

Provides general Boolean logic operations.

12 Min/Max/Average objects

Provides min, max, and average values.

4 Enthalpy objects

Provides dedicated Enthalpy calculation.

12 Scaling objects

Provides linear interpolation between two defined scales and outputs the result.

12 Input Select objects

Provides the ability to choose "one or other" based on built-in Boolean logic.

4 Staging objects

Supports for up to 8 stages each with runtime usage, lead lag, and other features.

32 Remap objects

Provides support for re-directing values within internal logic.

8 Netmap objects

Supports reading and writing information to/from other BACnet devices.

8 Broadcast objects

Provides support for transporting key data to multiple devices and networks.

1 Comm Status object

Provides the ability to allow custom operations based on network health.

1 Season object

Used to determine summer/winter modes for seasonal setpoint control on loops

SPL Line By Line Programming Support

8 SPL Program Regions

8kb per program - provides BASIC-style programming capabilities.

Data Storage

Analog Value and Binary Value objects

24 of each type supported with alarming and command prioritization support.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Product Name:AspectFT Product Family

Revision Level:v1.04.00

The AspectFT Product Family gives you a truly open, web-enabled HVAC energy control solution that is designed to allow access to your building from any standard web browser. We've listened to your feedback, worked hard, and are proud to announce the release of AspectFT v1.04.00.

New Features:

Introduction of XPath Reader Element

XPath is an XML script language. Through this technology users can now retrieve information from an XML file.
Use this to pull weather forecast data from sites like Yahoo! Weather or trigger occupancy through proximity detection using Google Latitude.
An example of using XPath to leverage Yahoo! Weather has been provided in the AspectFT Online Help System.

Introduction of Formatted Report Element

Formatted Reports provide users with a template to generate simple reports. Use trend, alarm, or any other data stored to a connected database to generate simple reports. After the report is generated by any standard web browser it can be saved as a PDF, Microsoft Excel (.xls), Comma Separated Value (.csv), Text Dump (.txt), or HTML (.html) and emailed to users.
While Large Formatted Reports can be generated from an AspectFT-Matrix, reports will be generated faster by using AspectFT-Facility or AspectFT-Enterprise.

Enhanced SIM/LIVE Support for Database Elements

Only when Aspect Studio is toggled to LIVE mode will key elements operate. This includes writing database elements (Triggered Historical, Database Write Elements, etc.) as well as, special function elements such as Emailer, XPath, and others. A complete list of elements that fall into this category can be referenced in the AspectFT Online Help System

Enhanced Emailer Element Support

The Emailer element provides users with the ability to configure a specific network port and send email using SMTP. Use any standard SMTP mail server on a local network, as well as ISP and Internet-based e-mail servers such as Gmail, Yahoo!, and others to integrate the Emailer element.

Heat/Cool Setpoint Selector Element

This element allows heating/cooling setpoint selection to be based on the current schedule status, or other input value that follows AAM's traditional four-mode schedule algorithm.

Project Source Download

AspectFT Targets (Matrix, Facility, Enterprise) now permit users to download a copy of the deployed project source from the Aspect Control Panel. Project Source, (A link under System Administration) allows users to download a password protected .zip archive of the deployed project. The password for the .zip file will default to the username and password originally used to deploy the project. For example, if your username is aamuser and your password is default, the .zip password will be aamuserdefault.

Enhancements to iCalendar Schedule element

Support has been added for X-WR-TIMEZONE. Use this when providing time zone support capabilities for Google Calendar references.
A Holiday Input has been added to the Schedule Element. This allows users to force a schedule into holiday mode. The output for the Holiday Mode is defined through an Expert Property.

New Capabilities and Enhancements to the Historical Database Server element.

The Historical Database Server element used to perform trend reports has been enhanced to allow users to:

Input a date range to the Trigger input of the Historical Database Server. This allows data to be retrieved from a specific date range. Date Ranges are created using Date Buttons in conjunction with a new Date Range Creator element.
Input a relative date range (by days, weeks, months, etc) to the Trigger input of the Historical Database Server element. This allows trend data to be retrieved in a relative manner. Relative Date Ranges are created through use of the Relative Date Range Creator element.

Complete examples of the usage on these new elements have been included in the AspectFT Online Help System under Trend Presentation topics.

Enhancements:

SDP points/devices falling offline too long has been resolved.

Any existing site utilizing the AspectFT Product Family and the SDP driver should immediately upgrade to v1.04.00.

Simple Mobile Web pages (used to provide mobile devices with information) have been scaled to allow better fit on mobile platforms that utilize WebKit-based browsers.

AAM has tested this functionality on the following mobile platforms:

iOS (iPhone OS)
Blackberry OS - note that pre-Blackberry 6 devices do not utilize WebKit technology
Android OS
Palm webOS.

Change of State alarms will only alarm from one state to another once the state has been cleared through use of a new input property.
Alarm and Database tables displayed on Design workspace pages (viewed by end-users) now retain their pre-programmed column widths.
Advanced Alarm Elements can now be configured to send colors based on alarm state.
BACnet Time Editor now decodes midnight properly.
BACnet Weekly Schedule editor now properly displays NULL values (typically used to revert to default).
BACnet elements can now be configured to output a user defined value in the event that a NULL value is encountered (such as the case when monitoring a specific array index of an object's priority-array).
When scheduling with Google Calendar, the output will operate on a cached version of the last downloaded calendar in the event of a lost internet connection.
Current Time element now outputs time in both EPOCH and Long (numeric) formats.
Date/Time buttons now support writing Date/Time values in EPOCH and Long (numeric) formats. This capability allows users to create a crude logic schedule using standard logic elements within AspectFT.
AspectFT Restart Dialog (displayed after deployment) width has been increased to allow proper display of resolvable addresses.
Tweet Writer's auto-suspend behavior has been changed to allow it to not require an output connection for proper operation.
An issue with the Increment/Decrement element incorrectly setting a low value in an isolated incident has been resolved.
Pressing F5 once AspectFT- Studio is started will load the last project worked with.
For easier identification of field-bus point from design and diagram elements, field-bus points (PUP, BACnet, Modbus, FTNet, and SDP) are now color coded as green element icons.