Gateway interface module AMIR

KNX

AMIR KNX PLC is a modular device for rail mounting that allows to access data (communication objects) on the KNX bus and operate on them for logic processing. The device is equipped with an integrated bus communication module and is designed for rail mounting in switchboards. The logic processing core is a PLC with a structure and a set of languages that comply with international IEC 61131-3 standard. The PLC in its basic version is not meant to have onboard inputs or outputs (as with common industrial automation PLCs): it is specifically designed to operate on the communication objects that are defined and used in a KNX installation. The PLC is capable of routing these objects mostly in a transparent way by reading them as internal variables. The variables are bound to the appropriate communication objects by a firmware library; the definition of these bindings is made through a helper software tool that extracts communication objects references from an existing ETS project and compiles the corresponding definitions to be copied into the PLC source code. Since access to KNX objects is entirely defined on the PLC side, and also because of the extreme flexibility and configurability if its tasks, the device does not require – and indeed does not have – an ETS application program. For this reason, it does not appear in the ETS project as a component. The programmer and the configurator, however, shall of course have a good awareness of how both sides of the system operate on the common object base, in order to achieve the desired operation and avoid unwanted interference.