BIBBs are indeed “building blocks” to interoperability. They are used to classify the capability of the device and for creating standard device profiles. The number of required BIBBs increases with the complexity of the device. To fully understand the workings of each BIBB you need to consult Annex K. Table 3 provides a listing of required BIBBs for each device profile (discussed below).
¹Not required if the device is a BACnet MS/TP Slave. |
BACnet Standard Device Profiles
To ease the process in determining BACnet compliance, the standard classifies devices into six categories:
- Operator Workstation (B-OWS)
- Building Controller (B-BC)
- Advanced Application Controller (B-AAC)
- Application Specific Controller (B-ASC)
- Smart Actuator (B-SA)
- Smart Sensor (B-SS)
In order for a device to be classified as a standard BACnet device, it must comply with a set of defined BIBBs. The listing of required BIBBs for each device classification is called a Device Profile. The simplest device is the Smart Sensor and, as shown in column B-SS of Table 3, it is only required to support the DS-RP-B BIBB. It only needs to execute the request for data since it is a sensor. The BAS Remote is more complex, being classified as a B-ASC requiring the BIBBs listed in Table 4.
 Table 4 — B-ASC Device Profile |
The Read Property and Write Property BIBBs are straightforward since they involved data sharing, but in both cases the device only responds to a request to read or write. The Device & Network Management BIBBs are also limited in that the device only responds to requests. It basically functions as a server and not a client. It should be noted that the number of BIBBs listed in Table 3 only represent minimum requirements. A vendor can choose to support more, in which case the device profile for that vendor's device would include more BIBBs. In order to fully understand what a device is capable of doing, you need to study the device’s Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PICS).
