EIB in practice

The European Installation Bus (EIB) system was developed in the late 1980s and was introduced into the market in Germany in 1990. The protocol was an immediate success and the EIBA organisation was set up in Brussels to regulate compatibility of new products and to ensure commonality of product databases. Any company wishing to register a new EIB product has to submit the product to a certified EIB test house with it´s application program. Due to rigorous testing of products and the use of a single universal programming tool ETS (EIB Tool Software) it means that compatibility is guaranteed leaving the building controls designer to concentrate on what the EIB system has to do rather than how. The article looks at: integration of functions; transmission technology; the bus coupling unit; bus topology; product variety; integration with broadband; and visualisation and control.