Case study
A DALI-2 lighting controller certified at the first attempt
How Pinetics built a four-bus DALI-2 lighting controller, end to end, that passed DALI-2 certification and Niagara certification at the first attempt.
At a glance
Client
A building automation company in Asia
Product
A DALI-2 lighting interface that connects lighting networks to a Niagara building management controller over Ethernet
Pinetics' scope
The full product, end to end: architecture, hardware, firmware and the DALI-2 stack, then certification support, support for manufacturing and production, and support after installation
Outcome
DALI-2 certified with the DALI Alliance (DiiA), Niagara certification passed without a single re-submission, and in production and installed in buildings
What did the client need?
The client needed one interface that drives up to four DALI-2 lighting buses and reports to a Niagara building management controller over Ethernet. It had to meet the DALI-2 standard, stay backward compatible with DALI-1 devices, be configured and updated over the network, and pass both DALI-2 and Niagara certification so it could be sold into commercial buildings.
What did Pinetics build?
- Four DALI-2 buses at once, with DALI-2 features such as collision detection and recovery, backward compatible with DALI-1.
- Ethernet to the Niagara controller, with a TCP/IP protocol designed for it, and support for several interfaces looped through an Ethernet switch to one controller.
- Configuration over Ethernet, including device details such as the serial number and network settings.
- Firmware updates over Ethernet, from the Niagara software or directly.
- Factory reset, a communication test and firmware troubleshooting for installers.
- DIN-rail enclosure with screw terminals for the four buses and power, two Ethernet ports, and status LEDs for each bus, power, errors and a heartbeat.
- BACnet built into the firmware, so the interface can also talk to BACnet building management systems.
What was the hardest part of the project?
Two things. The first was running four DALI-2 buses at the same time inside the protocol’s strict timing, with collision detection and recovery on every bus. The second was updating firmware over Ethernet on units already installed in buildings, without any risk of leaving a unit dead.
How did the team solve it?
- Timing per bus. Each DALI-2 bus runs its own timer-driven state machine, so one busy or faulty bus cannot upset the timing of the others.
- Stress testing before certification. The buses were tested at full load on the bench, with forced collisions and faults, before the formal DALI-2 tests.
- A fail-safe update. The bootloader keeps the working firmware until the new image has been checked, and falls back to it if the update fails.
- Updates tested the hard way. Updates were tested with power cuts and dropped network connections in the middle of a transfer, to prove a unit always recovers.
What was the result?
The interface passed DALI-2 certification with the DALI Alliance (DiiA) and passed Niagara certification without a single re-submission. Pinetics supported the client through certification, manufacturing and production, and after installation. The product is in production and installed in buildings.
“We engaged Pinetics for a certified lighting controller with DALI integration. Their embedded team understood the protocol stack deeply and got us through Niagara certification without a single re-submission.”
CEO, building automation company in Asia
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