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30-day Public Review for 4 Open Building Information Exchange (#OBIX) Committee Specification Drafts

The OASIS Open Building Information Exchange (oBIX) TC [1] members have recently approved four Committee Specification Drafts (CSDs) and submitted them for 30-day public review:

oBIX Version 1.1
Committee Specification Draft 01 / Public Review Draft 01
11 July 2013

Encodings for oBIX: Common Encodings Version 1.0 Committee Specification Draft 01 / Public Review Draft 01
11 July 2013

Bindings for oBIX: REST Bindings Version 1.0 Committee Specification Draft 01 / Public Review Draft 01
11 July 2013

Bindings for oBIX: SOAP Bindings Version 1.0 Committee Specification Draft 01 / Public Review Draft 01
11 July 2013

Specification Overview:

oBIX v1.1 provides the core information model and interactions for interactions with building control systems. The document specifies an object model used for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication which we name the Open Building Information eXchange (oBIX). It also describes the default XML encoding for oBIX.

Encodings for oBIX: Common Encodings v1.0 specifies different encodings for oBIX objects adhering to the oBIX object model. oBIX provides the core information model and interaction pattern for communication with building control systems. Specific implementations of oBIX must choose how to encode oBIX Information. The core specification describes an XML encoding, which is used in all examples in that document. The document specifies common alternate encodings, including CoAP, EXI, and JSON.

Bindings for oBIX: REST Bindings v1.0 specifies REST bindings for oBIX. The document describes the REST Binding, an interaction pattern that can be used in conjunction with XML, EXI, CoAP, and JSON encodings, as well as other encodings that may be specified elsewhere.

Bindings for oBIX: SOAP Bindings v1.0 specifies SOAP protocol bindings for oBIX. The document describes the SOAP Binding and includes a WSDL artifact.

TC Description:

The oBIX (open Building Information Exchange) specification enables enterprise applications to communicate with control systems (e.g. mechanical, electrical, security...) in buildings. Since oBIX 1.0 was released in 2006, it has found wide use as a semantic integration layer, in widespread use for communication between control systems, even within a building or site. oBIX is in wide use for gathering wide area situation awareness, in fleet management, and in perimeter security.

oBIX 1.1 is a refresh cycle that is intended to maintain full compatibility with the installed base of oBIX systems. The Technical Committee (TC) has re-written portions of the specification for improved clarity, and has increased the formal conformance sections. The intent of these changes is to improve interoperability between disparate implementations.

The structure of the oBIX Specification has changed. The core model of oBIX is in the oBIX 1.1 specification. Specific guidelines for Encodings, and for Bindings (REST and SOAP) are now in separate specifications. The Encoding specification has added the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) as a REST Binding. CoAP is a new IETF specification that is of growing interest to those implementing the Internet of Things in constrained environments, such as wireless sensor networks. The Encodings specification also adds JSON and EXI as two new lightweight options that extend the range of the REST interaction pattern. By moving Encodings and Bindings to separate specifications, the TC sought to make the core specification simpler while making it possible to define other encodings and bindings without revisiting the core.

The core specification now includes an XML Schema (XSD) for oBIX. The TC did not consider a normative schema in 2004; including one now will enhance the ability for developers to validate messages and develop code using standards modern toolkits. Reviewers are asked be sure to examine the enclose schema, which is normative.

Two features have been added to revised specification. An oBIX 1.1 server is able to provide metadata on each control point if available. If this metadata is based on one or more published taxonomies, the metadata is so identified. An oBIX 1.1 server is also able to more compactly deliver large data-sets of telemetry, as for example, an oBIX Historian request for fine-grained interval data over a prolonged period. The model for these large data-sets is compatible with models described in the OASIS specification WS-Calendar and in the Report Services of OASIS Energy Interoperation.

Public Review Period:

The public review starts 29 July 2013 at 00:00 GMT and ends 28 August 2013 at 23:59 GMT.

This is an open invitation to comment. OASIS solicits feedback from potential users, developers and others, whether OASIS members or not, for the sake of improving the interoperability and quality of its technical work.

For further information on URLs and the prose specification documents and related files are available here: https://www.oasis-open.org/news/announcements/30-day-public-review-for-4-open-building-information-exchange-obix-committee-spec