Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1476549
October/November/December 2022 I 37 COMPATIBILIT Y WITH PoE Essentially, PoE is brand agnostic and ready for use in all kinds of industries and applications (e.g., commercial, industrial, retail, residential). The PoE infrastructures communicate in a common language. Therefore, different types of systems and devices can be easily connected, configured, and integrated. Open protocols are easier to work with in terms of master system integration and scalability in smart buildings. The PoE devices should support the open network protocol Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) or others including BACnet, AMQP, Dali/KNX, Art-Net, Bluetooth, EnOcean, LoRaWAN, and Thread. Essentially, MQTT is a message protocol for networks with low bandwidth and high latency. Therefore, it is ideally suited for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. In the IoT, it is used all the way to the connection of cloud environments. The use of IoT makes it easier to share information, control operations, and enhance human interaction. required, resulting in reduced energy consumption. The PoE-compatible devices can be connected to the network and are self-configuring. Since only low voltage is used, there is no specific requirement for qualified electrical technicians for both implementation and maintenance. The network can be managed by data cabling installers and IT staff. The PoE standards provide backward compatibility with all previous standards. The installation of the net- work is highly standardized and verifiable in accordance with applications and installation requirements. Since both power and communication are on one cable, there is less congestion in the installation space because fewer cables are required. CABLE TECHNOLOGY FOR PoE From Cat 5e to Cat 8, all category cables support the PoE standards 802.3af, at, and bt but not with the same efficiency or transmission rate capability. The efficiency of PoE is increased by using Cat 6A cable, which supports 10G transmission and also promotes less signal degrada- tion from heat generated during the operation of powered devices. The Cat 6A cables use larger gauge conductors, typically 23 gauge or to a much lesser extent 22 gauge, which is considerably more robust than a standard Cat 6 cable. The Cat 6A cables provide the ability to push more current without heat loss, driving higher power and watt- age capabilities. A shielded Cat 6A cable enhances the cable's transmission properties. It provides the maximum energy output at lower temperatures due to higher heat dissipation (and generation), which allows power to be transmitted over potentially longer distances. Further- more, Cat 6A supports 10 Gb/s Ethernet for the full distance of 100 m (≈328 ft). Considering the growth in the number of devices powered by PoE and the number of wireless users, install- ing category cable with ratings below Cat 6A could place businesses at risk of needing to replace Cat 5e and Cat 6 cabling to support 802.11ax WAPs. Based on the superior performance of Cat 6A to achieve 10G transmission rates and the improved characteristics of heat dissipation, Cat 6A is a reliable choice for future-proofing the digital building infrastructure. The PoE is the backbone technology to enable digital building solutions to come to life. Protocols are best understood as the languages by which objects communicate with each other. Technically, they enable communication between servers within a network. The early BMS consisted of multiple sub- systems that were not interconnected. That is because those systems did not speak the same language. Building operators or managers had to collect and aggregate data from different systems in single or across multiple build- ings in order to interpret and analyze the data. Those limitations are now mitigated with the establishment of communication protocols for buildings. Furthermore, the PoE power supply is a simple plug-and-play setup that can be operated with DC power. Conversion adapters for AC/DC are not