Overview
Protocol conversion is the process of translating data between two incompatible communication protocols by using a gateway. In building automation and industrial integration work, that usually means polling or subscribing to one protocol on the source side, translating the values, and then exposing them to a destination system in a different protocol.
Chipkin’s primary gateway platforms for this work are QuickServer and FieldServer. Both rely on a defined point map to normalize source-side data and present a cleaner downstream interface.
Common Conversion Patterns
| Source Protocol | Destination Protocol | Typical Application |
|---|---|---|
| Modbus RTU | BACnet/IP | Meters or drives into a BMS |
| EtherNet/IP | BACnet/IP | PLC data into building automation systems |
| Modbus TCP | BACnet/IP | IP-connected field devices into supervisory platforms |
| Veeder Root | BACnet/IP | Tank-monitor data into facility systems |
| BACnet MS/TP | BACnet/IP | Serial field segments into an IP backbone |
What A Gateway Does
- Reads or subscribes to source-side data.
- Translates that data through a defined map.
- Serves or publishes the translated values to the destination protocol.
Typical Project Lifecycle
- Confirm the source and destination protocols.
- Collect the real points list or source-side data definition.
- Build the gateway configuration and point map.
- Commission the gateway on the live network.
- Validate live reads, writes, alarms, and fallback behavior.
- Capture diagnostics and a final backup for handoff.
Common Problems
- Address or object mapping is wrong
- Data types or scaling are mismatched
- Polling is too aggressive for the source device
- The team expects a writable path that was never actually scoped