What B-ALSWS Is
A BACnet device profile is a standardized capability level: a checklist of things a device must be able to do before it can wear the label. B-ALSWS (BACnet Advanced Life Safety Workstation) is the full life-safety operator interface, defined in Annex L of ANSI/ASHRAE 135-2024 (clause L.2.1) as an advanced life-safety operator workstation that provides full support of the life-safety features of BACnet. It supports limited configuration and ongoing commissioning in addition to monitoring and event handling.
The checklist items are BACnet Interoperability Building Blocks (BIBBs), each a named unit of capability such as “can send a read request” (DS-RP-A). B-ALSWS is an operator-side (client) profile: it initiates reads, writes, silence and reset operations, object creation, and device management against other devices, and it receives event notifications rather than generating them. A device documents its profile claim in its PICS (Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement); to verify a claim, ask for the PICS and check the profile line.
Where It’s Used
B-ALSWS is the engineering-grade life-safety seat, targeted at an operator or technician with a higher level of technical ability.
- Life-safety command workstations. A head end (the central BMS server) console where operators watch Life Safety Point and Life Safety Zone status, acknowledge alarms, and issue silence and reset operations.
- Fire and life-safety commissioning stations. A workstation used during startup to adjust life-safety alarm parameters, create notification objects, and back up device configuration.
- Integrated safety consoles. A supervisory station that presents life-safety events, trends, and event logs and configures audit reporting across the system.
Required Services
The table below is the exhaustive service set required by the B-ALSWS BIBBs. Initiates means the device sends the request or notification; Executes means the device receives and acts on it (responding, for confirmed services). BIBB codes encode the same split: a -A BIBB is the initiating side, a -B BIBB the executing side. A - means the profile does not require that direction; a device may still support it. A service can appear under two capability areas when two different BIBBs use it.
| Capability area | Service | Required by BIBB | Initiates | Executes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data sharing | ReadProperty | DS-RP-A, DS-RP-B, DS-LSAV-A | Yes | Yes |
| Data sharing | ReadPropertyMultiple | DS-RPM-A | Yes | - |
| Data sharing | WriteProperty | DS-WP-A, DS-LSAM-A | Yes | - |
| Data sharing | WritePropertyMultiple | DS-WPM-A | Yes | - |
| Alarm and event management | ConfirmedEventNotification | AE-N-A, AE-LSAVN-A | - | Yes |
| Alarm and event management | UnconfirmedEventNotification | AE-N-A, AE-LSAVN-A | - | Yes |
| Alarm and event management | LifeSafetyOperation | AE-LS-A | Yes | - |
| Alarm and event management | AcknowledgeAlarm | AE-ACK-A, AE-LS-A | Yes | - |
| Alarm and event management | GetEventInformation | AE-AS-A | Yes | - |
| Alarm and event management | GetAlarmSummary | AE-AS-A | Yes | - |
| Alarm and event management | ReadRange (event-log view) | AE-ELVM-A | Yes | - |
| Trending | ReadRange (trend-log view) | T-AVM-A | Yes | - |
| Device and network management | Who-Is | DM-DDB-A, DM-DDB-B | Yes | Yes |
| Device and network management | I-Am | DM-DDB-A, DM-DDB-B | Yes | Yes |
| Device and network management | Who-Has | DM-DOB-B | - | Yes |
| Device and network management | I-Have | DM-DOB-B | Yes | - |
| Device and network management | DeviceCommunicationControl | DM-DCC-A | Yes | - |
| Device and network management | TimeSynchronization | DM-MTS-A | Yes | - |
| Device and network management | UTCTimeSynchronization | DM-MTS-A | Yes | - |
| Device and network management | ReinitializeDevice | DM-RD-A, DM-BR-A | Yes | - |
| Device and network management | CreateObject | DM-OCD-A, AE-LSAVM-A, SCHED-AVM-A, T-AVM-A, AR-AVM-A | Yes | - |
| Device and network management | DeleteObject | DM-OCD-A, AE-LSAVM-A, SCHED-AVM-A, T-AVM-A, AR-AVM-A | Yes | - |
| Device and network management | AtomicReadFile (backup) | DM-BR-A | Yes | - |
| Device and network management | AtomicWriteFile (restore) | DM-BR-A | Yes | - |
| Audit reporting | AuditLogQuery | AR-AVM-A | Yes | - |
The view, modify, and management BIBBs add no wire service beyond the rows above. DS-LSAV-A (Life Safety Advanced View) and DS-LSAM-A (Life Safety Advanced Modify) read and write life-safety object properties; AE-LSAVM-A and AE-ELVM-A adjust life-safety event parameters and event-log settings; SCHED-AVM-A views and modifies schedules and calendars; T-AVM-A adjusts trend-log parameters; AR-AVM-A and DM-ADM-A configure audit reporting and enumerate objects; DM-ANM-A adjusts alarm routing by writing Notification Class recipient lists. Each is carried by the ReadProperty, WriteProperty, ReadRange, CreateObject, DeleteObject, AtomicReadFile, and AtomicWriteFile rows above.
Related Profiles
| Profile | How it differs from B-ALSWS |
|---|---|
| B-LSWS | Life Safety Workstation: one step down. Monitors and controls, but no object creation or audit reporting |
| B-LSAP | Life Safety Annunciator Panel: the basic indicator. Event handling only, no scheduling, trending, or configuration |
| B-ALSC | Advanced Life Safety Controller: the device side. It generates the life-safety notifications a B-ALSWS displays and executes the silence and reset operations it sends |
What Chipkin Provides
B-ALSWS is an operator-side profile: its initiating and notification-receiving behavior is implemented in Chipkin’s BACnet test tooling rather than the shipping device stack, which targets the server-side profiles. Talk to us about building or integrating a B-ALSWS operator interface.