What B-LSWS 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-LSWS (BACnet Life Safety Workstation) is the day-to-day life-safety operator interface, defined in Annex L of ANSI/ASHRAE 135-2024 (clause L.2.2) as a life-safety operator interface with limited capabilities relative to a B-ALSWS. It is used for monitoring and basic control of a life-safety system, but it does not support the configuration or advanced troubleshooting an advanced workstation provides.
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-LSWS is an operator-side (client) profile: it initiates reads, writes, and silence and reset operations 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-LSWS fits the daily life-safety operator who monitors status and handles events without configuring the system.
- Life-safety monitoring stations. A workstation where staff watch Life Safety Point and Life Safety Zone status, acknowledge alarms, and issue silence and reset operations.
- Guard and monitoring desks. A console paired with a head end (the central BMS server) that presents life-safety events and event logs.
- Basic life-safety front ends. A station that displays trend data and calendars and performs simple setpoint adjustments.
Required Services
The table below is the exhaustive service set required by the B-LSWS 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-LSV-A | Yes | Yes |
| Data sharing | ReadPropertyMultiple | DS-RPM-A | Yes | - |
| Data sharing | WriteProperty | DS-WP-A, DS-LSM-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-ELV-A | Yes | - |
| Trending | ReadRange (trend-log view) | T-V-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 | Yes | - |
| Device and network management | DeleteObject | DM-OCD-A | Yes | - |
| Device and network management | AtomicReadFile (backup) | DM-BR-A | Yes | - |
| Device and network management | AtomicWriteFile (restore) | DM-BR-A | Yes | - |
The view and modify BIBBs add no wire service beyond the rows above. DS-LSV-A (Life Safety View) and DS-LSM-A (Life Safety Modify) read and write life-safety object properties; AE-LSVM-A adjusts life-safety event parameters; SCHED-VM-A views and modifies schedules and calendars; DM-ADM-A enumerates objects; DM-ANM-A adjusts alarm routing by writing Notification Class recipient lists. Each is carried by the ReadProperty and WriteProperty rows above.
Related Profiles
| Profile | How it differs from B-LSWS |
|---|---|
| B-ALSWS | Advanced Life Safety Workstation: a step up. Adds object creation, event-log modification, and audit reporting |
| B-LSAP | Life Safety Annunciator Panel: one step down. Event handling only, no scheduling, trending, or summarization |
| B-LSC | Life Safety Controller: the device side. It generates the life-safety notifications a B-LSWS displays and executes the silence and reset operations it sends |
What Chipkin Provides
B-LSWS 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-LSWS operator interface.