What B-XAWS 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-XAWS (BACnet Cross-Domain Advanced Workstation) is the widest operator-interface profile in Annex L of ANSI/ASHRAE 135-2024 (clause L.1.1): a single advanced workstation for all building-automation domains except life safety. It is defined not as its own list of requirements but as the union of four advanced workstation profiles, so a B-XAWS device must meet every requirement of all four at once.
The four member profiles are:
- B-AWS (Advanced Operator Workstation, clause L.1.2), the general building-automation workstation.
- B-AACWS (Advanced Access Control Workstation, clause L.3.1).
- B-ALWS (Advanced Lighting Workstation, clause L.9.1).
- B-AEWS (Advanced Elevator Workstation, clause L.12.1).
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-XAWS is an operator-side (client) profile: it initiates reads, writes, subscriptions, 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-XAWS is the enterprise operator seat that runs several building-automation domains from one console.
- Integrated management workstations. A single head end (the central BMS server) workstation where an operator supervises HVAC, physical access control, lighting, and elevators without switching tools.
- Campus command centers. A security-and-facilities console that monitors access events and elevator status alongside mechanical alarms.
- Advanced commissioning stations. A workstation used to configure objects, alarm routing, schedules, and trends across every non-life-safety domain in one system.
Required Services
Because B-XAWS is the union of four profiles, its service set is the combined service set of its members rather than a new list. Each member page carries the exhaustive, per-BIBB service table for its domain; a B-XAWS device must satisfy all four. The table below maps each domain to its member profile and the capability it contributes.
| Domain | Member profile | What it contributes |
|---|---|---|
| General building automation | B-AWS | Full data sharing, alarm management and summarization, scheduling, trending, object creation, backup and restore, device management, and audit reporting |
| Access control | B-AACWS | Access-object configuration (Access User, Credential, Rights, Point, Zone, Door) and access-event notification handling |
| Lighting | B-ALWS | Lighting Output and Channel writes, WriteGroup commanding, and advanced lighting configuration |
| Elevator | B-AEWS | Elevator data via COV (Change of Value) multiple subscriptions and elevator event handling |
Across the four members, the combined capability areas are Data Sharing (initiate ReadProperty, ReadPropertyMultiple, WriteProperty, WritePropertyMultiple, WriteGroup, and SubscribeCOVPropertyMultiple), Alarm and Event Management (receive event notifications, initiate AcknowledgeAlarm, GetEventInformation, and GetAlarmSummary, read event logs with ReadRange), Scheduling and Trending (view and modify through ReadProperty and WriteProperty, create objects with CreateObject and DeleteObject), Device and Network Management (discovery, time set, reinitialize, backup and restore), and Audit Reporting. For the exact per-BIBB rows, direction cells, and footnotes, see each member profile page.
Related Profiles
| Profile | Relationship to B-XAWS |
|---|---|
| B-AWS | Member profile: the general building-automation workstation at the core of B-XAWS |
| B-AACWS / B-ALWS / B-AEWS | Member profiles: the access-control, lighting, and elevator advanced workstations B-XAWS unions in |
| B-ALSWS | Advanced Life Safety Workstation: the domain B-XAWS deliberately excludes. Life safety is specified separately |
What Chipkin Provides
B-XAWS 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-XAWS operator interface.