Power Line Repeating Network Connections Overview

LON is supported for SmartServer Pi 4.3 and higher, with the exception of LON PL.

This section describes how connections that are created using the CMS Connections widget, or that are imported into the CMS, work for power line repeating networks. Unlike other network channel types, in the case of power line networks, the SmartServer has to take into account that not all source datapoint devices can communicated directly to all destination datapoint devices. Most connections between devices will be peer-to-peer, although some will be point-to-point. 

If the datapoint types are different between the source or destination datapoints, or if you specify map, transform, preset, or localization, then the connection is point-to-point.  A point-to-point connection requires the SmartServer to poll the source datapoint, and then push any changes to the destination datapoint. If the source datapoint does not change, then the SmartServer does not push the value.

A peer-to-peer connection (e.g., a light sensor controlling light controllers) are connections between the edge devices. In some cases, peer-to-peer connections may not work if the source and destination devices cannot communicate directly, but use repeaters. If the source devices cannot communicate directly to the destinations devices, then the SmartServer will create a connection from the source device back to the SmartServer, and propagate any updates to the destination devices. Peer-to-peer connections are implemented as described below.

How power-line (PL) repeating peer-to-peer connections work between source and destination: 

1. For a one-to-one connection
   a. A peer-to-peer binding is created between the source and destination.
   b. If a repeater is is needed, then a peer-to-peer connection is also created from the source to the SmartServer, and the SmartServer will broadcast the message.
   c. To overcome channel changes, the SmartServer LTE driver measures the connection attenuation between devices, which has a peer-to-peer binding every 90 minutes, and decides to add or remove the additional binding back to the SmartServer, which is used to broadcast the message.
   
   
2. For one-to-many bindings or many-to-one binding
   1. Source connections are made to the SmartServer, and the SmartServer will broadcast the message.
      
      
3. Reprovisioning and reimporting the connection file without any changes is not an acceptable method for recreating connections. If you want to recreate all the connections, then first delete or change the connections, and then reimport the connection file.