In a new residential community that was being developed by a prominent construction company, intelligent buildings were to be connected with fiber Ethernet. Residents would enjoy access to high-tech services, such as high speed Internet, advanced security systems, intelligent elevator control, and on-demand TV. In addition, each building would be monitored in real-time from a central control room, and individual fire alarms could be triggered as needed.

System Requirements
Each fire alarm needed to be connected to the control room, but the existing pipes were physically too small to hold the necessary I/O wiring. Since a fiber optic Ethernet network was already in place, a network-based I/O solution was considered. However, it needed to satisfy the following requirements:

• I/O signal transmission over Ethernet from each building to the control room
• No extra controller needed
• Minimal additional training and wiring

System Description
The EDS-405 Ethernet switch was used for the network infrastructure. Instead of wiring fire alarm sensors to the control room, the sensors were wired to an ioMirror E3210. The ioMirror transmitted the sensor's I/O signals over the Ethernet network to another ioMirror unit at the control center. Using the existing network, I/O signals were thus transferred without additional wiring. Since channel-to-channel mapping was supported, a single ioMirror unit was able to receive I/O signals from multiple units simultaneously.

Supporting Products
		ioMirror E3210 Peer-to-peer Ethernet I/O server with 8 digital inputs, 8 digital outputs
		EDS-405 (equivalent to EDS-405A) 5-port entry-level managed Ethernet switch

Benefits from Moxa

• No programming means reduced labor costs
• Easy setup through web interface or LCD module
• Reliable peer-to-peer function with alarm
• Complete selection and high quality service

Conclusion
Physical obstacles can raise the cost of wiring or delay a project. Using the existing Ethernet infrastructure to transmit I/O signals can be a very smart solution. The ioMirror E3210 provides an easy way to transmit I/O signals over wired or wireless IP networks.

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