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Using time-based schedules in the Gateway
In addition to providing a connection point to a UPB network, the Gateway also contains an
autonomous time based scheduler. The scheduler sends scene commands based upon a fixed time (for
example 10pm), or sun based times (for example, 10 minutes) on chosen days. If you have
worked with the PulseWorx Timed Event Controller (TEC) this is very similar.
The Gateway supports 4 schedules and 256 schedule entries – 256 events total not 256 per schedule.
How these 256 schedule entries are allocated to the four schedules is up to your needs.
Note: In the discussion that follows let’s define a
schedule
as a list of one or more time based actions.
We will call these time based actions
schedule entries
.
Calendar or Weekly scheduling
The Gateway supports two types of scheduling. The first called Weekly scheduling is very similar to the
method used by the PulseWorx TEC. Each schedule entry happens on one or more weekdays or a
weekday range (for example, Monday to Friday) and the schedule entries occur on those days for every
week in the year.
As said above, the Gateway supports 4 schedules. This makes it possible to have a schedule for normal
use, and another schedule for a vacation or when you are away from home. At any given time the
Gateway is working with one schedule – called the “current” schedule which is chosen by you. There
are facilities in UPStart and in the remote applications to select the current schedule.
The important point of weekly scheduling is that while there are multiple schedules only one is active
at a time and the active schedule is selected only by your action.
In Calendar scheduling there are also 4 schedules. But unlike weekly scheduling in the schedule entries
there are no days of the week specified. Instead each day of the year is paired with one of the four
schedules. At midnight the Gateway looks at the calendar and chooses one of the four schedules to be
the current schedule for the next 24 hours.
The advantage of this system is that you can easily create a different schedule for weekdays and
weekends – which weekly scheduling could have done – but also for periods of the year that are
different – holidays and times when the installation is not in use for example. This can be handy for
commercial applications when facilities are closed on holidays or scheduled time – for example school
vacations.
