Systems and methods for determining a topology of an ethernet ring of devices in a building management system

1. A method for determining a topology of an Ethernet ring having a plurality of devices, the method comprising:

transmitting a first port disable command to a first device of the plurality of devices, wherein the first port disable command causes the first device to disable a first port of the first device;

storing an indication that the first device has been commanded to disable the first port of the first device;

detecting, by a second device of the plurality of devices, a terminated link at a first port of the second device;

sending, by the second device, a first message to a ring topology generator in response to the second device detecting the terminated link at the first port of the second device, the first message indicating that the first port of the second device is connected to a port that has been disabled; and

generating, by the ring topology generator, the topology of the Ethernet ring based on (1) the first message indicating that the first port of the second device is connected to the port that has been disabled and (2) the indication that the first device has been commanded to disable the first port of the first device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the topology indicates that the first port of the first device is connected to the first port of the second device.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting a second port disable command to the second device, wherein the second port disable command causes the second device to disable a second port of the second device;

storing an indication that the second device has been commanded to disable the second port of the second device;

detecting, by a third device of the plurality of devices, a terminated link at a first port of the third device;

sending, by the third device, a second message to the ring topology generator in response to the third device detecting the terminated link at the first port of the third device, the second message indicating that the first port of the third device is connected to a port that has been disabled; and

updating, by the ring topology generator, the topology of the Ethernet ring based on (1) the second message indicating that the first port of the third device is connected to the port that has been disabled and (2) the indication that the second device has been commanded to disable the second port of the second device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

broadcasting a device discovery command from the ring topology generator to the plurality of devices;

receiving device discovery information from one or more of the plurality of devices in response to the device discovery command; and

determining a state of the Ethernet ring based on the received device discovery information.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising

broadcasting a ring state request from the ring topology generator to the plurality of devices; and

receiving a ring state response from one or more of the plurality of devices, the ring state response comprising an indication of the state of the Ethernet ring.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing a ring status query procedure comprising:

broadcasting a ring state request onto one or more of the plurality of devices;

receiving a ring state confirmation from the one or more devices; and

receiving one or more ring state notifications from the one or more devices, the ring state notifications providing an indication that the state of the Ethernet ring has changed.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, upon receiving an indication that the Ethernet ring is in an open state, utilizing the topology of the Ethernet ring to determine a device failure or a link breakage causing the Ethernet ring to be in the open state.

8. A system for determining a topology of an Ethernet ring, the system comprising:

a plurality of devices configured in the Ethernet ring; and

a ring topology generator comprising one or more processing circuits configured to:

transmit a first port disable command to a first device of the plurality of devices, wherein the first port disable command causes the first device to disable a first port of the first device;

store an indication that the first device has been commanded to disable the first port of the first device;

receive a first message from a second device of the plurality of devices indicating that a first port of the second device is connected to a port that has been disabled in response to the second device detecting a terminated link at the first port of the second device; and

generate the topology of the Ethernet ring based on (1) the first message indicating that the first port of the second device is connected to the port that has been disabled and (2) the indication that the first device has been commanded to disable the first port of the first device.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the topology generated by the one or more processing circuits indicates that the first port of the first device is connected to the first port of the second device.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the second device comprises one or more second processing circuits configured to disable a second port of the second device after the terminated link at the first port of the second device is restored and the one or more processing circuits of the ring topology generator are further configured to:

store, in response to restoring the terminated link at the first port of the second device, an indication that the second device has disabled the second port of the second device;

receive a second message from a third device of the plurality of devices indicating that a first port of the third device is connected to a port that has been disabled in response to the third device detecting a terminated link at the first port of the third device; and

update the topology of the Ethernet ring based on (1) the second message indicating that the first port of the third device is connected to the port that has been disabled and (2) the indication that the second device has disabled the first port of the second device.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are further configured to:

broadcast a device discovery command from the ring topology generator to the plurality of devices;

receive device discovery information from one or more of the plurality of devices; and

determine a state of the Ethernet ring based on the received device discovery information.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are further configured to:

broadcast a ring state request from the ring topology generator to the plurality of devices; and

receive a ring state response from one or more of the plurality of devices, the ring state response comprising an indication of the state of the Ethernet ring.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are further configured to:

broadcast a ring state request onto one or more of the plurality of devices;

receive a ring state confirmation from the one or more devices; and

receive one or more ring state notifications from the one or more devices, the ring state notifications providing an indication that the state of the Ethernet ring has changed.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are further configured to, upon receiving an indication that the Ethernet ring is in an open state, utilize the topology of the Ethernet ring to determine a device failure or a link breakage causing the Ethernet ring to be in the open state.

15. A method for determining a topology of devices in an Ethernet ring, comprising:

discovering, via a ring topology generator, a number and identification of a plurality of devices within the Ethernet ring; and

initiating, via the ring topology generator, a procedure to determine the topology of the devices in the Ethernet ring, the procedure comprising:

transmitting a first port disable command to a first device of the plurality of devices, wherein the first port disable command causes the first device to disable a first port of the first device;

storing an indication that the first device has been commanded to disable the first port of the first device;

detecting, by a second device of the plurality of devices, a terminated link at a first port of the second device;

sending, by the second device, a first message to the ring topology generator in response to the second device detecting the terminated link at the first port of the second device, the first message indicating that the first port of the second device is connected to a port that has been disabled; and

generating, by the ring topology generator, the topology of the Ethernet ring based on (1) the first message indicating that the first port of the second device is connected to the port that has been disabled and (2) the indication that the first device has been commanded to disable the first port of the first device.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the topology indicates that the first port of the first device is connected to the first port of the second device.

17. The method of claim 15 , the procedure further comprising the second device autonomously disabling a second port of the second device and sending a second message to the ring topology generator in response to detecting that the terminated link at the first port of the second device has been restored; and

the method further comprising repeating the detecting, sending, generating, and autonomously disabling steps of the procedure for each of the plurality of devices.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising broadcasting a ring ordering complete message onto the Ethernet ring via the ring topology generator once each of the plurality devices discovered within the Ethernet ring has had one or more ports disabled.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

broadcasting a device discovery command from the ring topology generator to the plurality of devices;

receiving device discovery information from one or more of the plurality of devices in response to the device discovery command; and

determining a state of the Ethernet ring based on the received device discovery information.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising, upon receiving an indication that the Ethernet ring is in an open state, utilizing the topology of the Ethernet ring to determine a device failure or a link breakage causing the Ethernet ring to be in the open state.