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DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface) is a data protocol and transport mechanism that was jointly developed and specified by several manufacturers of lighting equipment. The common platform of DALI enables equipment from different manufacturers to be connected together.
DALI is a step on from the DSI protocol, which is used by HF fluorescent ballasts. One of the main advantages that DALI has over earlier systems is that each device on a segment of data cable can be separately addressed, as DSI and 1-10V devices are not separately addressable and can only be controlled as a group. The net result is that to achieve similar control functionally, DALI requires less complex (and therefore less expensive) wiring topology than DSI or 1-10V devices.
DALI is jointly initiated by Philips, Osram, Tridonic, Siemens and other companies in 1999. It ensures that DALI device from different manufacturers can be fully compatible. This technology is as an open industry standard,and it has been incorporated ECG international standards IEC929 and IEC62386-102-2009.
A DALI network consists of a controller and one or more lighting devices (e.g., electrical ballasts and dimmers) that have DALI interfaces. The controller can monitor and control each light by means of a bi-directional data exchange. The DALI protocol permits devices to be individually addressed and it also incorporates Group and Scene broadcast messages to simultaneously address multiple devices.Each lighting device is assigned a unique static address in the numeric range 0 to 63, making possible up to 64 devices in a standalone system. Alternatively, DALI can be used as a subsystem via DALI gateways to address more than 64 devices. Data is transferred between controller and devices by means of an asynchronous, half-duplex, serial protocol over a two-wire differential bus, with a fixed data transfer rate of 1200 bit/s.
DALI has been defined for: a maximum of 64 single units (individual addresses), a maximum of 16 groups (group addresses), and a maximum of 16 scenes (scene light values). The intelligence of the system has not been centralized for the purpose of defining the DALI-interface for control devices. This means that many of the setpoints and lighting values are stored within the individual ballast: Individual addresses, Group assignments, Light scene values, Fading times, Emergency lighting level (System Failure Level), Power On Level. DALI closes the gap between conventional 1–10V-interfaces and complex lighting control systems. These are the features that make DALI stand out as the ideal platform for an intelligent and flexible lighting management in modern buildings.
DALI devices include fluorescent HF ballasts, low voltage transformers, PE cells, motion detectors, wall switches and gateways to other protocols. There can be up to 64 DALI devices on a single DALI network. Sites requiring more than 64 devices are implemented by having multiple separate DALI networks, each with up to 64 devices. These separate networks are then linked together with DALI gateways and a data backbone running a high level protocol