Introduction

Purpose

The purpose of this book is to help you get up to speed on OpenLCB so you can start creating LCC products. There are a lot of concepts and we’ll go into just enough depth to get you going, without bogging you down with all the details and possibilites. The standards and the technical notes have a lot more details.

Focus of this book

We’re going to focus on how to create a device (node) that can be added to an OpenLCB network. To make learning easier, we’ll start with WiFi/TCP transport, which allows you to see network traffic easily and test without special hardware. Later chapters will cover adding CAN bus hardware for traditional LCC installations.

Assumptions

We’re assuming you’ve used LCC products, and therefore already understand concepts like the producer-consumer model. We also assume you’ve written code for microcontrollers and have worked with I/O pins.

About Names

Let’s start with what to some might be confusing—the names LCC vs OpenLCB. LCC is a brand name owned by the NMRA. It covers a set of standards that have been adopted by the NMRA for Layout Command Control (hence the LCC).

OpenLCB is the name of the working group that created the standards approved by the NMRA and continues to create new standards. This is a group of dedicated volunteers who are working to fulfill the dream.

You’ll notice that the standards use the name OpenLCB everywhere except for the header at the top of the document. In this book, as in the standards, we’ll use the term OpenLCB everywhere except this page.