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Hot Topics > Intelligent Buildings – I’ve heard that before !
How about a building with technology you can personalise to the occupier? Technology is now developing to facilitate the flexibility to make truly intelligent buildings a reality.
With this technology comes the potential for reduced build costs, improved functionality and reductions in energy consumption……
Intelligent Buildings have been talked about since the1980’s. The concept is based on the idea that lighting is only on where it is needed and that heating is set to the right temperature based on the occupancy of the building. The ambitions of these early systems were mostly aimed at achieving cost savings. At first these were proprietary closed systems which have now been replaced by “open” systems designed using one of several competing Building Management System protocols.
These systems were mainly suitable for larger buildings as they were not cost effective for smaller sites. This meant that in reality, for many construction projects, moves in this direction consisted of dedicated heating control systems and separate dedicated ligthing control systems.
“Intelligence” was, and in most cases still is, restricted to specific functionality provided by particular manufacturers such as a CCTV triggered to begin recording because a door contact has been triggered.
or Door locks being released based on a fire alarm being triggered.
So what has changed? As with most things these days the answer is the Internet. Devices communicate over the internet via cables, wireless connections and networking equipment largely using IP (Internet Protocol) as a language.
This is the language your PC uses to browse the internet and provide communication with other PCs.
Many building technology products are being developed to provide communication between devices using IP technology. Telephone technology has already taken a big step in this direction with Voice over IP or VoIP. The various “free telephone calls on the interenet” services work by digitising your voice and sending the information as data over a network. Many such systems are now being installed in new offices to provide greater functionality to the user and to reduce the cabling requirement for the new building.
Other building technologies are also moving in this direction including CCTV, Access Control, Building Management Systems and TV distribution.
This IP technology brings a host of new possibilities but it will take time to realise the main benefits. In the same way that VoIP has taken around 10 years to be adopted as a widely used and trusted technology it will take time for IP to be adopted by the majority for other building services.
However many large premises such as stadia and shopping centres are already seeing the benefit of this technology. One such example is the Arsenal Stadium.
All of the following core building technologies are moving to IP technology; Telephone Systems, Building Management Systems, CCTV, Access Control, Intelligent lighting systems and intruder Alarms. This move enables them to communicate with other building technology and provide programming and monitoring functionality.
So what are the benefits?
Currently the move to IP is being driven by the desire of manufacturers to produce greater flexibility and functionality in their own products. This has led to them developing IP based product allowing standard Cat5/Cat6 structured cabling connections and IP networks to be used to provide device connectivity.
Unfortunately, as there was with Voip technology, there is still an understandable reluctance from IT Managers to allow devices they don’t fully undersstand to be connected to their computer networks. This has led to much of this IP building technology being installed on standalone networks with a Firewall connection to provide connectivity to the main network but provide a security barrier at the same time.
Cost Saving
This approach defeats one of the benefits of this technology and that is the use of a common cabling and network infrastructure for all the different technologies. The capital cost of the initial building can be reduced considerably by installing one common infrastructure to provide this connectivity rather than separate cabling for each system as in a traditional build.
Green Credentials (and cost savings too)
There are many benefits to be gained by controling lighting and heating to match occupancy and this has been done for many years from the use of basic timers for heating control to PIRs for occupancy detection to control lighting.
The new IP based system promise to be more sophisticated
Access Control could identify an individual entering the building and bring their work area to the correct temperature and lighting environment. Whilst they are out the energy consumption and cost is reduced but their comfort is maintained whilst they are in the office.
This is obviously a very simplistic senario and there are other factors to consider but the benefit of the IP based system is that a suitably designed software package can provide endless flexibility in determining the actions taken by the various building systems in relation to the monitoring triggers it receives.
Functionality
Another key driver for this technology to be implemented is the desire for greater functionality. Better control of the building environment and more feedback on how it is operating and what it is costing to run.
Let’s take the same individual who now leaves the office. The Access control system detects this and a link to IT changes their voicemail and email to an “out of office” message and ensures they are logged off and their PC shut down. In addition the lighting and heating level are reduced. We are not only saving on lighting and heating but also the energy consumption of the PC and potentially other equipment. Additional security is also provided by the logging the user off their PC and they do not have to remember to change their voice and email automated responses each time they are in or out of the office.
The number of senarios which can be created with such a system are endless. Unfortunately such benefits will perhaps take the longest to be realised as it requires the technology to be widely adopted to make it economical for suppliers to develop the software applications which will make integration between the building system worthwhile. But then we will perhaps have truly Intelligent buildings.
If you would like to know more about this technology and how you can benefit please contact us.