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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now been replaced by “open” systems designed using one of several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.