Building controls Integration
Internet protocol networks are making it easier to create integrated control systems.
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uilding services controls are becoming cheaper, more flexible and easier to install thanks to the expansion of internet protocol networks, according to experts in the industry. The
drive towards web-enabled, integrated networks is inevitable, with more systems migrating onto the IT infrastructure. This, linked to the increasing use of wireless devices, has the potential to slash installation and operating costs and simplify remote monitoring of buildings for energy and security purposes. Many devices are now able to work with a range
of open protocols: KNS is becoming the common operating system for lighting; many devices come with ModBUS built in; and LonWorks and BACnet are already widely adopted by system infrastructure builders. Despite these technical developments, there remain
a number of barriers to the delivery of intelligent buildings, according to Ken Gray, principal at the Performance Building Partnership. He believes there is a shortage of engineers with appropriate integration skills. Another problem is that buildings are delivered in a fragmented way, while developers are risk averse and avoid using integrated control systems. Clients need to be persuaded that the controls
industry can add more value, argues Neil Pennell, head of sustainability and engineering for Land Securities. They are in a competitive environment and need their buildings to give them a business edge, he says. Reducing capital and operating costs, while also
speeding up delivery are crucial, but there is also a major focus on future-proofing, so systems need to be adaptable and flexible to meet changing needs and to manage energy. However, controls firms are still grappling with some of the inherited problems from traditional ‘closed’
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proprietary devices that cannot communicate with the new ‘open protocol’ integrated control systems, according to Gareth Davies of Newera Controls. ‘Such devices might do their job very well for a long
time, but eventually they will become ‘legacy’ products that can no longer offer any benefit to the building user,’ he says. The solution is to ‘decouple’ the existing installations
in preparation for controlling them through the ‘open’ common IT network, so that controls are no longer focused on managing individual devices, but on providing the end user’s required solutions. ‘Proprietary hardware systems reached their zenith
in the 1980s, and the companies that delivered them bestrode the Earth – now those companies are either gone or are doing different things,’ says Davies. ‘Proprietary systems still exist – many are very robust, quick and good, but expensive. We are now moving to a commodity market that has reduced the cost of the devices and is built on an open platform with control delivered via the internet – this means the industry can be more agile.’ Davies points out that Google believes the smart
phone will overtake the PC as the dominant IT product in three years, and this will become the main platform for delivering building automation. The good news for building services engineers, he adds, is that the value has migrated away from the hardware to services: ‘Clients will pay for the people who can make their systems work. In many cases, the software is also provided free.’ More integration is taking place away from the ‘front
end’ of the system through distributed sensors and in individual appliances further down the network. The crucial element will be the user interface for the facilities manager (FM), and that should be as simple
There is currently not enough integration between lighting control and general energy management systems –
Roger Moncur
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May 2010 CIBSE Journal
51
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