Internet of Things
Sensors and relays: the eyes, ears and hands of a building automation system
By Fabrizio Petris, senior business development manager at Omron Electronic Components Europe
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ntil now, energy efficiency measures have focused on the construction of the building, looking at for example
the insulation and windows. The new Energy Performing Buildings Directive, adopted in 2018 and mandatory from 2020, marks a significant shift, increasing the focus on the control of energy use within buildings: smart buildings and building automation. This should be music to the ears of building managers everywhere. Smart buildings offer an excellent RoI, but it is still difficult to get the initial capital required signed off. The new directive will help, giving the planet reduced carbon emissions and owners reduced costs. In addition, smart building systems can be extended to additional
functions such as security and improving the comfort of occupants. New technologies are continually emerging to enhance smart building systems and reduce their cost. This article surveys the state of the art in these technologies starting with sensors that provide the data and moving on to control components that enable the system to act on it.
Image recognition Using image recognition technology originally created for mobile phones, building automation systems can interpret the image collected by a camera. They can see and respond to gauge their mood, their age and their gender. They can also recognise an
Figure 2: Wide angle thermal sensors like the Omron D6T 32 x 32 can encompass a whole room in their field of view, detecting potential fires as well as the presence of people
individual. Using these sensors, security systems and building automation systems could eventually be integrated together using one set of vision modules. The Omron HVC module (Figure 1) is
the first vision module specifically aimed at applications like building automation, available in low volumes and readily integrated by any designer without any need to understand the complex algorithms needed to recognise faces and expressions or the optical design. The module is a fully integrated, plug-in solution. The developer can just look at the outputs and configure the system to make appropriate decisions depending on their status.
Figure 1: The Omron HVC module is the first vision module specifically aimed at applications like building automation 32 April 2020 Components in Electronics
Thermal sensors Where the application calls simply for the detection of people without the need for recognition, thermal sensors are a well- established option – and a great alternative to motion sensors. In a building automation system, such sensors can also be used in many other ways, making a valuable contribution to safety by identifying potential problems before they become major hazards. Many fires, for example, start with localized ‘hot spots’ and a thermal sensor can detect a potential fire before it ignites. This can not only save lives but also costs, allowing
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