p20,21 Automation:Layout 1 25/11/2020 09:15 Page 21 Automation
being of a building’s occupants is becoming a greater priority for building operators. Occupant comfort is concerned with temperature, humidity, air quality, natural lighting, and during pandemic times, safety. Lighting controls that can detect temperature and ambient light levels can help create a more comfortable environment while also adjusting to circadian rhythms for a more biophilic environment (one that mimics nature). As noted earlier, these sensors can also help inform occupants about the activity around them so they can stay safely social distanced or know if they’ve been in contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19. As with all the other building services installed in buildings, historically lighting and its control has been handled as separate contractual package in a ‘siloed’ way, with little thought given to how it can integrate with other systems in the building. Even today, many of the lighting control systems supplied for large commercial projects are quite proprietary, but do at least now use a standard luminaire level protocol called DALI, and offer open standard protocol interface to the BMS - typically, BACnet IP. However, use of a single point interface between systems can create a bottleneck, and increases integration cost. In the case of lighting control there can be
latency issues (a perceived delay between triggering an event, such as pushing a light switch, and the desired action happening). An alternative approach is to integrate lighting control with HVAC at room level, such as is offered by Siemens DXR or Distech Eclypse controllers. This approach offers many advantages and avoids the single system gateway.
Some lighting controls suppliers do offer more flexible integration options. In the case of Enlighted, their products support REST-based APIs that support GET, POST requests and XML, JSON responses as well as a BACnet integration. The value in tightly integrating lighting control is that the data provided by the PIR occupancy sensors and BLE beacons that are now almost
If every light in your building had sensors,
the data captured could help building managers make smarter decisions. Data... helps make an intelligent building more intelligent.
standard on the smarter systems can then be used by the other building systems to inform their behaviour, with both operational and energy saving benefits.
Beyond lighting It would be a mistake to view lighting as purely a refurbishment project where lights are exchanged for more efficient LED ones. IoT
sensors can deliver so much more. The future of lighting is more than automation, it’s expanding the role of the light fixture to be used as a means of communicating and collecting data. By leveraging light infrastructure and combining it with a powerful BAS, your building can become even more smart enabled, and your lights can bring more perception to the space within. In the future, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity will enable adaption of lighting to limitless applications and data capture requirements.
What is the FIN
Framework (FIN)? Based in California, software technology company J2 Innovations is the creator of the FIN Framework (FIN), a state-of-the-art open framework for smart buildings, smart equipment and IoT applications. FIN is a next-generation software
framework for smart buildings, smart equipment and IoT applications. FIN can integrate, control, manage, analyze, visualize, connect, and can be embedded on a controller, gateway, HMI or server. The FIN Framework offers OEMs, System Integrators, and end user solutions that are faster, easier, and better.
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