Keep the data flowing in your Smart Building - for lighting control and much more
Smart Buildings are like human bodies, with each room and corridor having its own function. Each of these rooms needs services – and to ensure the right services each room and the whole building needs data to properly perform and be a sustainable entity. Different solutions and systems are needed to keep up with the need of data, and these systems and solutions are like the vital organs of the body. Much like the heart and blood system of the body, Wirepas keeps the data flowing back and forth, in and out of the vital systems to keep the building alive.
Smart Building ecosystems
Wirepas Massive offers a horizontal technological solution on top of which solution providers can build their offerings. The technology lets all the solutions use the same network without interfering with each other (or other networks on the same frequency band) and collect all data into a central system. A system integrator, acting as the brains of the operation, combines all the solution parties together and creates a backend with business intelligence. While a visualisation company ensures that the users have a real time digital twin of the building.
The network acts as a foundation connecting all the needed lighting fixtures, sensors (e.g. air quality, temperature and humidity) and performs the indoor positioning much like the blood system. The network forwards the sensor data via a gateway to backend systems and from there to heating, air conditioning and lighting control systems. The positioning data gets forwarded to visualization platforms to ensure that workers find assets as easily as possible. The same technology also needs to be able to send beacons which any smart device can understand to enable e.g. wireless light switches and way-finding. And, in the end, all the vital organs (the solutions and systems) get served the oxygen (the data) they need.
A great example of a heart-warming project which brought a building alive is the UMC Utrecht Children’s hospital where the Wirepas ecosystem worked together to test positioning of fundamental equipment on a temporarily closed children’s ward. Fujitsu provided anchor devices which acted as reference points and tags which were attached to various hospital assets. Systematic provided the visualization of location data, which was collected via the Wirepas Massive network and calculated by the Wirepas Positioning Engine. The Ingy lighting application ran on Koopman Interlight smart LED lighting fixtures to for lighting control, but just as importantly to act as anchor devices for location. Treon air quality sensors also used the lighting infrastructure to pass data to another parallel visualization portal, this time from GOOEE. EnOcean’s energy-harvesting Bluetooth wireless switches were configured to activate the lights but also make a ‘call’ for assistance. And last but not least, the Wirepas Massive anchor devices (Fujitsu and Ingy/Koopman) were configured to transmit beacons, which were used by Esri’s ArcGIS mobile solution for indoor mapping and navigation.
The benefits touch all our lives
Being able to react in real time to temperature, humidity, air quality and light can save energy. And this, of course, is of clear interest to facility managers and owners as it reduces labour and saves costs. Energy efficiency is good for the wallet but it’s good for the environment as well.
Contract construction companies can also benefit from the technology in the building phase by tracking their tools and equipment, as well as sensing (e.g. for poisonous gases) to ensure their workers are safe and sound. In a construction environment the technology can also help in hazardous situations, like a fire or an explosion.
All buildings can be smart in the future
Tieto Empathic Building has also been able to combine multiple operators and technologies to provide their office environment solution. Haltian devices are connected to each other with Wirepas Massive for sensing (e.g. meeting room occupancy) which removes the need for meeting room reservations as free rooms can be seen on a real-time map.
In the future, we will also see smart shopping malls that serve the building management, the maintenance teams, the retailers and the consumers using a single network technology as its backbone. Cleaning carts and other equipment can be tracked; roll cages that bring goods to stores can be tracked; goods-in process automated; sensors can collect air quality, temperature and humidity to control systems to react in real time; fire detection can trigger beacons to consumers’ phones to warn them of danger; and smart washrooms can be added to maximize cleanliness and customer satisfaction.
Smart factories are rising to the challenge of increased productivity by tracking assets on the shop floor. Escaping gases can be measured using sensors in levers that alert if the valves haven’t been closed properly. Waste management will benefit from sensors too. The working environment can also be improved to maximize production by using sensors to bring real-time data to heating and air conditioning systems.
Building the ecosystem that realizes these projects requires that you first understand the customer use cases. Then match-make the ecosystem partners. And, last but by no means least, let the technology do the rest. Because once this foundation is in place you can let the building do the work.
Smart Buildings are not just brick and mortar (such as factories, hospitals, schools, shopping malls, ships, warehouses, harbors and shipyards), but a way to gather important data upon which decisions can be made and actions taken. These decisions can impact the daily comfort of building users, the building efficiency, and most importantly the building’s ecological footprint. And Wirepas is at the heart of it all.
