Towards Next Generation Building Management Systems

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm is gradually finding its way in virtually every industry; however, beyond adding more sensors and measuring and controlling previously inaccessible domains, it is also about transforming ‘legacy’ approaches to control systems, such as those used in Building Management Systems (BMS), by leveraging on the advantages brought by Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). The purpose of this paper is to address several issues gradually emerging in the process of applying the CPS and IoT paradigms to revolutionise BMS. The results of this on-going research aim to help avoid potential pitfalls and provide a sound platform for taking advantage of the benefits brought by this technology in a feasible, effective and controlled manner. More specifically, the paper will address i) the changing meaning of interoperability in the context of the explosion in the number of IoT devices, ii) the need for guidance in adopting sustainable CPS and IoT platforms supporting BMS, based on appropriate non-functional and viable systems principles, iii) emerging issues in the BMS ‘cloudification’ endeavour and iv) the lack of data sources’ correlation resulting in sub-optimal data quality and detail in using Big Data technologies to enable effective analytics for prompt BMS decision-making.

Building Information Modeling and Digital Twin Approaches in Building Automation and Distributed IoT Networks – Review and New Challenges Discussion

“…By optimizing resources and energy consumption, they remain "green companies" and reduce environmental impact. Considering mentioned BaaS frameworks, the DTaaS approach also fits into the development trend of virtualization of BMS ad FM platforms (emerging issues in the BMS 'cloudification' endeavor) and transferring the functions of collecting, processing, and analyzing data from distributed automation and IoT networks to cloud services [77][78][79].…”

Exploring the Path Towards Construction 4.0: Collaborative Networks and Enterprise Architecture Views

“…Unfortunately, however, the BIM adoption rate in the construction sector has been much slower than anticipated [11], even though BIM offers the capability of digitising building projects information based on established information technologies within the various professional areas involved in the building lifecycle phases. Thus, BIM is an essential component of new Cyber-Physical Building Management Systems (CP-BMSs) proposed by Noran et al [12], which constitute a major stepping stone towards the Construction 4.0 paradigm attainment. Hence, a CP-BMS can be defined as "a building management system that leverages the advances brought by intelligent cyber-physical systems for real-time information management of a building state during its lifecycle" [12].…”

“…Thus, BIM is an essential component of new Cyber-Physical Building Management Systems (CP-BMSs) proposed by Noran et al [12], which constitute a major stepping stone towards the Construction 4.0 paradigm attainment. Hence, a CP-BMS can be defined as "a building management system that leverages the advances brought by intelligent cyber-physical systems for real-time information management of a building state during its lifecycle" [12].…”

“…1). Also, the use of large amounts of information gathered by smart sensors towards data-driven decisionmaking poses the challenge of proper interpretation to achieve self-and situationalawareness as described in [12] and [16], possibly using situation and domain level theories through channel logic [17] as further detailed in [18].…”