A Survey on Systems Integration in the Energy Automation Domain through OPC Interface

[Abstract] The Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control (OPC) interface provides an effective means to exchange data between automation-related entities, both hardware and software. Since its creation, it has been profusely used not only for industrial scenarios but also for other spheres, among which energy automation is an important scope. In order to portray the relevance of such protocol, this paper presents a survey of applications of OPC communication to manage systems integration in the context of energy automationJunta de Extremadura; GR1815

Novel proposal for prediction of CO2 course and occupancy recognition in Intelligent Buildings within IoT

Many direct and indirect methods, processes, and sensors available on the market today are used to monitor the occupancy of selected Intelligent Building (IB) premises and the living activities of IB residents. By recognizing the occupancy of individual spaces in IB, IB can be optimally automated in conjunction with energy savings. This article proposes a novel method of indirect occupancy monitoring using CO2, temperature, and relative humidity measured by means of standard operating measurements using the KNX (Konnex (standard EN 50090, ISO/IEC 14543)) technology to monitor laboratory room occupancy in an intelligent building within the Internet of Things (IoT). The article further describes the design and creation of a Software (SW) tool for ensuring connectivity of the KNX technology and the IoT IBM Watson platform in real-time for storing and visualization of the values measured using a Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol and data storage into a CouchDB type database. As part of the proposed occupancy determination method, the prediction of the course of CO2 concentration from the measured temperature and relative humidity values were performed using mathematical methods of Linear Regression, Neural Networks, and Random Tree (using IBM SPSS Modeler) with an accuracy higher than 90%. To increase the accuracy of the prediction, the application of suppression of additive noise from the CO2 signal predicted by CO2 using the Least mean squares (LMS) algorithm in adaptive filtering (AF) method was used within the newly designed method. In selected experiments, the prediction accuracy with LMS adaptive filtration was better than 95%.Web of Science1223art. no. 454

Integration of Real-Intelligence in Energy Management Systems to Enable Holistic Demand Response Optimization in Buildings and Districts

Although multiple trials have been conducted demonstrating that demand side flexibility works and even though technology roll-out progresses significantly fast, the business application of residential and small tertiary demand response has been slow to develop. This paper introduces a holistic demand response optimization framework that enables significant energy costs reduction at the consumer side, while introducing buildings as a major contributor to energy networks' stability in response to network constraints and conditions. The backbone of the solution consists in a modular interoperability and data management framework that enables open standards-based communication along the demand response value chain. The solution is validated in four large-scale pilot sites, incorporating diverse building types, heterogeneous home, building and district energy systems and devices, a variety of energy carriers and spanning diverse climatic conditions, demographic and cultural characteristics.European Commission's H2020, 76861

Architecture for Smart Buildings Based on Fuzzy Logic and the OpenFog Standard

The combination of Artificial Intelligence and IoT technologies, the so-called AIoT, is expected to contribute to the sustainability of public and private buildings, particularly in terms of energy management, indoor comfort, as well as in safety and security for the occupants. However, IoT systems deployed on modern buildings may generate big amounts of data that cannot be efficiently analyzed and stored in the Cloud. Fog computing has proven to be a suitable paradigm for distributing computing, storage control, and networking functions closer to the edge of the network along the Cloud-to-Things continuum, improving the efficiency of the IoT applications. Unfortunately, it can be complex to integrate all components to create interoperable AIoT applications. For this reason, it is necessary to introduce interoperable architectures, based on standard and universal frameworks, to distribute consistently the resources and the services of AIoT applications for smart buildings. Thus, the rationale for this study stems from the pressing need to introduce complex computing algorithms aimed at improving indoor comfort, safety, and environmental conditions while optimizing energy consumption in public and private buildings. This article proposes an open multi-layer architecture aimed at smart buildings based on a standard framework, the OpenFog Reference Architecture (IEEE 1934–2018 standard). The proposed architecture was validated experimentally at the Faculty of Engineering of Vitoria-Gasteiz to improve indoor environmental quality using Fuzzy logic. Experimental results proved the viability and scalability of the proposed architecture.The authors wish to express their gratitude to the Basque Government, through the project EKOHEGAZ II; to the Diputación Foral de Álava (DFA), through the project CONAVANTER; to the UPV/EHU, through the projects GIU20/063 and CBL 22APIN; and to the MobilityLab Foundation (CONV23/12), for supporting this work

Semantic Driven Approach for Rapid Application Development in Industrial Internet of Things

The evolution of IoT has revolutionized industrial automation. Industrial devices at every level such as field devices, control devices, enterprise level devices etc., are connected to the Internet, where they can be accessed easily. It has significantly changed the way applications are developed on the industrial automation systems. It led to the paradigm shift where novel IoT application development tools such as Node-RED can be used to develop complex industrial applications as IoT orchestrations. However, in the current state, these applications are bound strictly to devices from specific vendors and ecosystems. They cannot be re-used with devices from other vendors and platforms, since the applications are not semantically interoperable. For this purpose, it is desirable to use platform-independent, vendor-neutral application templates for common automation tasks. However, in the current state in Node-RED such reusable and interoperable application templates cannot be developed. The interoperability problem at the data level can be addressed in IoT, using Semantic Web (SW) technologies. However, for an industrial engineer or an IoT application developer, SW technologies are not very easy to use. In order to enable efficient use of SW technologies to create interoperable IoT applications, novel IoT tools are required. For this purpose, in this paper we propose a novel semantic extension to the widely used Node-RED tool by introducing semantic definitions such as iot.schema.org semantic models into Node-RED. The tool guides a non-expert in semantic technologies such as a device vendor, a machine builder to configure the semantics of a device consistently. Moreover, it also enables an engineer, IoT application developer to design and develop semantically interoperable IoT applications with minimal effort. Our approach accelerates the application development process by introducing novel semantic application templates called Recipes in Node-RED. Using Recipes, complex application development tasks such as skill matching between Recipes and existing things can be automated.We will present the approach to perform automated skill matching on the Cloud or on the Edge of an automation system. We performed quantitative and qualitative evaluation of our approach to test the feasibility and scalability of the approach in real world scenarios. The results of the evaluation are presented and discussed in the paper.Die Entwicklung des Internet der Dinge (IoT) hat die industrielle Automatisierung revolutioniert. Industrielle Geräte auf allen Ebenen wie Feldgeräte, Steuergeräte, Geräte auf Unternehmensebene usw. sind mit dem Internet verbunden, wodurch problemlos auf sie zugegriffen werden kann. Es hat die Art und Weise, wie Anwendungen auf industriellen Automatisierungssystemen entwickelt werden, deutlich verändert. Es führte zum Paradigmenwechsel, wo neuartige IoT Anwendungsentwicklungstools, wie Node-RED, verwendet werden können, um komplexe industrielle Anwendungen als IoT-Orchestrierungen zu entwickeln. Aktuell sind diese Anwendungen jedoch ausschließlich an Geräte bestimmter Anbieter und Ökosysteme gebunden. Sie können nicht mit Geräten anderer Anbieter und Plattformen verbunden werden, da die Anwendungen nicht semantisch interoperabel sind. Daher ist es wünschenswert, plattformunabhängige, herstellerneutrale Anwendungsvorlagen für allgemeine Automatisierungsaufgaben zu verwenden. Im aktuellen Status von Node-RED können solche wiederverwendbaren und interoperablen Anwendungsvorlagen jedoch nicht entwickelt werden. Diese Interoperabilitätsprobleme auf Datenebene können im IoT mithilfe von Semantic Web (SW) -Technologien behoben werden. Für Ingenieure oder Entwickler von IoT-Anwendungen sind SW-Technologien nicht sehr einfach zu verwenden. Zur Erstellung interoperabler IoT-Anwendungen sind daher neuartige IoT-Tools erforderlich. Zu diesem Zweck schlagen wir eine neuartige semantische Erweiterung des weit verbreiteten Node-RED-Tools vor, indem wir semantische Definitionen wie iot.schema.org in die semantischen Modelle von NODE-Red einführen. Das Tool leitet einen Gerätehersteller oder Maschinebauer, die keine Experten in semantische Technologien sind, an um die Semantik eines Geräts konsistent zu konfigurieren. Darüber hinaus ermöglicht es auch einem Ingenieur oder IoT-Anwendungsentwickler, semantische, interoperable IoT-Anwendungen mit minimalem Aufwand zu entwerfen und entwicklen Unser Ansatz beschleunigt die Anwendungsentwicklungsprozesse durch Einführung neuartiger semantischer Anwendungsvorlagen namens Rezepte für Node-RED. Durch die Verwendung von Rezepten können komplexe Anwendungsentwicklungsaufgaben wie das Abgleichen von Funktionen zwischen Rezepten und vorhandenen Strukturen automatisiert werden. Wir demonstrieren Skill-Matching in der Cloud oder am Industrial Edge eines Automatisierungssystems. Wir haben dafür quantitative und qualitative Bewertung unseres Ansatzes durchgeführt, um die Machbarkeit und Skalierbarkeit des Ansatzes in realen Szenarien zu testen. Die Ergebnisse der Bewertung werden in dieser Arbeit vorgestellt und diskutiert

Advanced IoT Technology and Protocols: Review and Future Perspectives

The Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as a disruptive paradigm, altering how we interact with our surroundings and enabling a plethora of novel applications across multiple sectors. This literature review provides a complete overview of the Internet of Things, including applications, technology, protocols, modeling tools, and future directions. The assessment begins by looking at a wide range of IoT applications, such as smart cities, healthcare, industrial automation, smart homes, and more. It then looks into the underlying technologies that enable IoT deployments, including low-power wireless communication protocols, edge computing, and sensor networks. Protocols and routing methods designed expressly for IoT networks are also described, as well as simulation tools used to simulate and evaluate IoT systems. The discussion focuses on critical insights and consequences for the future of IoT, including challenges and potential in security, interoperability, edge intelligence, and sustainability. By tackling these obstacles and using emerging technologies, IoT can create disruptive change across businesses while also improving quality of life. This review seeks to give scholars, practitioners, and stakeholders a thorough grasp of IoT and its implications for the future

A Scalable and Secure System Architecture for Smart Buildings

Recent years has seen profound changes in building technologies both in Europe and worldwide. With the emergence of Smart Grid and Smart City concepts, the Smart Building has attracted considerable attention and rapid development. The introduction of novel information and communication technologies (ICT) enables an optimized resource utilization while improving the building performance and occupants' satisfaction over a broad spectrum of operations. However, literature and industry have drawn attention to certain barriers and challenges that inhibit its universal adoption. The Smart Building is a cyber-physical system, which as a whole is more than the sum of its parts. The heterogeneous combination of systems, processes, and practices requires a multidisciplinary research. This work proposes and validates a systems engineering approach to the investigation of the identified challenges and the development of a viable architecture for the future Smart Building. Firstly, a data model for the building management system (BMS) enables a semantic abstraction of both the ICT and the building construction. A high-level application programming interface (API) facilitates the creation of generic management algorithms and external applications, independent from each Smart Building instance, promoting the intelligence portability and lowering the cost. Moreover, the proposed architecture ensures the scalability regardless of the occupant activities and the complexity of the optimization algorithms. Secondly, a real-time message-oriented middleware, as a distributed embedded architecture within the building, empowers the interoperability of the ICT devices and networks and their integration into the BMS. The middleware scales to any building construction regardless of the devices' performance and connectivity limitations, while a secure architecture ensures the integrity of data and operations. An extensive performance and energy efficiency study validates the proposed design. A "building-in-the-loop" emulation system, based on discrete-event simulation, virtualizes the Smart Building elements (e.g., loads, storage, generation, sensors, actuators, users, etc.). The high integration with the message-oriented middleware keeps the BMS agnostic to the virtual nature of the emulated instances. Its cooperative multitasking and immerse parallelism allow the concurrent emulation of hundreds of elements in real time. The virtualization facilitates the development of energy management strategies and financial viability studies on the exact building and occupant activities without a prior investment in the necessary infrastructure. This work concludes with a holistic system evaluation using a case study of a university building as a practical retrofitting estimation. It illustrates the system deployment, and highlights how a currently under development energy management system utilizes the BMS and its data analytics for demand-side management applications

Rakennuksen käyttöjärjestelmän luonti: kokonaisvaltainen lähestymistapa

Purpose of this thesis is to examine requirements for a building operating system from a holistic perspective. To understand the context of the subject, an extensive literature review was carried out which explores the evolution of operating systems alongside the history of computing, unravelling the concept of an operating system. In addition, various building information systems, including building automation systems and internet of things systems are reviewed in order to understand modern and future trends of building technology. Furthermore, literature review investigates telecommunications and digital identity authentication through their evolution and standardisation towards interoperability, to provide knowledge on how to achieve interoperability in building systems. An interview study was conducted as the empirical part of the study in order to complement the theoretical framework of the thesis. A dozen building digitalisation experts were interviewed, inquiring their insights on the current and future situation of building systems. More closely, open systems, open data, platform ownership, disruption, killer applications, user-centredness, and Finland’s opportunities were discussed in respect of the building operating system. Building operating system requires connection between various technology inside a building, and collaboration between various parties who use and manage the building. The system should exploit open standards and enable open data. User-centred development should be encouraged for the benefits of end users. The system needs to expand globally to achieve critical mass and unleash its full potential as a platform. Each building with similar properties should have the same features, being able to use same services and applications in any building with an operating system, thus enabling portability. The system requires convenient software development kits, application programming interfaces and abstractions for the needs of software and service developers. A vibrant developer community is required to expand the platform and enable a wide range of services and applications.Tämän diplomityön tarkoituksena on tutkia rakennuksen käyttöjärjestelmän holistisia vaatimuksia. Laaja kirjallisuuskatsaus tehtiin aiheen ymmärtämiseksi, joka tutkii käyttöjärjestelmien evoluutiota rinnakkain tietojenkäsittelyn historian kanssa, tarkoituksena hahmottaa käyttöjärjestelmän käsitettä. Lisäksi, eri rakennusten tietojärjestelmiä, mukaan lukien rakennusautomaatiojärjestelmiä ja esineiden internet -järjestelmiä käytiin läpi ymmärtääkseen nykyisiä ja tulevia trendejä rakennusteknologiassa. Edelleen kirjallisuuskatsaus tutkii televiestintää ja sähköistä tunnistautumista niiden kehityksen ja standardisoinnin kautta kohti yhteentoimivuutta, tarjoten tietoa siitä, miten yhteentoimivuutta voitaisiin kehittää rakennusjärjestelmissä. Haastattelututkimus tehtiin diplomityön empiirisenä osuutena, jonka tarkoituksena oli laajentaa työn teoreettista viitekehystä. Tusina rakennusten digitalisaation asiantuntijaa haastateltiin, joilta kysyttiin rakennusjärjestelmien nykytilasta ja tulevaisuudesta. Lähemmin, keskustelut käsittelivät avoimia järjestelmiä, avointa dataa, alustan omistajuutta, disruptiota, menestyssovelluksia, käyttäjäkeskeisyyttä sekä Suomen kansainvälistä potentiaalia rakennuksen käyttöjärjestelmän näkökulmasta. Rakennuksen käyttöjärjestelmä vaatii rakennuksen sisällä olevien eri teknologioiden yhteenliittämisen, sekä yhteistyötä rakennusta käyttävien ja hallinnoivien osapuolten välillä. Järjestelmän pitäisi hyödyntää avoimia standardeja ja mahdollistaa avoimen datan käytön. Käyttäjäkeskeistä suunnittelua pitäisi kannustaa loppukäyttäjien etuja suosien. Järjestelmän täytyy levitä globaalisti saavuttaakseen kriittisen massan ja ottaakseen käyttöön sen koko potentiaalin. Jokaisella samankaltaisella rakennuksella täytyisi olla käytössään yhtäläiset ominaisuudet, mahdollistaen samojen palveluiden ja sovellusten käytön missä tahansa käyttöjärjestelmää käyttävässä rakennuksessa, täten mahdollistaen siirrettävyyden. Järjestelmä vaatii sopivat ohjelmointirajapinnat, abstraktiot ja ohjelmistokehykset sovellus- ja palvelukehittäjien tarpeita varten. Laaja kehitysyhteisö vaaditaan alustan levittämiseksi ja sovellustarjonnan laajentamiseksi

Automaation ammattilaisten näkökulma

Kiinteistössä tarvitaan erilaisia toimintoja ja olosuhteita. Näitä ovat mm. lämpö, vesi, ilma, valo ja energian. Talotekniikka on laitteiden ja järjestelmien sekä rakennetun ympäristön teknisten palveluiden muodostaman automaation kokonaisuus. Tällä kokonaisuudella tuotetaan kiinteistöissä tapahtuville toiminnoille yksilölliset, käyttäjälähtöiset ja hallitut olosuhteet. Tämä tutkimus keskittyy tarkastelemaan kiinteistöautomaatioon integraatioprosessia automaatioalan ammattilaisten näkökulmasta. Kiinteistöautomaation toteutusprosessi osoittaa, että se ei tue riittävästi kiinteistöissä tarvittavien erilaisten automaatiojärjestelmien yhteensovittamista. Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitettiin edellä mainitusta näkökulmasta kiinteistöautomaation integrointiin vaikuttavat seikat, tekijät ja tahot ja samalla selvitettiin näiden toimijoiden käyttämää terminologiaa. Alan toimijoiden terminologia ei ole yhtenäinen ja tarvitaankin taho, joka määrittelee alalle yhtenevän termistön. Tutkimuksen tuloksena ilmeni, että kiinteistöautomaation integrointiprosessia ei osata hyödyntää siinä laajuudessa kuin tarve olisi. Ei tiedetä, missä vaiheessa rakennusprosessia kiinteistöautomaation integrointi olisi nostettava esiin. Tutkimuksen merkittävänä uutuusarvona on se, että näin laaja-alaista tutkimusta kiinteistöautomaation integroinnin prosessista ei toimijalähtöisestä näkökulmasta ole aikaisemmin tehty. Tutkimus nostaa esiin myös kiinteistöautomaation suhdetta palvelu- ja liiketoimintaan. Kirjallisuudesta kerätyn aineiston perusteella on kuvattu tätä suhdetta ja tietoteknistä prosessia. Tutkimusongelman ratkaisemiseksi asetettiin tutkimustavoite: Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää yleisellä tasolla kiinteistöautomaatioon integraatioprosessin mahdollisuudet ja esteet. Sen saavuttamiseksi selvitetään retrospektiivistä kirjallisuuskatsausta hyödyntäen kiinteistöautomaatiossa tapahtunutta kehitystä sekä tunnistetaan ja nimetään ne tahot ja tekijät, jotka vaikuttavat kiinteistön automaatiojärjestelmien kehittämiseen, alan toimijoiden näkökulmasta. Lisäksi analysoidaan tunnistettujen tekijöiden vaikutus kiinteistöautomaatiojärjestelmän kehitykseen sekä tehdään päätelmiä niiden pohjalta. Tutkimusongelman selvittämiseksi ja tavoitteen saavuttamiseksi valittiin tutkimusmenetelmäksi kvalitatiivinen teemahaastattelu. Tutkimuksen analysoimiseksi käytettiin seuraavia kvalitatiivisia analyysitapoja: luokittelu, kategoriointi, teemoittelu ja yhteyksien tarkastelu. Tutkimuksen arviointi kohdistui tutkimusmenetelmään ja tutkimustuloksiin. Tämä tutkimus antaa kiinteistöautomaation viitekehyksessä toimiville tahoille kokonaisvaltaisen näkemyksen siitä, mikä vaikutus tunnistetuilla ja nimetyillä edistävillä ja estävillä tekijöillä ja tahoilla on. Ne priorisoitiin ja niiden vaikuttavuutta vertailtiin vaikuttavuusindikaattorin avulla. Tutkimuksessa löydettiin kiinteistöautomaation integraation viisi edistävintä ja estävintä tahoa sekä viisi edistävintä ja estävintä tekijää. Tutkimuksen mukaan esteet poistetaan laatimalla riittävää tutkimus- ja koulutusaineistoa prosessin läpiviemiseksi sekä muuttamalla toimintatapoja. Esimerkiksi kiinteistöautomaation ammattilaisia tulee olla mukana jo rakennuksen hankesuunnittelussa. Tämä tutkimuksen yhteenveto kiinteistöautomaation integraation viitekehyksestä soveltuu myös lähdeaineistoksi kiinteistöautomaation integroinnin perusteiden koulutukseen ja jatkotutkimukseen. Sen vuoksi tutkimus on tieteelliselle yhteisölle tärkeä

Integrated Daylighting and Artificial Lighting Control based on High Dynamic Range Vision Sensors

One fifth of the electricity consumption of Swiss buildings is due to electric lighting. Integrated control of sun shading and artificial lighting can mitigate this demand while maintaining user comfort. However, the drawback of existing building control approaches is that they do not consider one of the main aspects of human-centric lighting: visual comfort. The goal of this doctoral thesis is to develop an integrated energy efficient sun shading and electric lighting control system that incorporates widely accepted visual comfort criteria and privileges daylighting over electric lighting. The first part is dedicated to High Dynamic Range (HDR) vision sensor calibration, programing, validation and preliminary testing. A sensor originally developed by the Centre Suisse dâElectronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM) was photometrically, spectrally and geometrically calibrated and validated with respect to reliable illuminance and multi-point luminance meters. This HDR vision sensor was then equipped with an embedded image processing routine in order to assess âon the flyâ discomfort glare indices. It has been demonstrated that the developed device, is able to serve as an enhanced visual comfort feedback sensor in building automation systems. On the other hand, it can be employed to characterize highly glazed facades and workspaces regarding visual comfort and glare risks, as demonstrated in a project in Singapore. Two monitoring campaigns are reported in the second part of this thesis. Firstly, 30 human subjects occupied two identical office rooms of the LESO solar experimental building for 15 afternoons to compare the performance of a fuzzy logic control system incorporating two HDR vision sensors with respect to a âbest-practiceâ controller. Subjective self-reported visual comfort surveys, paper- and computer-based visual tests and monitoring of the electric lighting consumption were carried out simultaneously in both offices. It was shown that the electricity demand of the office with the advanced controller is 32% lower than that of the reference room, while the subjectsâ visual performance remained comparable. Secondly, an eight-month data monitoring campaign was carried out in the same building in order to study the ability of a novel control approach to maintain optimal visual and thermal comfort conditions while reducing the energy performance gap of a room as well as its electric lighting demand. The experimental results showed that the advanced controller mitigated the performance gap during the heating season by 72% with regard to standard occupant behavior and by 19% with respect to a best-practice automated system. This system reduced backup heating demand leading to lower CO2 gas emissions. At the same time, visual comfort constraints regarding Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) and workplane horizontal illuminance were respected during work hours. Finally, a self-commissioning integrated controller for Venetian blinds enhanced with a learning module was developed and validated for 22 days in a daylighting testbed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy (ISE) in Freiburg, Germany. It has been shown that the visual comfort constraints are respected for 96% of the work hours and that the controller can successfully limit the number of shading movements. The market potential for HDR vision sensors and integrated control platforms has been studied and possible commercialization tracks have been identified