35 research outputs found

    Ambient intelligence in buildings : design and development of an interoperable Internet of Things platform

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    During many years, people and governments have been warned about the increasing levels of pollution and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions that are endangering our lives on this planet. The Information and Communication Technology sector, usually known as the ICT sector, responsible for the computerization of the society, has been pinpointed as one of the most important sectors contributing to such a problem. Many efforts, however, have been put to shift the trend towards the utilization of renewable resources, such as wind or solar power. Even though governments have agreed to follow this path and avoid the usage of non-renewable energies, it is not enough. Although the ICT sector might seem an added problem due to the number of connected devices, technology improvements and hardware optimization enable new ways of fighting against global warming and GHG emissions. The aforementioned computerization has forced companies to evolve their work into a computer-assisted one. Due to this, companies are now forced to establish their main headquarters inside buildings for work coordination, connection and management. Due to this, buildings are becoming one of the most important issues regarding energy consumption. In order to cope with such problem, the Internet of Things (IoT) offers new paradigms and alternatives for leading the change. IoT is commonly defined as the network of physical and virtual objects that are capable of collecting surrounding data and exchanging it between them or through the Internet. Thanks to these networks, it is possible to monitor any thinkable metric inside buildings, and, then, utilize this information to build efficient automated systems, commonly known as Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS), capable of extracting conclusions on how to optimally and efficiently manage the resources of the building. ICT companies have foreseen this market opportunity that, paired with the appearance of smaller, efficient and more durable sensors, allows the development of efficient IoT systems. However, the lack of agreement and standardization creates chaos inside IoT, and the horizontal connectivity between such systems is still a challenge. Moreover, the vast amount of data to process requires the utilization of Big Data techniques to guarantee close to real-time responses. This thesis initially presents a standard Cloud-based IoT architecture that tries to cope with the aforementioned problems by employing a Cloud middleware that obfuscates the underlying hardware architecture and permits the aggregation of data from multiple heterogeneous sources. Also, sensor information is exposed to any third-party client after authentication. The utilization of automated IoT systems for managing building resources requires high reliability, resilience, and availability. The loss of sensor data is not permitted due to the negative consequences it might have, such as disruptive resource management. For this, it is mandatory to grant backup options to sensor networks in order to guarantee correct functioning in case of partial network disconnections. Additionally, the placement of the sensors inside the building must guarantee minimal energy consumption while fulfilling sensing requirements. Finally, a building resource management use case is presented by means of a simulation tool. The tool draws on occupants' probabilistic models and environmental condition models for actuating upon building elements to ensure optimal and efficient functioning. Occupants' comfort is also taken into consideration and the trade-off between the two metrics is studied. All the presented work is meant to deliver insights and tools for current and future IoT system implementations by setting the basis for standardization agreements yet to happen.Durant molts anys, s'ha alertat a la població i als governs sobre l'increment en els nivells de pol·lució i d'emissió de gasos d'efecte hivernacle, que estan posant en perill la nostra vida a la Terra. El sector de les Tecnologies de la Informació i Comunicació, normalment conegut com les TIC, responsable de la informatització de la societat, ha estat senyalat com un dels sectors més importants encarregat d'agreujar tal problema. Però, molt esforç s'està posant per revertir aquesta situació mitjançant l'ús de recursos renovables, com l'energia eòlica o solar. Tot i que els governs han acordat seguir dit camí i evitar l'ús d'energia no renovable tant com sigui possible, no és suficient per erradicar el problema. Encara que el sector de les TIC pugui semblar un problema afegit donada la gran quantitat i l'increment de dispositius connectats, les millores en tecnologia i en hardware estan habilitant noves maneres de lluitar contra l'escalfament global i l'emissió de gasos d'efecte hivernacle. La informatització, anteriorment mencionada, ha forçat a les empreses a evolucionar el seu model de negoci cap a un més enfocat a la utilització de xarxes d'ordinadors per gestionar els seus recursos. Per això, dites companyies s'estan veient forçades a establir les seves seus centrals dintre d'edificis, per tenir un major control sobre la coordinació, connexió i maneig dels seus recursos. Això està provocant un augment en el consum energètic dels edificis, que s'estan convertint en un dels principals problemes. Per poder fer front al problema, la Internet de les Coses o Internet of Things (IoT) ofereix nous paradigmes i alternatives per liderar el canvi. IoT es defineix com la xarxa d'objectes físics i virtuals, capaços de recol·lectar la informació per construir sistemes automatitzats, coneguts com a Sistemes de Gestió Energètica per Edificis, capaços d'extreure conclusions sobre com utilitzar de manera eficient i òptima els recursos de l'edifici. Companyies pertanyents a les TIC han previst aquesta oportunitat de mercat que, en sincronia amb l'aparició de sensors més petits, eficients i duradors, permeten el desenvolupament de sistemes IoT eficients. Però, la falta d'acord en quant a l'estandardització de dits sistemes està creant un escenari caòtic, ja que s'està fent impossible la connectivitat horitzontal entre dits sistemes. A més, la gran quantitat de dades a processar requereix la utilització de tècniques de Big Data per poder garantir respostes en temps acceptables. Aquesta tesi presenta, inicialment, una arquitectura IoT estàndard basada en la Neu, que tracta de fer front als problemes anteriorment presentats mitjançant l'ús d'un middleware allotjat a la Neu que ofusca l'arquitectura hardware subjacent i permet l'agregació de la informació originada des de múltiples fonts heterogènies. A més, la informació dels sensors s'exposa perquè qualsevol client de tercers pugui consultar-la, després d'haver-se autenticat. La utilització de sistemes IoT automatitzats per gestionar els recursos dels edificis requereix un alt nivell de fiabilitat, resistència i disponibilitat. La perduda d'informació no està permesa degut a les conseqüències negatives que podría suposar, com una mala presa de decisions. Per això, és obligatori atorgar opcions de backup a les xarxes de sensors per garantir un correcte funcionament inclús quan es produeixen desconnexions parcials de la xarxa. Addicionalment, la col·locació dels sensors dintre de l'edifici ha de garantir un consum energètic mínim dintre de les restriccions de desplegament imposades. Finalment, presentem un cas d'ús d'un Sistema de Gestió Energètica per Edificis mitjançant una eina de simulació. Dita eina utilitza com informació d'entrada models probabilístics sobre les accions dels ocupants i models sobre la condició ambiental per actuar sobre els elements de l'edifici i garantir un funcionament òptim i eficient. A més, el confort dels ocupants també es considera com mètrica a optimitzar. Donada la impossibilitat d’optimitzar les dues mètriques de manera conjunta, aquesta tesi també presenta un estudi sobre el trade-off que existeix entre elles. Tot el treball presentat està pensat per atorgar idees i eines pels sistemes IoT actuals i futurs, i assentar les bases per l’estandardització que encara està per arribar.Durante muchos años, se ha alertado a la población y a los gobiernos acerca del incremento en los niveles de polución y de emisión de gases de efecto invernadero, que están poniendo en peligro nuestra vida en la Tierra. El sector de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación, normalmente conocido como las TIC, responsable de la informatización de la sociedad, ha sido señalada como uno de los sectores más importantes encargado de agravar tal problema. Sin embargo, mucho esfuerzo se está poniendo para revertir esta situación mediante el uso de recursos renovables, como la energía eólica o solar. A pesar de que los gobiernos han acordado seguir dicho camino y evitar el uso de energía no renovable tanto como sea posible, no es suficiente para erradicar el problema. Aunque el sector de las TIC pueda parecer un problema añadido dada la gran cantidad y el incremento de dispositivos conectados, las mejoras en tecnología y en hardware están habilitando nuevas maneras de luchar contra el calentamiento global y la emisión de gases de efecto invernadero. Durante las últimas décadas, compañías del sector público y privado conscientes del problema han centrado sus esfuerzos en la creación de soluciones orientadas a la eficiencia energética tanto a nivel de hardware como de software. Las nuevas redes troncales están siendo creadas con dispositivos eficientes y los proveedores de servicios de Internet tienden a crear sistemas conscientes de la energía para su optimización dentro de su dominio. Siguiendo esta tendencia, cualquier nuevo sistema creado y añadido a la red debe garantizar un cierto nivel de conciencia y un manejo óptimo de los recursos que utiliza. La informatización, anteriormente mencionada, ha forzado a las empresas a evolucionar su modelo de negocio hacia uno más enfocado en la utilización de redes de ordenadores para gestionar sus recursos. Por eso, dichas compañías se están viendo forzadas a establecer sus sedes centrales dentro de edificios, para tener un mayor control sobre la coordinación, conexión y manejo de sus recursos. Esto está provocando un aumento en el consumo energético de los edificios, que se están convirtiendo en uno de los principales problemas. Para poder hacer frente al problema, el Internet de las Cosas o Internet of Things (IoT) ofrece nuevos paradigmas y alternativas para liderar el cambio. IoT se define como la red de objetos físicos y virtuales, capaces de recolectar la información del entorno e intercambiarla entre los propios objetos o a través de Internet. Gracias a estas redes, es posible monitorizar cualquier métrica que podamos imaginar dentro de un edificio, y, después, utilizar dicha información para construir sistemas automatizados, conocidos como Sistemas de Gestión Energética para Edificios, capaces de extraer conclusiones sobre cómo utilizar de manera eficiente y óptima los recursos del edificio. Compañías pertenecientes a las TIC han previsto esta oportunidad de mercado que, en sincronía con la aparición de sensores más pequeños, eficientes y duraderos, permite el desarrollo de sistemas IoT eficientes. Sin embargo, la falta de acuerdo en cuanto a la estandarización de dichos sistemas está creando un escenario caótico, ya que se hace imposible la conectividad horizontal entre dichos sistemas. Además, la gran cantidad de datos a procesar requiere la utilización de técnicas de Big Data para poder garantizar respuestas en tiempos aceptables. Esta tesis presenta, inicialmente, una arquitectura IoT estándar basada en la Nube que trata de hacer frente a los problemas anteriormente presentados mediante el uso de un middleware alojado en la Nube que ofusca la arquitectura hardware subyacente y permite la agregación de la información originada des de múltiples fuentes heterogéneas. Además, la información de los sensores se expone para que cualquier cliente de terceros pueda consultarla, después de haberse autenticado. La utilización de sistemas IoT automatizados para manejar los recursos de los edificios requiere un alto nivel de fiabilidad, resistencia y disponibilidad. La pérdida de información no está permitida debido a las consecuencias negativas que podría suponer, como una mala toma de decisiones. Por eso, es obligatorio otorgar opciones de backup a las redes de sensores para garantizar su correcto funcionamiento incluso cuando se producen desconexiones parciales de la red. Adicionalmente, la colocación de los sensores dentro del edificio debe garantizar un consumo energético mínimo dentro de las restricciones de despliegue impuestas. En esta tesis, mejoramos el problema de colocación de los sensores para redes heterogéneas de sensores inalámbricos añadiendo restricciones de clustering o agrupamiento, para asegurar que cada tipo de sensor es capaz de obtener su métrica correspondiente, y restricciones de protección mediante la habilitación de rutas de transmisión secundarias. En cuanto a grandes redes homogéneas de sensores inalámbricos, esta tesis estudia aumentar su resiliencia mediante la identificación de los sensores más críticos. Finalmente, presentamos un caso de uso de un Sistema de Gestión Energética para Edificios mediante una herramienta de simulación. Dicha herramienta utiliza como información de entrada modelos probabilísticos sobre las acciones de los ocupantes y modelos sobre la condición ambiental para actuar sobre los elementos del edificio y garantizar un funcionamiento óptimo y eficiente. Además, el comfort de los ocupantes también se considera como métrica a optimizar. Dada la imposibilidad de optimizar las dos métricas de manera conjunta, esta tesis también presenta un estudio sobre el trade-off que existe entre ellas. Todo el trabajo presentado está pensado para otorgar ideas y herramientas para los sistemas IoT actuales y futuros, y asentar las bases para la estandarización que todavía está por llegar.Postprint (published version

    Developing a Digital Twin at Building and City Levels: A Case Study of West Cambridge Campus

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    A digital twin (DT) refers to a digital replica of physical assets, processes, and systems. DTs integrate artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics to create living digital simulation models that are able to learn and update from multiple sources as well as represent and predict the current and future conditions of physical counterparts. However, current activities related to DTs are still at an early stage with respect to buildings and other infrastructure assets from an architectural and engineering/construction point of view. Less attention has been paid to the operation and maintenance (O&M) phase, which is the longest time span in the asset life cycle. A systematic and clear architecture verified with practical use cases for constructing a DT would be the foremost step for effective operation and maintenance of buildings and cities. According to current research about multitier architectures, this paper presents a system architecture for DTs that is specifically designed at both the building and city levels. Based on this architecture, a DT demonstrator of the West Cambridge site of the University of Cambridge in the UK was developed that integrates heterogeneous data sources, supports effective data querying and analysis, supports decision-making processes in O&M management, and further bridges the gap between human relationships with buildings/cities. This paper aims at going through the whole process of developing DTs in building and city levels from the technical perspective and sharing lessons learned and challenges involved in developing DTs in real practices. Through developing this DT demonstrator, the results provide a clear roadmap and present particular DT research efforts for asset management practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to promote the implementation and development of DT at the building and city levels

    Model predictive energy control of ventilation for underground stations

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    Smart building systems are opening up new markets, nevertheless the implementation of these novel technologies still lacks suitable and proven whole engineering solutions in complex buildings. This paper presents a detailed approach for the ventilation control of an underground space, as an example of application of the developed solution to a very harsh environment but also highly demanding in terms of energy consumption. The underground spaces are characterized by a particular thermal behavior, because of the continuous and huge thermal exchange they have with the outside, via the openings and the ground surrounding the majority of the building. The main objective of the developed methodology is to reduce energy consumption of ventilation control while maintaining acceptable comfort levels: succeeding in achieving this twofold goal in a real station and the generalization of the approach are the most relevant contributions of the paper. The developed solution is based on a Model-based Predictive Control algorithm used together with a proper monitoring platform. The model predictive control is based on a Bayesian environmental prediction model, which works in cooperation with a weather forecast web service, schedule-based predictions about trains and external fans and an occupancy detection system to appraise the real amount of people. The prediction model develops scenarios useful to allow the controller acting in advance in order to adapt the system to the current and future conditions of use, taking profit of the knowledge of the real ventilation demand. Finally, the proposed control architecture is applied to the Passeig de Gràcia metro station in Barcelona as a case study, validating the usefulness of the proposed approach and obtaining more than 30% of energy savings in the ventilation system, while maintaining the pre-existing comfort levels. The saving percentage values estimated by simulation are confirmed by the direct measures continuously taken on site through energy-meters

    IoT*(Ambisense): Smart environment monitoring using LoRa

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    In this work, IoT* (AmbiSense), we present our developed IoT system as a solution for Building and Energy Management using visualization tools to identify heuristics and create automatic savings. Our developed prototypes communicate using LoRa, one of the latest IoT technologies, and are composed of a set of battery-operated sensors tied to a System on Chip. These sensors acquire environmental data such as temperature, humidity, luminosity, air quality, and also motion. For small to medium-size buildings where system management is possible, a multiplatform dashboard provides visualization templates with real-time data, allowing to identify patterns and extract heuristics that lead to savings using a set of pre-defined actions or manual intervention. LoBEMS (LoRa Building and Energy Management System), was validated in a kindergarten school during a three-year period. As an outcome, the evaluation of the proposed platform resulted in a 20% energy saving and a major improvement of the environment quality and comfort inside the school. For larger buildings where system management is not possible, we created a 3D visualization tool, that presents the system collected data and warnings in an interactive model of the building. This scenario was validated at ISCTE-IUL University Campus, where it was necessary to introduce the community interaction to achieve savings. As a requested application case, our system was also validated at the University Data Center, where the system templates were used to detect anomalies and suggest changes. Our flexible system approach can easily be deployed to any building facility without requiring large investments or complex system deployments.Nesta dissertação de mestrado, IoT * (AmbiSense), é apresentado um sistema IoT desenvolvido como uma solução para Gestão de Edifícios e Energia recorrendo a ferramentas de visualização para identificar heurísticas e criar poupanças automáticas. Os protótipos desenvolvidos comunicam utilizando LoRa, e são compostos por um conjunto de sensores ligados a um microcontrolador alimentado por bateria. Os sensores adquirem dados como temperatura, humidade, luminosidade, qualidade do ar e movimento. Para edifícios de pequena e média dimensão onde a gestão do sistema é possível, um dashboard fornece templates de visualização com dados em tempo real, permitindo extrair heurísticas, que introduzem poupanças através de um conjunto de ações predefinidas ou intervenção manual. O sistema LoBEMS (LoRa Building and Energy Management System), foi validado numa escola local durante um período de três anos. A avaliação do sistema resultou numa poupança de energia de 20% e uma melhoria significativa da qualidade do ambiente e conforto no interior da escola. Para edifícios de maior dimensão onde a gestão do sistema não é possível, criámos uma ferramenta de visualização 3D, que apresenta os dados e alertas do sistema, num modelo interativo do edifício. Este cenário foi validado no campus do ISCTE-IUL, onde foi necessária a interação da Comunidade para obter poupanças. Foi nos também solicitada uma validação do sistema no centro de dados da Universidade, onde os templates do sistema foram utilizados para detetar anomalias e sugerir alterações. A flexibilidade do sistema permite a sua implementação em qualquer edifício, sem exigir um grande investimento ou implementações complexas

    Real Time Net Zero Energy Building Energy Manager with Heterogeneous Wireless Ad hoc Network Adaptable To IoT Architectures

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    Significant energy consumption by buildings from utility grid has made researchers revisit existing Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS). Most of the developing countries have taken a green initiative of Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) to reduce carbon foot print and fast depletion of conventional energy sources. Though the integration of solar and wind based systems to grid is successful in recent years, residential building energy management systems with renewable energy sources is still an evolving research area. Monitoring, control and actuation systems should be tightly coupled with the help of any to any device communication namely Internet of Things (IoT) to realize an efficient NZEB. In this paper a real time NZEB is proposed and developed with bi-directional wireless sensor and actuation system. Proposed NZEB central server collects and maintains a database of on site solar generation, battery state of charge and load power consumption data of a building with help of IEEE 802.15.4 and IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. Proposed system was deployed as a test bed with sensing, control, actuation and server modules and connecting them with a bi-directional wireless network architecture similar to IoT. Data observed at experimental test bed confirm that developed system can estimate on site solar power generation, state of charge on battery bank and load power consumption with negligible error. A simulation study with experimental data collected at NZEB test bed shows that NZEB can optimally schedule loads between local generation and utility grid thereby minimizing peak demand on the grid

    wireless real time monitoring system for the implementation of intelligent control in subways

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    This chapter looks into the technical features of state-of-the-art wireless sensors networks for environmental monitoring. Technology advances in low-power and wireless devices have made the deployment of those networks more and more affordable. In addition, wireless sensor networks have become more flexible and adaptable to a wide range of situations. Hence, a framework for their correct implementation will be provided. Then, one specific application about real-time environmental monitoring in support of a modelbased predictive control system installed in a metro station will be described. In these applications, filtering, resampling, and post-processing functions must be developed, in order to convert raw data into a dataset arranged in the right format, so that it can inform the algorithms of the control system about the current state of the domain under control. Finally, the whole architecture of the model-based predictive control and its final performances will be reported

    AUTOMATED RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR THE UTILITY SECTOR BASED ON WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

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    The subject of this study is methods, tools and automated resource management systems for the housing and communal sector. The object of research is the process of controlling resource consumption at housing and communal facilities. The aim of the study is to develop an automated resource management system for the utility sector based on wireless sensor networks. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were solved: a review and analysis of existing methods, tools and automated resource management systems; selection of system components based on technical requirements and taking into account the selected LoRaWAN wireless connection technology; development of a structural diagram and algorithm for the operation of an automated resource management system based on wireless sensor networks; modelling of the process of managing the resources of the utility sector using a wireless sensor network based on t The following methods are used in the work: critical analysis of LoRa technology and other wireless IoT technologies, FOREL and -means clustering methods. The following results were obtained: a general description of the automated resource management system was carried out, its composition and main tasks were determined, and technical requirements for it were established, wireless data transmission technology was selected, on the basis of which the automated resource management system was built, an in-depth comparative analysis of the most effective modern wireless technologies – LoRaWAN and NB-IoT – was carried out, system components were selected, a structural diagram and algorithm for the automated resource management system were developed, and the process of the automated resource management system was modelled. Conclusions: the application of the proposed automated resource management system provides high-quality control of energy consumption at the facilities of the housing and communal sector, makes it possible to control their volume, monitor and analyse energy consumption data, and manage the entire energy supply network as a single system, which is especially necessary in martial law. This approachallows rationalising the consumption of resources by household consumers, which means that the financial costs of energy supply will decrease and the level of energy savings in the country will increase

    Occupant-Centric Energy Management for Small Commercial Buildings

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    As the UK strives to reduce its impact on the environment, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) face significant energy reduction barriers which include high costs, the lack of expertise and significant time limitations. Many energy management systems (EMS) do exist but they are largely inaccessible to SMEs because they generally fit into three categories: being complex and expensive; affordable but requiring expertise to fit and manage; or affordable but overly simple and ineffective. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the development of on an holistic occupant-centric EMS to overcome the limitations of existing solutions to enable SMEs to overcome the barriers they have experienced. The principle of the occupant-centric EMS is to improve the temporal match between building occupants and energy consuming systems. To meet this principle, a number of enabling technologies are utilised including, Internet of Things (IoT), wireless sensor networks (WSN) and machine learning (ML). The major contributions of this work include the development of • a WSN simulation tool • a methodology to analyse different network deployment techniques • creation of a large labelled multimodal data set • a single mode and multimode ML architecture which is designed and deployed on a constrained edge-based system to utilise binary classification to determine occupancy • a holistic low cost occupant-centric EMS which automates a significant reduction of energy consumption within small commercial buildings A number of node placement algorithms are developed to assess existing WSN deployment techniques that are utilised for unobtrusive, privacy protecting IoT data capture. The most suitable technique is determined to be the sensor grid which uses 44% of the hardware of other deployments and demonstrates an accuracy of 81% for occupancy monitoring. To further improve the performance of occupancy monitoring, an edge-based ML model which analyses thermal image data is designed and iii implemented demonstrating more than 96% accuracy in an office environment. To improve the performance in a wider range of environments, the ML model is extended to enable simultaneous analysis of the IoT multimodal building data. This model achieves the same performance in the office but demonstrates a 15% improvement in sensitivity and 31% in precision in another environment. The utilisation of additional low cost sensors and data fusion techniques enable an increase in building coverage from 78% to 100%, whilst maintaining the quantity of IoT nodes. The completed developed occupant-centric IoT-based EMS costs less than a fifth of existing comparable systems. The experimental evaluation results demonstrate more than 10% reduction in total building energy consumption whilst maintaining a comfortable working environment
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