The Advent Of IoT & Its Marriage With Building Automation

Around three decades ago, a building automation system (BAS) used to be a game-changer for facilities. It had the capability to automatically monitor and manage a building’s largest and costliest operational components. As a result, the work of facility managers became easy as they could save time and money, reduce energy wastage, and monitor building operations within the same efforts.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is powerful technology that advances building automation beyond optimizations. By bringing systems together and adding new value, it changes the way a building operates in a particular environment. But, keep one thing in mind – IoT-based analytics platforms are of little value without humans. They work only because they connect people with technology.

IoT analytics enhances the performance of a building management system (BMS) by offering feedback on energy efficiency.

How does IoT transform building automation systems?

Today, facilities want to tap the best technology to level up their everyday operations. The Internet of Things (IoT) has the capacity to bring connectivity between millions of devices. An IoT-driven building management gives rise to an integrated ecosystem that provides connectivity to various complex IoT building automation devices, including controlling RTU heating, air conditioning, HVAC systems, etc.

Whether it’s a residential building or a commercial property, IoT brings efficiency into the operations of every infrastructural space. It’s the reason why BAS industries are focusing to connect extensively with IoT devices over wireless connection protocols. After all, it fosters better interoperability between the automation platforms.

Let us understand the role of IoT in transforming BAS:

1. Interoperability

In IT industries, interoperability is given the highest level of priority. In fact, it’s never compromised the company’s market share. The API and SDK implementation affects many companies and allows for greater market penetration.

API is extremely crucial and runs complex services like Google Maps. It just exposes the functionality of the program, not the source code.

Interoperability is the most positive aspect of the IoT ecosystem that allows for three types of communication:

• BAS to third-party devices & sensors
• BAS to BAS platform communication
• BAS platform to other applications such as enterprise and smart grid solutions

IoT ecosystem introduces the EMIS platforms that make use of API to communicate with IoT-driven BAS platforms to improve data analytics, including automated fault detection and diagnosis (AFDD). It becomes easy to implement and add features with greater interoperability in IoT building management systems and platforms.

2. Wireless connectivity

Connectivity is another crucial facet of IoT platforms that starts between edge devices (sensor) and building a local area network (LAN). With a LAN firewall, the data is transmitted to the company owner’s server.

With IoT technology, facility managers can ensure wireless connectivity within the building systems.

3. Cloud computing

The IoT ecosystem generates a huge amount of data that becomes difficult for facility managers to find a feasible solution. Cloud computing solves this problem by providing a pathway for the data to travel. It comes into three categories:

• laaS – Infrastructure as a service that offers virtual computing resources over the web.
• SaaS – Software as a service that provides software applications and services over the internet.
• PaaS – Platform as a service. It provides the hardware and software tools.

With cloud computing, facility managers can store and access data remotely. It allows for better collaboration between IoT building management devices and resource allocation in different areas. What’s the result? Better scalability for data storage, data processing, and great interoperability.

4. High security

To ensure high-end security, the IoT ecosystem makes use of the latest security practices. It is divided into:

• Building local area network to prevent the unauthorized access to other data and BAS
• Communication between building and server to ensure secure connection using encryption
• Sever network to identify the latest vulnerabilities

5. Insights into the user interface

The user interface is the front end of the IoT-based building automation system. It helps to achieve a successful IoT experience by gathering web-based control and automation with data analytics. As a result, facility managers can handle data and information from multiple devices from one user interface to another.

IoT helps in driving web-based control automation and delivers simple and smart automation devices for optimal building management.

When IoT meets building automation

IoT-based building automation doesn’t replace facilities personnel. Instead, it offers insights to optimize energy efficiency. It leads to predictive maintenance of the critical equipment and strategizing ways to cut operational costs, making a noticeable impact on the bottom line.

Facility managers should embrace this technology to make better management decisions and keep their buildings competitive. They can react quickly to potential operational issues and pinpoint the source of the problem right away. IoT is a real game-changer in building automation.

Connect with Zenatix to implement the advanced IoT solutions in your facility in the smartest way possible.