1. Open Web Services-based Indoor Climate Control System
Marek Podgorny1, Luke Beca1, Suresh Santanam2, Gregg Lewandowski1, Roman Markowski1, Greg Michalak3, Paul Roman3, Paul Gelling4, Edward Lipson5, and Edward Bogucz2
1Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Syracuse University, and CollabWorx, Inc
2Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, and Syracuse University
3CollabWorx, Inc; 4SenSyr, LLC; 5Dept. of Physics, Syracuse University and SenSyr, LLC
Introduction
Current Building Automation Systems (BAS) do not take advantage of the Internet technologies that transform many other computing domains.
The basic goal of this research was to find out if and at what level of effort one can build a functional prototype of a BAS assembled exclusively from open-source Internet-based elements.
Expected applications of this research:
Research facilities with a complete, open software testbed for building automation.
Contribution to the discussion related to emerging standards, security issues, and “open vs. proprietary” software and business models.
Technologies and Standards
Java 2 Enterprise Edition: Used as a general programming platform for most server-side components of the Smart Building System.
Web Services: Communication among system components.
BACNet: Base for internal device description.
AJAX: Web GUI implementation methodology.
Java Message Service: Notification mechanism.
Example Application
Space: three rooms in the lab environment.
IP Connected Devices (in each room):
Presence Agent: identification of personnel entering a controlled space.
Temperature Sensor: temperature readings.
Humidity Sensor: humidity readings.
Personal Environment System: air temperature and air supply to the desktop, heat, background noise, light level.
Controlled Environmental Factors: temperature, humidity, light, white noise.
Open Source technology stack:
JBoss: J2EE-compliant application server.
Apache Axis: Web Services framework.
Hibernate: Persistence framework.
Hypersonic: Database Management System.
Apache Struts: Web application framework.
CLIPS: Expert system framework.
Industry Developments
Sensors are getting smaller.
There has been profuse development of diverse types of wireless networks.
Construction of pure IP controllers for sensor and actuator devices has become very easy.
There has been very substantial increase in processing power for embedded applications.
There has been explosive growth of web services in form of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA).
Open-source phenomenon is growing steadily.
System controlled Personal Environment Module
System Goals
Dynamic environment through monitoring environmental factors and adjusting environment variables.
Allowing individuals to communicate personal environmental preferences.
Customizable goal-oriented control with capability to apply ‘reasoning’ to maintain the environmental parameters of the building.
Support for heterogeneous sensors and devices only through IP-based connectivity.
Manual administrative control through visual interface.
Extensibility and integration with IT infrastructure.
Vendor independence, use of only open-source tools and components.
Conclusions
The presented system offers:
A nontrivial technological advantage over current proprietary industrial solutions.
Sustainable foundation for future collaborative development of Smart Building software by academic and industrial consortia and alliances.
Modular design of the system permits replacement of any of its components by a proprietary or simply different implementation.
Device drivers, which are a very significant obstacle to interoperability, can be implemented in a matter of days.
The selection of Web Services, implemented in the framework, covers all typical uses we have identified in BAS systems.
Operational system of medium complexity provides a strong proof of the concept.
Effort is complementary to the work of ASHRAE and OASIS/oBIX.
Web-Based Administration (left) and Personalization (right) Interfaces
Architecture
Smart Building Framework: Core of the Smart Building system to which all other system components connect. It implements the following services (available as Web Services API):
Smart Building Inference Engine: The inference engine provides the ‘intelligence’ driving the Smart Building Framework.
Smart Device: The Smart Device component of the system is a Java wrapper implementing a generalized API used to communicate with real devices.
Administration Interface and Personalization Interface: Implement GUI for the system administrators and users.
Device status monitoring and data collection.
Device data archiving and retrieval.
Access to and manipulation of an object-oriented representation of the system state.
Event-based communication among system entities.
System configuration.
Basic Concepts
Controlled space: A physical space where the system controls environmental factors such as temperature and humidity.
Environmental zone: A unit of space controlled by the system, which assumes that all environmental factors have uniform values within the environmental zone.
User presence: Identity of the user (or users) present in the environmental zone.
Environmental profile: The system strives to maintain environmental parameters of the zone within a given range from the values specified by the environmental profile.
Environmental preference: Environmental preference of the user present in the environmental zone affects the environmental profile associated with this zone.
Device: Any hardware or software entity that can generate or accept data. The system receives information about environmental parameters of the environmental zone, and influences these parameters through devices installed in the zone.
Acknowledgements
This project was supported by funding from Empire State Development Corporation of New York State under Award No: ESDC-R 580, granted to Syracuse University and Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems.
UML Diagram of System Components
Contact Information
Marek Podgorny: Skype: marek_podgorny Jabber: SMS: , VoIP: