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The Rise of Smart Buildings
Roland Piquepaille writes "In a very well-documented article, Computerworld describes the current status of building automation systems (BAS) that control heat, air conditioning or lighting and how these systems are merging with traditional IT infrastructures. Computerworld writes that they're not enough standards in this industry and asks a fundamental question: who will administer these building networks, IT or facilities managers? Take for example Yale University which wants to connect 210 campus buildings, but also wishes "to integrate the BAS with the university's accounting system for billing and chargeback." Imagine the security risks involved with such an approach. This shorter summary contains selected excerpts of this must-read article."
The Rise of Smart Buildings Just add water!
THIS IS A ROLAND PIQUEPAILLE ARTICLE
Here is the "short summary":
The Rise of Smart Buildings
In a very well-documented article, Computerworld describes the current status of building automation systems (BAS) that control heat, air conditioning or lighting and how these systems are merging with traditional IT infrastructures. Computerworld writes that they're not enough standards in this industry and asks a fundamental question: who will administer these building networks, IT or facilities managers? Take for example Yale University which wants to connect 210 campus buildings, but also wishes "to integrate the BAS with the university's accounting system for billing and chargeback." Imagine the security risks involved with such an approach. Read more...
Let's start with a an assessment of the current situation.
As building automation systems (BAS) that control heat, air conditioning, lighting and other building systems get smarter, they're converging with traditional IT infrastructures. Emerging standards are enabling data sharing between building systems as well as with other business applications, improving efficiency and real-time control over building operating costs. Information security concerns, immature standards, the reluctance of vendors to give up proprietary technologies and ignorance among IT professionals of the convergence trend are all slowing the pace of this transformation, but it's gathering momentum.
But who will control such networks? And are there enough standards in this industry?
Open standards are just beginning to evolve and will likely break down the silos between building systems ranging from physical security to elevator controls. And the data from those systems is likely to be shared with other business applications such as the accounting system. This will allow for more-efficient buildings as applications are developed that can capitalize on newly converged data streams and real-time access to data.
[Right now,] standardization has started from the bottom up. Proprietary cabling systems in networks that link sensors and other devices to controllers on individual floors have given way in recent years to two competing, open protocols, BACnet and LonTalk, while floor controllers are migrating onto IP backbones.
Barry Haaser, executive director of LonMark International, says LonTalk and BACnet will prevail at the device level for technical and cost reasons. Others aren't so sure. "Instead of two guys running the IT and controls networks, why not one guy? I see IP going down to the individual device," says Anno Scholten, chief technology officer at BAS vendor Plexus Technology Ltd. in Irving, Texas.
IT infrastructure used in building automation systems This diagram shows how "building automation systems today rely on open, industry-specific protocols such as LonTalk (shown) or BACnet for device-level communications. But they increasingly leverage Ethernet and TCP/IP for home runs back to the control systems." (Credit for image and legend: Computerworld).
Let's take the example of Yale University to see how complex can be the merge between control systems and IT infrastructure.
But sharing the IP backbone raises security concerns among network administrators. Yale University is starting a project to consolidate its BAS onto an IP network that will link 210 campus buildings, and it plans to tie the BAS into a room-scheduling system that will automatically control energy usage based on room occupancy. For security reasons, Bill Daniels, manager of systems and technologies for the university's facilities group, has created an isolated, parallel network that's protected by firewalls and uses nonroutable IP addresses to keep data off the Internet.
Jerry Hill, director of systems engineering at Yale, says security is paramount. "We don't want a student to hack into our building management systems just beca
"they're not enough standards"....?
At first, probably IT. Then, after they've been around a few years, IT will get replaced with the boss's nephew that's "really good with computers".
The IT Dept will do it. With the advanced technologies and networking involved, it's along the same lines as full computer networking. Maybe in the future (10~20 years) it'll be simplified for less qualified. Until then, it's a higher paid salary taking care of it.
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud
Don't read "the shorter summary", fuck Roland. Somebody mod up the A/C with the article text from Roland's site.
Slashdot sucks
Clearly this is a job for Microsoft, a company with large resources and the necessary pull to get a standard in place. Yes, there's some risk that Ukranian script kiddies may be able to 0wnz your air conditioner unit, but I'm sure there will be a patch out soon.
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
Bruce Schneier scratched the surface of this in his book Secrets and Lies. He specifically adressed internet or network-accessable appliances. Basically his take is: sure they might seem convenient, but how can you be sure that someone properly went over the code on your refrigerator to make sure it was secure? Last thing I want is someone hacking my fridge and shutting it down so my beer and mountain dew get warm.
I , for one , welcome our new smart building overlords!!!! ... ok its lame but i got nothing much in my mind .. blah
This is NOT a sig - billy
he even has his own Wikipedia entry
Slashdot trolling phenomena
and suprise suprise Timothy is mentioned too
no wonder people dont subscribe to this shit
I hate this so much. When I was in school, physical plant had control of the central air/heat in our building. They were in a small office next to a warehouse. I spent most of my time in a five story building on the other side of campus. They decided when our a/c went on. We could call them, but we'd be lucky if they actually listened. There were lots of people in our building 24 hours per day. Good luck getting the air turned up in the middle of the night. Ugh.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
So who's going to be the first one to steal private information through the thermostat, or send spam though the ceiling lights? Remember how those guys turned the side of a large building into a very low resolution display?
... all I can think of is "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury...
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
How about turning your hot tub up to 210 degrees F? (99C for furriners)
how about turning your refrigerator up to 100 degrees for a few hours a day... and cooling stuff off just before you get home.
I think the smart building concept is wonderful... but those who can probably should roll your own until you are certain that the security problems have been solved.
Tech Public Policy stuff
I'm an IT person. I've seen a couple of these systems. In general, they use networking simply to transport data between HVAC controllers.
In my experience, the customers have multi-building networks. Within each building, all the HVAC sensors and controls are all wired to a central control device, not over the network. The control device is typically some solid-state box bolted to the wall, not a PC.
All these boxes talk back to a central server (crummy PC with BAS software) over the WAN. The server then tells the boxes what to turn on and off and sends out alerts if something goes wrong. The alerting is basic, no SNMP or emails. A pager if you're lucky, but probably just a flashing message on the screen. My understanding is that there are some default settings the boxes can use if they should lose connection to the server.
As for this being an area for IT to take over, I don't see it. The vast majority of the work involved is with wiring HVAC sensors and systems back to the controllers and in programming the settings into the BAS software on the server. There is very little IT knowledge required. If you can program a cable modem router, you probably have enough IT knowledge to program the IT part of these things.
from the article
Copyright © 2005 Computerworld Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Computerworld Inc. is prohibited. Computerworld and Computerworld.com and the respective logos are trademarks of International Data Group Inc.
enjoy the lawyers
IT and Facilities Management will merge - that simple. administering windows boxes and unclogging toilets aren't too dissimilar to begin with.
Will there be smart buildings in a bag?
who will administer these building networks, IT or facilities managers?
The boss' secretary. You know, the one who's always cold. She'll be setting the thermostat for every room in the entire facility from her desktop. Better stock up on Bermuda shorts.
To me it seems strange that this article does not mention DALI (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface). It is a new standard for Lighting control that is sure to shake things up. Especially when you see DALI is currently being pushed by lighting manufacturers such as Osram, Atco, Helvar and Phillips to name a few. Dali places a fair bit of intelligence at the lighting fixture, and can be easily intergraded to TCP/IP networks using such systems as Atco's windim@net. This allows for remote monitoring and control. Better yet DALI can be wired using standard 240v insulated cabling and can be run next to the mains wiring (no segregation). It really is a smart step foward for lighting control. Check it out http://www.dali-ag.org/
Oh, come on, I can't be the only one that saw the RoboCop miniseries! Well, maybe I am.
"Once we've identified and embraced our sickness, we'll have strength...and that's when we get dangerous." - John Waters
I work within an industry that would supply some of the stuff to be used in so called "Smart structures" I've been to the conferences, I've talked to the people.
.1 Hz, if that doesn't work, give it up. I don't want everything else to be a similar way.
It all falls apart because of cost. I can control anyone of the different systems in your house/building, I can monitor any variable you want. But the cost point is much much higher than you would expect. Even for a small 2000 sq foot house to monitor each room, control lighting and so forth would cost tens of thousands of dollars installed.
Then it still wouldn't work well, because I can only monitor so many different variables, and there are too many exceptions.
For instance. I worked in a semi smart building. Part of it was that motion sensors turned the lights on and off. If it didn't sense movement for 5 minutes or so it shut off the lights.
All well and good until someone is in the bathroom alone for a legngthy constitutional. Then your trapped on the can in a dark room.
Yes a minor example, but just one of many thousands of issues that come up. Say heating. You want to lower heating in rooms that aren't used, so you lower the temprature. Then someone comes in to work for an hour or two. Well rooms don't heat up immediately, so while the system is trying to heat the room up, the person says, "It's to damn cold in here" and goes somewhere else.
Or the opposite, you turn off the air conditioning, then people avoid that room because it's hot and muggy, next thing you know you've got mold in the walls.
All for a system that costs tens of thousands of dollars for a small building, hundreds, or millions for a large building.
As to networked appliances. Who want's to update the software in their toilet so they can use their microwave.
Who wants to find out out their boiler has a bug that shuts it's down under certain conditions, only to be told.
"It's a known problem, it will be fixed in the next release."
Who wants to have to re-boot their stove.
For some things simple analog controls work fine, things like on/off switches, potentiometer based volume knobs, and tuning knobs.
I can't stand the current generation of car stereos because the volume goes in steps, either just a little bit too loud, or a little bit to quiet. In the old days I could fiddle with the tuning knob to get in a hard to reach signal. Now I can only go up or down
Does this guy actually think that this article is of improtance and relevance to every single slashdot reader? Sounds like old TV commercials . . . "Tonight a very special episode of Blossom . . . the one you can't afford to miss . . .
In the UK we call such systems BMS, Building Management Systems. It amounts to vaguely-intelligent way to manage building energy consumption; that is the sole remit. Realise that, while there may be ways to access the info remotely and thus expose the system to security risks
The real point is to monitor boiler firing cycles, and window-openings (night-purge cooling etc) remotely to minimise running cost.
;)
Yes, it's great. I can watch, in real-time , the window management of a school I designed two years ago, from a terminal 200 miles away. I can learn from it, in terms of how the building is really used, as opposed to how it was assumed to work. Can I over-ride choices? No, and neither can any one else by 'hacking' the system. The truth is, BSMS systems are dumb - they are pre-programmed and (at best) report. No-one (esp. the investors) is actually interested in spending for IP addresses for the windows on the Arts wing, the necesary actuators and so on. I can monitor these things only because the necessary sensing is already part of other systems - like the alarm systems.
To everyone who wants to set off the sprinklers at their High School: please realise that sprinkler heads are purely reactive and work solely on rate-of-rise of temperature; they are not remotely addressable. Smoke sensors, on the other hand, can be
Is "smart" going to be the new "e". A word tacked on the front of other words to satisfy writers eager to sound hip?
Today is August 5, 2006, Today is August 5, 2006...
literally.
sum.zero
No offense, but the majority of the posters so far have no CLUE what they're talking about. I work for one of the largest building automation companies in the US (and world) and write the logic for programmable controllers. First of all, there is no way you'd EVER want an IT department taking control of your HVAC system unless they've been trained VERY well and their building's controllers were programmed with an IT department in mind. I started off in the IT world, and thought moving to building automation would be a cinch, but let me assure you, there was a huge deal to learn. When you're dealing with Chillers that can blow a cap that costs $10,000+ to replace, just because you accidentally allowed a chilled water valve to open up while your return water was still too hot after the a switchover in your 2-pipe plant... well... let's just say you want a building maintenance guy dealing with these situations. As far as standards go, just because IT people don't know about them hardly means they don't exist. The most prevalent standards today are the ones mentioned by the article - BACNet and LonTalk. Both are fairly simple protocols that allow for efficient communication over a wide range of network media. They were designed with slower networks in mind, so that if your bandwidth is only 100k/sec, you're still going to be fine. Usually the controllers are on a slower copper wire network, and then routed through an ethernet network to the frontend computer. Personally, I'd like to see the business go towards using standard ethernet and tcp/ip the whole way through, because of the lower costs of standard routers, repeaters, bridges, etc. As far as security concerns go... If they're worried about someone hacking in to their HVAC system and harming things, then their system was progammed shoddily. A well programmed system always takes into account the stupidity of users. You place safeguard upon safeguard upon safeguard. Even guys that have been facility managers for years will try to do stupid things, so you plan ahead and only let them make non-harmful changes from the frontend.
The last thing we need is automated building that are tied into computers.
I was having a conversation last night with a friend about how annoyed I am with the current crop of auto mechanics. I have a minor problem with my vehicle that I can't diagnose, but the shop won't even look at it.
Why?
"Because it isn't throwing a code."
Just because the check engine light isn't on doesn't mean there isn't a problem. The last thing we need are building supers who look at their computer screen and say, "I don't see a problem", because the water leak up on 17 hasn't gotten big enough for the computer to notice it.
I must say, as a Critical Facilities Engineer, I feel that most of the posters thus far are drastically downplaying (intentionally or not) the complexity of modern facility management as well as BAS systems.
I work for a large commercial real estate firm at a campus for a very large financial institution. Our facility is just over 1,000,000 sq feet and is comprised of 6 buildings including a data center. It is my opinion that the people that "take over" management and implementation of BAS's as they move forward can only be an as yet unkown hybrid of Facility Engineers and IT savvy people.
The reality is, there are many more things controlled and monitored by a BAS than just lights or a few VAV's to cool an office. Modern HVAC systems are quite complex and need to take into account hundreds of factors such as outside air temperature, drybulb and wetbulb temperature, relative humidity, static duct pressure, variable frequency drives on condenser water pumps, etc. (basically, it's much more complicated than "turning up the heat").
Additionally, the task of making staunchly built, proprietary communication protocols (i.e. Wonderware, Liebert, PLC's) talk to one another in a language/at a speed that each can understand is assuredly going to be an uphill battle at best.
I would argue that neither the current Engineering industry nor the current IT industry is fully capable of handling the task of taking this part of Building Automation where it needs to go. I think it's going to take people putting their egos in check, and perhaps risking the self-preserving, "essential cog" reputation earned by keeping information guarded if this is going to come to fruition.
Already we're able to do amazing things with our BAS (Insight by Siemens in case anyone's wondering) and I, as a confessed geek, am excited to see what more we'll be able to do. I think it's great that I can roll my chiller banks from the lead to the lag from a laptop on my kitchen table without the client being able to notice anything at all. I also think it's pretty amazing that if a static switch sees an irragularity on a wave form coming off of a UPS system's battery string, that I can be alerted of it, as well as have a record of it for trending/troubleshooting purposes. Say what you will, but I definitely think this is going to be an area to watch, and I dare say, probably one that will start in the commercial sector and quickly move into the consumer group. Think how amazing it will be to be able to turn the lights on at your house from your PC at work before you leave to drive home or to have your home HVAC equipment adapt to outside conditions or upcoming weather reports available online. I know there are some "home automation" products available now, but aside from webcam monitoring and a few light controlling relays, there really isn't anything exciting yet. I think it's going to get really interesting, and I think BAS systems are going to drive it.
Just my 2 cents.
One should think of a process control system (HVAC for the 3rd floor) as similar to a RAID sub-system. Multiple moving parts. Different devices computing their own sectors, timing, etc. Servo motors have their own control logic that manages spin up, spin down, head stepping. A supervisory RAID system manages striping, adding hot-spares, etc. All present a common simple model to the OS that hides the physical muck underneath.
In most cases, putting an IP address on each coil or actuator in a building makes about as much sense as putting an IP address on each stepper motor on each drive in the RAID set. What you want to do is box the functionality, lets the system defend its internal mission and imperatives, and provide an external interface.
The ComputerWorld article is talking about IT managing that interface, not the internal control porcesses. TheJeffer is right; IT guys have not been trained in this demanding discipline. I have not been trained in auto mechanics. Even though there are a dozen computers in my car, I have nothing useful to say to them.
My car has an interface. The pedal on the right makes it go faster. The round thing makes it go side to side. There is a UI called a dashboard which is a rough interface to the digitial dashboard you may have in your business system.
LONWORKS, BACnet, NIAGRA, (in the HVAC world) DALI (n lighting), other local protocols, even proprietary protocols belong inside the sandbox. Other vertical markets with other protocols include Access Control, Intrusion Detection, Life Safety, and AV/Event Management systems. All of them scale badly across buildings and between systems today because they try to preserve the control protocols/connection orientation evan as they move to IP for the transport layer.
Anyone who tries to let the new IT hire from Accounting work control systems is looney.
but
There is nothing wrong with that accounting IT guy scheduling conference room 3 to be occupied tomorrow night (and let the HVAC deal with it. and let the lighting system deal with it). It is not a bad thing to let that accounting IT guy schedule the electric meter to be read before and after the meeting automatically.
Position these protocols for orchestration not control. Position a Gridwise-aware application (www.gridwise.org)that knows that the power grid is offering incentives for load shedding and also knows that the sales force is all at a new product roll-out to turn off the 3rd floor. Or becuase you can turn off any office space for 15 minutes w/o anyone noticing, get that power rebate for an hour by rotating "low Power mode" commands between 6 offices in the same metro area. What is low power mode? Well, that was set up by the controls engineers.
Security, and by that I mean grown up Directory aware security, must,of course, be in place.
Me, I'm sick of Roland
I don't give a shit. I'm sick of you and the rest of your trolling little clique. You've wasted an order of magnitude more space and reader time than this "Roland" whosit ever will, and unlike Mr. Pipquwhatever, you post your trash where I can't just skim past and not click the story if I'm not interested.
Putting a plagiarist, seeking ad revenue, on the front page posing as news is NOT OK.
Why the fuck not? Who cares? If he's plagiarizing, the people he is plagiarizing are free to take it up with him. Talk to them, not us.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts