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INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS

The term intelligent building has been in use since the early 1980s and you
would think that a globally accepted definition of the attributes of an intelligent
building would have been established by now. Although several organizations have
attempted to establish a universal definition, there are a multitude of definitions
with different levels of detail and varying degrees of emphasis on various aspects of
building intelligence.

The first definition, coined by the Intelligent Buildings Institute, defines an


intelligent building as one which provides a productive and cost-effective
environment through optimization of four basic elements: structure, systems,
services and management, and the interrelationship between
them. According to this initial definition, an intelligent building is one that
optimally matches its four elements to the users needs with an emphasis on the
technology that makes the interrelationship between the elements possible.

As intelligent buildings began to take hold around the world in the late 1980s and
1990s, many competing definitions were put forward. In Europe, the European
Intelligent Buildings Group coined a new definition stating that an intelligent
building creates an environment which maximizes the effectiveness of the
buildings occupants while at the same time enabling efficient management of
resources with minimum life-time costs of hardware and facilities, tilting the
spotlight towards the occupants needs to be served by technology. In Asia, the
definitions focused on the role of technology for automation and control of building
functions.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the intelligent building spotlight tilted towards
energy efficiency and sustainability with the introduction of the BREEAM code
(1990) and the LEED program (2000). In the late 2000s, given the increasing
convergence of intelligence and sustainability, a Frost and Sullivan research
paper commissioned by the Continental Automated Buildings Association, coined
the term Bright Green Buildings for buildings that are both intelligent and green.

More recently, definitions are starting to take into account the emergence of
Internet of Things technologies, applications and their impact on intelligent
buildings. A recent research report by Memoori highlighted the emergence of a new
Building Internet of Things (BIoT) defined as the overlaying of an IP network,
connecting all the building services monitoring, analyzing and controlling [the
building] without the intervention of humans. Memoori predicts that the
traditional Building Automation Systems (BAS) will evolve into a BIoT over the
next five years. BIoT technologies and applications are poised to deliver increased
efficiencies in all aspects of building intelligence.
Today, major shifts are occurring in the way buildings are designed, operated and
used. Corporate real estate, facilities and IT departments stand to benefit greatly
from the use of building intelligence in order to meet space optimization, energy
efficiency and connectivity challenges at a time when changing workplace
demographics come with increasing occupant expectations of modern and flexible
space design, improved comfort, productivity, and pervasive connectivity.

Although there are multiple and evolving perspectives on the subject, it is becoming
increasingly clear that an intelligent building is a connected and efficient building.

A connected building boasts an integrated communications infrastructure that


supports wired and wireless networks and applications. It also facilitates person-to-
person, person-to-machine and machine-to-machine communications within the
building and with the outside world using a state of the art intelligent, flexible, wired
and wireless platform. The platform supports wired LAN, Wi-Fi, in-building
wireless, audio/visual, sensors, lighting and building management applications.
Buildings are also becoming cloud connected as an essential part of smart grids and
smart cities.

An efficient building leverages a state-of-the-art connectivity platform to address


key corporate real estate, facilities and IT challengesto improve energy efficiency,
space utilization and occupant satisfaction. In an efficient building, the intelligent
connectivity platform is easily adaptable to changes in space design or
communications technologies. A high density sensor network integrates with other
building systems to provide fine-grained occupancy-based control of building
systems for optimal energy use and occupant comfort while providing a real-time
and historical view of occupancy patterns.

At a time when the design and utilization patterns of a buildings individual and
common spaces are undergoing significant changes, efficiency expectations
continue to increase. This is fueled by the increase in connected devices, sensors
and BIoT applications. As the definition of intelligent buildingscontinues to evolve,
buildings are becoming increasingly connected and efficient.

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