Smart Building IoT Trends

How Smart Buildings Utilize IoT Today

Pop culture has often dazzled audiences with dreams of virtual assistants that can manipulate a building on-demand. See: Iron Man's J.A.R.V.I.S., or the home of The Jetsons, where many of these technologies aim to be far-fetched fantasies of tomorrow.

But in the last few decades, technological advancements in sensors, AI, and the Internet of Things (IoT) have enabled the fantasy of intelligent buildings to approach reality.

Today, intelligent buildings worldwide utilize advanced smart-building technology to increase efficiency, bolster human productivity, provide state-of-the-art safety, and reduce maintenance costs.

This article introduces three surprising ways that the IoT is utilized in smart buildings and takes a closer look at the technology behind some of the most intelligent buildings on the planet.

IoT Building System Technology

Reliability and maintenance are critical for building systems, regardless of whether they're 'smart’. If you've ever waited in long queues for the only functional elevator in a skyscraper, you understand. Nearly all smart buildings on the planet utilize predictive maintenance technology to ensure that these critical building systems maximize their reliability. Predictive maintenance applications —such as IoT-connected vibration sensors, accelerometers, and temperature sensors—can identify operation anomalies within systems, sub-systems, and even single components.

These predictive maintenance applications are often bespoke technologies built for each building system they monitor, which are then aggregated into large Building Management Systems (BMS) via the IoT. This means they're all connected to a centralized reporting and analytics network for seamless access by technicians and building engineers.

For example, commercial HVAC units often consist of dozens of motors, fans, pumps, and complex sub-systems that can be independently monitored via dedicated monitoring systems. Subsequently, each unit's monitoring system can be aggregated into a larger Building Monitoring System (BMS) that can intelligently detect and predict irregularities, notify the maintenance staff, and limit downtime of safety-critical devices.

Additionally, predictive maintenance of elevator systems can maximize their reliability and increase the safety of occupants. In ultra-tall smart buildings, such as the 163-story Burj Khalifa, which consists of 57 independent elevators, elevator systems are critical to the safety and operation of the building. In February 2010, the observation deck on the 124th floor of the Burj Khalifa was closed for two months due to a power-supply issue that trapped tourists between floors for 45 minutes.

IoT predictive maintenance technologies in smart buildings can be critical to safety and operability, commonly making these systems the first smart-building technologies retrofitted to preexisting buildings.

Energy-Management Technology in Smart Buildings

The IEA (International Energy Agency) estimates that the building sector consumed 130 EJ (36 trillion kWhs) of electricity in 2019. Naturally, smart building solutions aim to reduce energy consumption and increase production using active energy management systems. Smart building energy management systems utilize IoT applications to connect energy management sensors, actuators, and devices so that centralized software can manage everything.

This IoT framework is often backed by AI technologies that learn how the building functions and optimize its facility systems to perform with little human intervention. There are many different types of energy management systems in buildings across the globe, and each one is presented with different energy management needs.

For example, The Edge building in the Netherlands is regarded as one of the "greenest" buildings in the world, utilizing over 28,000 sensors integrated into the building's IoT network. These sensors span many different predictive maintenance applications and building sub-systems to provide maximum energy efficiency for the entire building.

The Edge received a BREEAM rating (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) of 98.36% and is considered the most energy-innovative building on the planet. The building aims to utilize solar radiation to its optimal benefit. Its northern-facing facade is comprised of a multi-story glass atrium to allow ample daylight into the building for natural light. Its south face features electricity-producing solar panels and concrete walls to absorb and retain heat while providing shade to the interior space.

If the building absorbs excess energy, it's transferred into its 400-foot-deep aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system to be used in cooler months for heating purposes. The sensors that control the solar panels and ATES system are integrated into the building's IoT network to optimize building energy consumption.

Additionally, The Edge's lighting system is comprised of 6,000 low-energy LED luminaires that are powered (and monitored) via ethernet cables. These luminaires contain motion detection, temperature, and light sensors. They're integrated into the building's network and data analytics platform for constant optimization.

Smart energy-management IoT applications, such as those used in The Edge, aim to revolutionize global building power consumption in the future.

Smart People Management in Buildings

Perhaps the most advanced form of IoT technology in smart buildings, smart people management has recently been integrated into the most advanced buildings on the planet. By monitoring and optimizing the location of building occupants, IoT people management technology aims to minimize building occupants' energy usage while optimizing productivity with necessary collaborators.

In Toronto, Cisco Canada's headquarters boasts a state-of-the-art people management system that connects people, processes, data, and things to a single converging network to optimize the work environment. There are no assigned desks or offices in this Cisco building, but rather, the building tells you where to sit based on your schedule, known collaborators, and other occupancies.

This concept allows for the massive headquarters building to be used ad-hoc, whereby spaces and floors that don't need to be used can be turned "off" and save building operation costs. With the revolutionary integration of their IoT building network, individuals can utilize a personal smartphone application to integrate their work calendar, set preferences on work environments, and even customize the temperature and lighting styles to automatically adjust to their liking.

The building is also dynamic. It can automatically move walls to adjust occupancy capabilities to host varying meeting sizes. The facility is equipped with intelligent proximity sensors that allow users to join virtual meetings on any device in the building simply by knowing their smartphone is near it. Every room features people-tracking sensors to understand how many people occupy the space and automatically adjust the temperature, humidity, and lighting settings to accommodate the occupancy.

In some smart buildings, parking spots are automatically assigned based on typical arrival and departure times to minimize traffic jams. The elevator systems operate based on destination floor requirements to reduce unnecessary elevator usage and streamline occupant movement.

Ultimately, the goal of IoT applications for people management in smart buildings is to provide flexibility for occupants while balancing building efficiency and usage needs.

IoT Use in Modern Smart Buildings

The Internet of Things (IoT) is built into the modern smart building. IoT is currently used for the following: to monitor the efficiency of complex building infrastructure systems, optimize the energy consumption of its lighting systems based on occupancy, optimize elevator activity on a need-basis, control green-energy systems, and much more.

In the United Arab Emirates, the Bee'ah headquarters, which opened for occupancy in May 2022, is said to be testing the first-of-its-kind AI-based smart concierge. This system can help employees and visitors book appointments, navigate the building, hail rides, and more — eerily similar to the capabilities of a J.A.R.V.I.S. system.

Still, it's evident that IoT smart building solutions are the way of the future for energy and human efficiency. And undoubtedly, the IoT isn't far from further enabling more innovative technologies that have yet to be realized.


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