Presentation delivered at the 3rd IEEE Track on Collaborative Modeling & Simulation - CoMetS'12. Please see http://www.sel.uniroma2.it/comets12/ for further details.

1. A Framework for Distributed
Control and Building
Performance Simulation
Azzedine Yahiaoui1 and Abd-El-Kader Sahraoui2
for Building & Systems TNO – TU/e,
1Center
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, The Netherlands
2Systems Engineering & Integration Group,
LAAS-CNRS of Toulouse , France
CoMetS'12, June 25-27, Toulouse

2. Outlines
Problem Statement
Building Automation and Control Systems
Classical and Advanced Control Systems
Integration Possibilities
Development and Implementation of a
Distributed Dynamic Simulation Mechanism
Modelling: Example of Application
Simulation Results
Conclusions and Future Work
2

3. Problem Statement (1)
Domain based Control Modeling Environment
(e.g., Matlab/Simulink)
 very advanced in control systems design
 but still limited in building performance simulation
Domain specific Building Performance
Simulation (e.g., ESP-r)
 relatively based on modeling of building zone, plant ...
Marrying two approaches by run-time coupling
 integrated building performance assessments
3

4. Problem Statement (2)
Extending this potential by distributing
one or more ESP-r(s) with
Matlab/Simulink over a network
 typical pattern of distributed simulation
between control systems and building
performance applications
 as qualified by similarity to BACS
architecture
4

5. Building Automation and Control Systems
‘LonMark’
Central computer
Control & 1 Protocols
Management
Netwerk
Protocol 2
Substation
(computer) Substation
‘BACnet’
+
Building &
Plants 3
-
General architecture of BACS
Modern BACS Architecture 5

6. AdvancedControl Applications
Classical Control Applications
Input
MATLAB ESP-r
disturbance
•Optimal Control di
Reference
ri + •Predictive Control u
ei Control yi
i
command •Fuzzy Logic Send Rec. Room
- law
•Neural Nets Communication
•… mechanism
Rec. Send
1 2 3
Building Control Application 6

7. Integration Possibilities
These APIs must present the highest
possible abstraction meaningful to
run-time coupled software tools
ESP-r Matlab/Simulink
• Shared file
• Pipes
control data control data
• Shared Memory
Struct function MEX-file
• Sockets
(XML/SOAP)
run-time coupling infrastructure • CORBA
• HLA
•… 7

8. Classification Different Possibilities
 Trade-Off Analysis
Requirements Flexibility Reliability Concurrency Scalability Transparency Applicability
IPC
Pipe + + + + + −+
Standard File + − + + −+ −+
Shared memory ++ ++ + ++ ++ +
Socket ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++
CORBA ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ −
Performance comparison and ease use indicated
 Sockets were best suited for Development and
Implementation of run-time coupling between two
or more software tools on different platforms
8

9. SE Structured Approach to run-
time coupling Development (1)
Level of
Abstraction
User’s Acceptance
Requirements Test
System System
Requirements Test
System Architecture Integration
and Design Test
System Level
Technical Sub-System Technical Sub-System
Requirements Test Requirements Test
High Level High Level Integration
Design Integration Design Test
Test
Sub-System Level
Software Integration Communication Integration Software Integration
Requirements Test Requirements Test Requirements Test
High Level Unit High Level Unit High Level Unit
Design Test Design Test Design Test
Integration Implementation Integration
Component Level
Building Model Run-Time Coupling Controller
Mechanism
9
Time

10. SE Structured Approach to run-
time coupling Development (2)
10

11. Run-Time Coupling Implementation
advantage of modeling building model and its control
systems separately and using different platforms
or Windows
or Windows
Unix-variant
Unix-variant
ESP-r Matlab/Simulink
network
2 3
1 Run-time coupling between ESP-r
Distributed Control and Building Performance Simulation
and Matlab/Simulink 11

12. Conceptual Design & User Interfaces
Matlab Side ESP-r Side
12

13. Extension of Run-Time Coupling
to Represent BACS in Simulation
Extension Possibilities for
 Multiplexing (using select() function)
 Broadcasting (using SO_BROADCAST API)
 Multitasking (using POSIX treads – library)
ESP-r (1) ESP-r (9) Matlab
Conventional representation Equivalence in V-lifecycle model
Run-time Coupling Infrastructure
Conceptual view of a Distributed simulation between
Matlab/Simulink and one or more ESP-r (s) 13

14. Distributed Simulation Mechanism
for BACS representation
1
2
3
14

15. Run-Time Coupling Options
Data Exchange Formats:
 ASCII format
 Binary format
 Web-Services (SOAP/XML) format
Communication Modes:
 Synchronous
 Asynchronous
 Partially Synchronous
15

16. Modelling: Example of Application
Control of Building Heating System
16

17. Modelling: Example of Application
Control of Building Heating System
Matlab/Simulink ESP-r
Sensors
Building
Actuators
References
Control systems
17

18. Simulation Results: Continuous and
Digital Control Systems
Simulation results obtained with continuous PI control system
18
Simulation results obtained with discrete PI control system

19. Conclusion & Future Work
A distributed simulation mechanism for BACS
technology by run-time coupling Matlab/Simulink and
one or more ESP-r(s) is implemented as a practical
solution for improving control applications in ABs
Using a SE methodology to define all required
functionalities in the development, implementation,
validation, and operation of run-time coupling
between ESP-r and Matlab/Simulink early in V-moel
Future work will envisage to analyze and simulate
complex and large-scale building control applications
involving the utilization of multiple ESP-r(s) by run-
time coupling to Matlab/Simulink
19

20. Any Questions & Comments
Thank you for your
kind attention
20