1. Building Analytics & BACnet
Intelligent Efficiency
At its core, energy efficiency is still about the nuts
and bolts of changing equipment and improving the
physical components of a facility. Information is not
a substitute for the physical integration of new sys-
tems. But it is becoming the glue binding the holis-
tic, system-wide approach that is starting to define the
intelligent efficiency business. It is rapidly becoming
much cheaper to measure efficiency and analyze that
data alongside lots of other information so operators
can actually take action. These information technolo-
gies are transforming the efficiency business. They are
incredibly powerful.
The potential for new energy efficiency remains enor-
mous. While a large portion of our past efficiency
gains came from improvements in individual prod-
ucts, appliances, and equipment, and these device-
level technology improvements will continue to play
an important role, looking ahead we must take a sys-
tems-based approach to dramatically scale up energy
efficiency to meet our future energy challenges.
Intelligent efficiency is a systems-based approach
to efficiency that can help meet this need. Enabled
by information and communication technology (ICT)
and user access to real-time information, intelligent
efficiency differs from component energy efficiency
in that it is adaptive, anticipatory, and networked.
Opportunities exist along a continuum of technology
and human behaviour.
Operators of large commercial buildings understand
that their buildings are more than static structures.
They are entities that live and breathe thermodynami-
cally, and must be managed to a narrow tempera-
ture band of tenant comfort while everything around
them is changing continuously. Outside temperatures
rise and fall, occupancy patterns fluctuate, usage
changes, interior configurations are revised, equip-
ment, electronics, and components are changed out
as a matter of routine, and HVAC systems are prone to
a host of problems.
Building Analytics
Whole-building HVAC performance can be affected by
any sensor that fails, every control loop that goes out
of tune, every damper that jams, and by the contin-
uous patchwork cycles of repair, adjustment, resets,
and old-fashioned tinkering.
Maintaining peak performance of an HVAC system
requires a more comprehensive approach to build-
ing intelligence, combining personnel with technol-
ogy capable of whole-building awareness around
the clock, one that can identify small problems and
larger systemic issues simultaneously, the moment
they arise. One that can identify problems with
enough precision to help direct effective solutions,
ranging from component repair/replacement to fine-
tuning control loops to software refinement.
Typically, no one goes back into the BMS to correct
the problems as they arise. There is little incentive
to find the root cause of a problem when symptoms
show up somewhere else, and in the hectic build-
ing management environment there is little time to
focus on these items. Combining this work environ-
ment with the fact that it is extraordinarily difficult
to dig into a BMS system and the reality that most
operators are not trained or properly equipped to do
so, it is easy to understand how BMS problems go
undetected.
Building analytics tracks 3 areas, Faults: equipment
and mechanical systems not following their sequence
of operations. i.e. A room temperature that has not
been able to hit its setpoint, or a valve that is leaking
by. Opportunities: based on data analysis, there is an
opportunity for an improved sequence of operations.
I.e. opportunities for resets. Capital Projects: Based
on data analysis, installing active savings measures
with calculations of cost and return of investment.
The past decade has seen dramatic advances in
BMS systems and other related smart devices. From
IP connected systems employing a variety of stand-
ard protocols such as BACnet, to support for web
services and XML data, it is now possible to capture
the data produced by the wide range of sensors and
devices in today’s buildings. The New frontier is to
intelligently and efficiently manage and analyze that
data to find what matters.
Some of the Building Analytics
applications in Buildings:
Fault Detection and Diagnostics
Central Plant Optimization
Enterprise Energy Management and Reporting
Predictive Maintenance Management
Measurement & Verification (M&V)
Facility Focused Data Analytic Engines
One of the most important modules building analyt-
ics vendors offer is the Measurement & Verification
(M&V) module. It is a module within the platform used
to accurately measure the savings obtained from the
software. To assess effectiveness and determine the
real outcomes of each energy conservation meas-
ure or energy saving project, it is critical customers
be able to measure savings. This requires processes
and methods that are clear, transparent and robust.
The M&V module gives customers a tool to accurately
measure and visualize the resulting savings.
M&V uses processes that are well documented and
consistent with the industry-standard International
Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol
or IPMVP. To identify savings attributable to the appli-
cation, evaluators or project stakeholders compare
baseline conditions to actual conditions – the past to
the present. Results are presented in real-time using
online dashboards and reports.
Managed Services – The Future in
Building Automation
Managed Services reinforces HVAC system optimi-
zation. Through cloud-based remote access, service
providers continuously monitor performance, 24/7, at
every level – from whole building to individual controls
– looking for inefficiencies that degrade performance
with an objective to optimize HVAC performance in
order to achieve the greatest possible energy and
monetary savings for the customers.
A number of trends point toward a more service-ori-
ented approach to building automation in the future.
Continuous monitoring and real-time servicing is the
best way to keep a BMS properly tuned for high-level
performance.
BACnet Middle East Journal 5 11/15 1111
BACnet Insight

2. The “product-side” of a BMS installation is never a
once-and-done affair. Too many things in the build-
ing’s environment remain in flux, too many aspects of
the building’s thermodynamic behaviour can remain
elusive, and too many subsystems and components
can be improperly calibrated. As a result, commission-
ing is typically advised after BMS installation. Increas-
ingly, owners and operators are looking for ways to
keep their buildings at high-performance levels at all
times. Some seek full-scale “re-commissioning” of
their buildings as data reveals that HVAC performance
is beginning to decline. This requires the right diagnos-
tic software that can detect imbalances, inefficiencies
in subsystems, broken components and sensors, and
improperly tuned control loops. Some software only
goes part way – that is, it detects problems and makes
recommendations others go another step forward and
actively make the necessary adjustments and takes
active control to optimize system performance. A
similar trend driving the software/service-oriented
approach to building automation is the desire of build-
ing owners to upgrade their existing BMS without
incurring large capital expense. Rather than hardware
replacement they are looking for service enhance-
ments to accomplish the same end.
Some in the industry refer to an adjunct service called
“continuous commissioning,” as the logical extension
of initial commissioning and re-commissioning. How-
ever, most often this is not so much continuous as
episodic. BMS inspection, testing, and evaluation are
done periodically, generally at defined intervals, but
often by firms that have no long-term, continuing com-
mitment to the building’s performance. There is grow-
ing appreciation by owners of the benefits of having
24/7 continuous monitoring of performance.
Software as a service combined with Managed Ser-
vices offers the possibility of turning the concept of
“continuous commissioning” into reality. The software
dimension allows the provider to remotely monitor,
thus staying on top of HVAC performance at all times,
and at minimal cost. And it offers greater flexibility for
expansion and integration of new services and hard-
ware. For example, it allows building owners to coor-
dinate and fully leverage energy efficiency measures
such as variable frequency drives (VFD), rooftop solar,
renewable purchased power, battery and thermal
storage. As new sustainability opportunities arise, a
software/ service approach allows building owners to
incorporate them at lowest cost.
Building Analytics & BACnet
BACnet is the bond. It is the most widely used com-
munication protocol by building analytics companies
and on different layers. It is used as a networking
solution and data integrator between the field level
and the management level. It is a dynamic technol-
ogy platform that is always evolving as it also pro-
vides both near real-time data as well as historical
data.
BACnet Ethernet, BACnet/IP (Internet Protocol),
BACnet MSTP (Master Slave Token Passing), BAC-
net Point-to-Point, BACnet over ARCnet, BACnet
over LON (Local Operating Network) and BACnet
over Zigbee (Wireless) are all used as BACnet data
link/physical layers.
BACnet Middle East Journal 5 11/151212
BACnet Insight
Firas Obeido
Chief Technology Officer
Smart Automation Energy LLC, Dubai – UAE
Firas.Obeido@smartae.ae | www.smartae.ae
Stacey Lucas
Commercial Director
sales@sontay.com | www.sontay.com
Increased device-to-device communication is an important role within modern building management
systems. Convergence is the hot topic at the moment and we are seeing a high number of devices and
control systems using the internet protocol alongside traditional protocols for communication, such
as BACnet MS/TP. Wireless variations of intelligent control devices are becoming much more readily
available. This makes it easier to build, extend and increase the range and capabilities of a unified,
integrated system.
Having said that, it is not just about devices work-
ing together, smart communication is also about
the data that can be accessed. Here, sensors play
the vital role. They are inherently smart, measuring,
analysing and evaluating all sorts of building perfor-
mance data and making this information available to
the control system. By pulling together this informa-
tion and using it to determine the actions of connected
devices, we can create a truly ‘smart’ system.
The principle difference between a conventional
sensor installation and a smart installation is that the
sensors themselves can have many measurement
parameters, while only requiring two wires for the
transmission of all the measurement data directly to
the controller using the relevant protocol.
Today, the choice available in sensors embraces dif-
ferent levels and can now range from a simple ther-
mistor based room temperature device to a sophis-
ticated smart protocol communication sensor. The
latest multi-sensing products offer an increased
level of functionality, tailored to suit any application.
Popularity is growing for these devices as they are
quicker, simpler and more cost effective to install and
utilise just one cable to send all data, no matter how
many variables are detected. For example, our Smart
Communication Sensor combines smart connectivity
with intelligent sensing. The sensors are tailored to
suit any application and offer complete environmen-
tal sensing within a single unit with a whole range
of variables being measured including temperature,
CO2
, relative humidity, light level, air quality and fan
speed. For added control, the collected data is com-
municated through BACnet MS/TP.
Smart Communication allows building owners
and facilities managers to fulfill the requirements
of energy efficiency as dictated by EU or national
legislation. Easily available, concise and accurate
information will allow better control strategies to be
implemented in buildings. Within the modern build-
Smart Communication Feature
ing, we are looking for sensors that are intelligent,
open and always online. The data they collect and
communicate in our increasingly converged and
integrated building controls world will become ever
more important as they fulfill their demanding role.
This in turn will help us to manage buildings better
and drive energy efficient improvements.