Distributed system for integrated buildings and monitoring

Abstract

SUMMARY The works to be presented in this paper are related with information technology application on the intelligent building concept. A distributed system targeted for integrated building monitoring and control will be presented. The system is also able to support business activities and services. The concept of domot introduced (domot = “domus" + "robot") as the third active occupant of the building, coexisting with users and managers, and able to manage resources and be at other occupant disposal. The system relies on the definition of two types of template architectures, to be used as references by the software and hardware parts of the system. The software reference template is based on a heterogeneous distributed network of workstations, running a set of process with interprocess communication based on the client-server paradigm. The hardware reference template is based on a architecture based on two levels of networks; the first one is used for the communication between high-level control workstations (targeted for supervision and monitoring) and the second one is targeted to support low-level controllers communcation. These two types of templates constitute the basis for a robust and open system based implementation of an infrastructure that is able to support both business activities and the single occupant wishes, enabling synergistic developments. The user interface, which may run anywhere in the world as far as a TCP-IP connection is available, is hierarchically organised; specific information and dialogues are provided for the monitoring and management of different types of devices and systems installed in the building. The systems already integrated are intrusion, CCTV and PABX. Access control and HVAC will follow in the near future.