Intelligent Building: I see the future

We’ve spoken a lot about intelligent buildings in recent months and due the huge costs involved it’s difficult to retrofit a building to make it more intelligent. At Advantech we are building two new buildings, one in China and the other in Taiwan, that are embracing the concept of intelligent buildings in their entirety.

The first building to open is the Kunshan City campus in China and Advantech are taking full advantage of the opportunity to showcase the latest in intelligent building technology.

The building management is divided into two distinct sections: Intelligent BEMS (Building Energy Management Systems) and Intelligent Space Management. These two areas are further sub divided into sub-sections that handle specific areas of the building.

Intelligent BEMS is subdivided into BEMS and Human Sensing control. BEMS is responsible for building management and has such features as intelligent HVAC, lighting, display and control so that energy isnot wasted in keeping areas lit when they aren’t required and that heating and air conditioning systems operate at maximum efficiency to maintain a comfortable environment depending upon the number of people in a given area. It is thanks to the advances in human sensing control that the number of people in a given area can be established and that lights know when to come on and go off.

Intelligent Space Management is sub divided into six subdivisions: intelligent reception, intelligent meeting, intelligent video system, smart cards and intelligent parking. As visitors arrive at the intelligent carpark their car is recognized using the license plate recognition system, which is then used to track the car and direct it to the reserved parking space as the way is lit using the intelligent lighting management system. At the intelligent reception of the new building visitorsexperience Advantech’s vision of an intelligent building and it’s here that they can get information from and interactive kiosk or read the e-catalog whilst waiting to be directed to the intelligent meeting room which displays the name of the attendees on the display panel outside, and thanks to human sensing determines the number of people in the room and the optimal temperature for comfort which manages to save energy. To get to the intelligent meeting room visitors are given a smart card which allows them access only through specific doors, ensuring that they are guided to the correct room and that their attendance is monitored through every step of their visit, For employees, the smart card system not only opens doors but it is also their way of paying for goods and services within the campus. To ensure that all areas of the building are safe and secure, the final part of the Intelligent Space Management system is the Intelligent Video System which allows operatives towatch, record and playback all images from the buildings video surveillance system.

As moreand more of us live in cities the amount of energy required to power them is growing in ways that weren’t envisaged twenty years ago, we need to learn how to conserve energy and if citizens can’t be trusted to do it themselves intelligent buildings will help them achieve energy and cost savings.