CommScope Asia Pacific vice president, Enterprise, Dr Ispran Kandasamy looks at the benefits of intelligent buildings and the role of communications in an intelligent system.

Asia Pacific today accounts for 30% of the world’s total energy consumption according to the Asia Business Council. The Asian Development Bank estimates that by 2035, the region will consume more than 50% of the world’s energy supply. Whatever the actual numbers turn out to be it is clear that efficient use of energy is a growing need within the Asia Pacific region. 

The increase in energy consumption is largely due to massive and rapid urban development across the region. The United Nation Development Program (UNDP 2012) estimated that by 2030 the urban population in Asia Pacific will grow by over 800 million people.  The growth of mega cities (greater than 10 million population) is biggest in Asia and cities of all sizes need buildings. As more people flock to cities, these cities will naturally grow faster than ever before.

Mirroring the region’s development is growth in construction – with more than half of the world’s new construction taking place in China and India alone. Asia Pacific’s building sector is expanding at rates unmatched in the rest of the world. The region accounts for 40% of the world’s buildings, according to Navigant Research. Land for new construction in or around cities is a scarce resource and consequently becoming more expensive. The efficient use of space is now a necessity across most of Asia Pacific. 

This region is paying increasing attention to potential energy savings and space efficiency objectives that can be achieved through new technologies that monitor and control energy and space use within buildings. Buildings can no longer be thought of as simple ‘dead’ bricks and mortar but instead must be thought of as ‘living’ intelligent buildings.

What is an Intelligent Building?
The metamorphosis to an intelligent building comes in a variety of ways. For a building to become intelligent it starts with a common integrated wired and wireless infrastructure that receives and carries actionable information that enables better management and optimisation of systems and resources deployed throughout the building.

The most basic applications or services that need to be managed and controlled in a building are typically voice, video, data, cellular coverage, wireless LAN coverage, electrical power for lighting, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) control, Building Management Systems (BMS). Of course, special use facilities like hospitals, airports and hotels have additional requirements. Traditionally these all ran over disparate and proprietary networks that did not easily work with each other – it was common for a large building to contain at least 15 different physical network infrastructures. What if these could now operate across one infrastructure instead of 15?

The benefits of an intelligent building operating on a single network infrastructure are tangible: savings on operating expense, optimised manpower utilisation and an overall improvement of service within the building. Intelligent buildings are fast becoming an economic and business necessity. 

The need for intelligent buildings is driven by the congruence of a number of large scaling factors that influence building network infrastructure:

• The ubiquity of Internet Protocol (IP) as the primary communication protocol enabling an increasing number of new devices to connect in a building.
• Enhanced capacity and performance of the latest Wireless LAN (WLAN) standard (IEEE 802.3 11ac).
• Improved powering capability over twisted-pair cable driven by the latest Power over Ethernet (POE) standard (IEEE 802.3at – 2012).
• More Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) to support in-building smart phone coverage.
• Deployment of low voltage LED lighting solutions running over twisted pair cable.
• New integrated building sensor technology making available many new data sets for subsequent analysis.
• Automated Infrastructure Management (AIM) systems becoming mainstream in the LAN, as a means to document the physical layer and gain a deeper understanding of how and when IT assets are being used (draft ISO/IEC 18598)

These factors when integrated into a single structured network allow power and space to be proactively and efficiently managed. As the number of building occupants increase, the need for effective energy and space management is a driver for the convergence and integration of building networks. Intelligent buildings are increasingly interconnected.

The network is the foundation supporting intelligent buildings
From the outside, an intelligent building looks like any other building. It’s the insides that matter and, in particular, the network infrastructure has a key role in the way a building operates and functions. Here are some details of these key enabling technologies:

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies are proliferating the use of smart phones in the work place. This in turn means that enterprises must provide adequate coverage and capacity for cellular signals within buildings. Cellular coverage is usually considered only after the building is essentially ready for occupancy but this is often too late because of the disruption associated with installing any new DAS elements. The very latest DAS technologies demonstrate how in-building wireless can be provided over twisted pair cable. Cellular coverage must be considered early in the network design cycle.

The need to stay connected even when moving within a building also emphasizes the importance of WLAN technologies. The latest WLAN access points, based on the IEEE 802.11ac standard, are capable of delivering 1.3Gbps throughput to wireless users, significantly improving the productivity of mobile workers, and future generations of 802.11ac access points may reach up to 6.9Gpbs. Again, it is important that a network infrastructure is in place that can integrate this WLAN technology and provide the appropriate bandwidth to users who are in a building. Careful consideration should be given to the connectivity of the access points – the latest standards indicate the need for 10Gbps cabling solutions to support the access point backhaul connection.

Powering devices through the same low voltage cable infrastructure that provides data/control capability is becoming more important. Standards bodies continue to look at ways to increase the power output capability of twisted pair copper cable that can enable remote powering of IP based devices connected to the network – this saves on the need to provide adjacent stand alone power-points. Intelligent buildings use cabling solutions that meet the latest PoE requirements.

About 30% of the energy used in a building is associated with lighting. Technical advances across LEDs, microprocessors, direct-current powered devices and sensors have resulted in the development of sensor based lighting solutions that are intelligent. A centralised power and control platform is deployed which communicates with a ‘fine-grained’ building fabric composed of a dense network of sensors and fixtures. Power is then optimised for not only lighting needs but also various other applications such as heating, air flow, plug and process loads, as well as support utility demand programs. Building owners and occupants consequently enjoy significantly reduced power costs for lighting whilst at the same time benefiting from a sensor rich building that collects data on space utilisation.

Challenges to implementing an Intelligent Building
Building architects, engineers, facility and IT managers are faced with a number of complex challenges in transforming building from ‘dumb’ to intelligent.

Poor communication between  facility or building managers and IT managers when designing, constructing new or retrofitting existing buildings and systems is a significant barrier to smooth and effective implementation of the intelligent building concept. In time role of a facility and IT manager will necessarily converge as buildings become more intelligent.

The relatively high first installed cost or capex associated with smart or intelligent building technologies is the primary deterrent to investment in such buildings, according IDC’s 2011 Energy Insights Smart Buildings Investment Survey. However, there are significant savings in operational expenditure because of reduced energy use and space optimisation. Robust return-on-investment (ROI) analysis must be undertaken as part of the financial justification process. Often the ROI calculation can show a positive return in a relatively short time.

The solution
Less energy and more space are two of the biggest challenges we face in Asia Pacific. Despite the above challenges, intelligent buildings hold great potential to reduce energy consumption and improve space utilisation. A holistic approach to building network design, using a common wired and wireless infrastructure can significantly enhance the workplace environment.  Simply put, intelligent buildings are living buildings. They harness the latest global standards and tie building systems together, helping deliver increased productivity, efficiency and comfort.

Ispran Kandasamy (Ish) is responsible for leading and growing the Enterprise business within the whole Asia Pacific geography – covering countries as diverse as China, India, Australia/NZ, Japan, South Korea as well as the ASEAN block countries.

Over the past 25 years, Ish has built up a proven track record in research and development, manufacturing, and sales and marketing within the IT, Telco and general communication’s industry. In previous roles, he worked for Avaya’s Connectivity Solutions business as managing director for Asia Pacific (based in HK); for Lucent Technologies (now Alcatel Lucent) as Director of Channel Distribution as well as sales manager for pan-European fibre infrastructure (based in London); and for Pirelli Cables & Systems (based in Wales) leading a team that designed and developed passive optical infrastructure.

Ish holds a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in materials science and physics relating to optical devices from Brunel University (now University of West London), England. He is also the co-author of a number of patents developed while working for Pirelli Cables & Systems.

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