Are you familiar with the expression "No smart building without data interoperability"? A building where systems don't communicate with each other can be compared to the Tower of Babel. Each system speaks its own language and the building becomes a place where confusion reigns, where systems don't understand each other and where data is ultimately underexploited.
So how do you interconnect these systems that aren't initially designed to communicate with each other due to different communication protocols? This is a question that bounces around in your head like a boomerang. Yet the solution is very simple. There's a Google Translate for making Modbus communicate with Sigfox in buildings: this is what we call interoperability.
Meet our CEO and systems interoperability expert, Mahdi Ben Alaya.
How do you define data interoperability in buildings?
Interoperability is the key to managing, sharing and exchanging data from different technologies. The goal of interoperability is to break down "linguistic" barriers in buildings to create an ecosystem and synergy with its environment (Smart City, Smart Grids, etc.).
Interoperability is ultimately the ability to make systems communicate with each other when they're not initially capable of doing so. Interoperability will enable overcoming field complexity and abolishing silos to make available data from very heterogeneous objects:
- Equipment and electrical installations (Lighting, heating, ventilation, aeration, energy meters, alarms, sensors and various communicating objects)
- Communication protocols (Modbus, BACnet, KNX, Sigfox, LoRa, Wifi, BLE, etc.)
- Management systems and business applications (Supervision, Technical and energy management system (BMS), Space management, BIM, CMMS, etc.)
Plug & Play integration of all equipment regardless of suppliers is no longer a dream but becomes reality.
What challenges does interoperability address?
Today buildings are equipped with heterogeneous equipment, systems, protocols and sensors that cannot naturally communicate with each other because integrated technologies aren't designed to work with systems different from those of the original supplier.
This is what we call vendor lock-in. Installing multi-supplier equipment represents additional costs. Operators are therefore often forced to integrate equipment from the same supplier or face heterogeneous installations that complicate maintenance and operation operations. These silos make data difficult to access and therefore little or not at all exploited.
However, it's data that leads to creating and developing new high-value-added services for users and managers: Energy Efficiency, Predictive Maintenance, Space Management, etc. As the 4th utility of buildings, data is at the heart of "Smart Buildings" because it's an important source of value for creating what we call "building as a service".
What tool can fight this vendor lock-in and simplify interoperability integration in buildings?
The solution is to unify static and dynamic building data under a common repository through the Building Operating System (BOS). The BOS is the guarantor of interoperability in buildings. It mainly ensures:
- Rapid integration of heterogeneous equipment and data collection from different sources
- Unification of collected data under a common building repository
- Completion and semantic enrichment of unified data
- Efficient exposure of enriched data through open and secure interfaces to transform buildings into service platforms
What real-world example proves the importance of interoperability?
During health crises, store opening hours keep changing, requiring adaptation of equipment operation to the building's new context each time.
Take the example of a regional site manager who wants to change the lighting schedules of his buildings according to new restrictions. Knowing that each building is managed by a different technical management system, without interoperability, the site manager is forced to connect to each site separately to modify the time programming. Thanks to interoperability, he has a single interface allowing him to control his entire real estate portfolio with a few clicks, representing considerable time and money savings.
Conclusion
Interoperability is the key to unlocking data potential and triggering the technical and ecological transition of buildings. This will ultimately enable reduction of integration costs, operational costs and energy consumption in buildings.
Sensinov offers you to apply your own strategy to your buildings. Our solutions meet the challenges of openness, interoperability and are 100% in line with new standards (R2S Label, BACS decree, tertiary decree). The Sensinov BOS supports building professionals in their daily activities on several subjects including Hypervision and building supervision, equipment control and energy consumption optimization.
