Online offsite

raditionally, the management of a building's services plant has had to be done just there – in the building. Engineers and facilities managers have to be on site to check that the equipment is working, either from a central control point or by someone individually checking each unit. But the controls industry is undergoing huge changes, and Tridium has come up with one way to make full use of today's technology – a universal software infrastructure that allows access, automation and control of smart devices in realtime over the Internet.

Registered users can log into their building's network via the Internet and are provided initially with a three-dimensional layered view of the structure. From here, each floor can be looked at individually. The arrangement of the services plant is shown in circuit diagram format, allowing the individual items of plant to be easily identified and interrogated.

The engineer can examine the plant's operation in realtime, checking how it is functioning at that exact moment. With the same software, the user can alter settings, switch items on and off and check and sanction any maintenance issues without having to telephone or visit the building.

Nothing new here, you might think. After all, aren't there now many software tools on the market that can enable this offsite working? But the principal feature of this product is that it enables different protocols (for example LonWorks and Modbus) to be interoperable. This is achieved by using common object modelling. The Niagara framework, on which the system is based, identifies individual items and their data and converts these into standard software object models that are independent of any particular protocols. By doing this an open platform is created that enables devices to communicate effectively, regardless of their original protocol.

Within the Niagara framework – a suite of Java-based software – different manufacturers' systems can talk to each other, hence be combined to form a single system. This, says the company's Gil Rockwell, eliminates the monopoly system manufacturers can hold over individual users: "With Niagara, clients are not held to ransom by manufacturers. It releases clients to select the system best for them at that time." So a user can install a new system of controls without having to replace the existing equipment.

This framework is housed in a 'black box' – the java application control engine (JACE). Tridium's JACE units provide the tool to control the devices via the Internet. Each unit has a number of fieldbus connections for hard-wiring to intelligent devices and can enable central control of a large number of buildings. The benefits of the system go beyond mere offsite control of plant.

Using the Vykon product suite, which is specifically designed for the building automation industry, a building's energy use can be monitored and interrogated. This makes it simpler for a company that has several dispersed sites to compare and control its energy costs. Efficient practices can be compared and transferred to other sites, and, perhaps more beneficially, a company can use its overall usage figures to barter with its fuel provider for lower costs.

One downside of the system is the need to complete the company's training programme before being accepted as a systems integrator. "Contractors must be engineers as well as electrical installers" says Tridium. In America, the cost of becoming a systems integrator is "around $20 000", states the company's Leo Quinn. This cost includes a demonstration system, "which companies normally install in their own premises" and two weeks training, in which time written and practical exams must be passed. A registered engineer will also attend the first installation.

The first UK systems installer was approved in November 2000 and three others are about to complete the training programme. Two projects are underway in England, a pfi hospital and an army base, and the company predicts that 75-100 installations in Europe will be started or complete by the end of 2001 – a sure sign that the doors to Internet control are opening on this side of the Atlantic.