Apps, artificial intelligence, Automation… Residences and offices are also connected objects, and this file reveals the building of the future, whether it is its gate entrance, liftsheating or maintenance.
In the age of everything connected, many manufacturers have rushed into home automation. Faced with such success, the concept has gained ground and evolved, creating a new strategic market: that ofbuilding automation, in other words smart buildings. The objective is the centralized management of the building (equipment, networks, comfort or security features), to facilitate its use and maintenance.
What is a connected home?
The connected objects invaded our daily lives, forming theinternet of thingsWhere Internet of Things (IoT). Televisions directly integrate the services of streamingthe loudspeakers incorporate a voice assistant connected to the Internet, and even refrigerators are beginning to be connected, with a screen to display recipes downloaded from the Internet or even a camera to view content while shopping.
The IoT is changing the common areas of buildings
This development represents new challenges, but also new opportunities for companies in the sector. With the omnipresence of connected objects, the expectations of users are changing, who increasingly want the control of equipment to be integrated and accessible remotely. The various manufacturers must transform their products to meet this demand. So each installation in the buildings is no longer isolated, but finds itself connected in a central network.
With connected housing, very often a simple smart phone allows you to control everything remotely, such as increasing the heating, opening and closing the rolling shuttersmonitor electricity consumption, turn off the lights… But smart buildings are not limited to simple home automation. From now on, the collective systems of the buildings are also connected. This includes the communal heating, but also access to the building: the elevators. This trend concerns not only residences, but also offices, hospitals, shopping centers, hotels…
Systems repaired before they even break down
So for example, KONEa major player in building automation, offers services that transform its elevators and escalators in connected devices. As a result, secure access, but also optimized operation since they are equipped with a sensors, its equipment becomes communicating and can send an alert in the event of a malfunction. Failures can thus be avoided, without having to wait for a manager or users to notice theanomaly and contact a technician.
But even better, the interest of connected buildings is not limited to being able to monitor and configure operations remotely. Communicating systems can be connected to a artificial intelligencewhich then uses machine learning, or machine learning, to anticipate a risk of malfunction. If we take the example of the elevator (but it could also be a collective heating system), the many sensors transmitting information on the operation of the equipment allow artificial intelligence to identify unusual parameters that may to lead to a breakdown. A technician can then be dispatched to the site even before the appearance of the problem and carry out a preventive intervention. Equipment availability is increased, as is user comfort. Taking advantage of this connectivity, manufacturers are also imagining new uses. For example, KONE Flow transforms the occupants’ smartphone into a key to open the doors and automatically call the elevator…
At the heart of the system is IBM Watson, the artificial intelligence created by IBM. © All rights reserved
From home automation to building automation, see in this file the technological advances of housing and connected buildings. With the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Deep Learning (deep learning), our habitats will be more and more “intelligent”.