What is a building automation system (BAS)?
Building automation systems (BAS) manage and automate a building’s lighting, HVAC, power, safety, access control, and security systems. BASs optimize efficiency and reduce waste in green building design and help with carbon offset and sustainability. BASs may include hardware controllers to coordinate subsystems operation, smart devices for decentralized coordination, or PC-based software for automation and control. Visualization and data acquisition components boost overall performance.
How does building automation work?
A building automation system (BAS) automates various building functions such as lighting, heating, cooling, and access control. The BAS is often a system of systems providing supervisory control, data acquisition, and automation within and between a building’s mechanical, electrical, water/wastewater, and other systems.
Understanding the building automation architecture
Server/application layer
One or more server computers typically provide building automation systems with functions like system configuration, administration, automation, and data access.
Supervisory layer
The top level of a building automation system includes a management or supervisory layer that communicates with multiple underlying components to provide control, visualization, administration, configuration, and data access.
Field controller layer
The field controller layer of a building automation system communicates with both the supervisory layer and input/output devices to facilitate data collection and control.
Input/output layer
Benefits of building automation
Lower operational costs
Building automation systems reduce building operational costs through advanced monitoring and automation capabilities. Components can be monitored remotely to avoid local management requirements, and tasks, such as controlling lights, faucets, ventilation, heating, and cooling, can be automated.
Lower energy costs
Automation ensures that building systems operate only when necessary, significantly lowering energy costs for high-demand utilities such as lighting, cooling, and heating. Systems can be managed by precise scheduling and real-time adjustments based on data from environmental sensors and manual inputs at control points.
Increased efficiency
Building automation systems increase the efficiency of building equipment, such as HVAC, by limiting unnecessary demand and better determining optimal target setpoints through real-time data from sensors and local interfaces.
Systems controlled by building automation
HVAC systems use air conditioners, furnaces, ducts, dampers, and thermostats to control the environment inside buildings.
Default schedules often manage lighting system interior and exterior components and can be overridden by local control points.
BAS security and access control components manage entry and movement, usually based on time of day and specific credentials.
Automated switchgear aids in power recovery events, while monitoring electrical systems for anomalies ensures efficiency.
Kepware’s Building Automation Suite
Kepware’s Building Automation Suite is the leading communication software to facilitate the management of building lighting, HVAC, power, safety, and security. The Suite includes drivers for industry-standard protocols BACnet/IP and Modbus, as well as System Monitor, User-Configurable (U-CON), and Custom Interface drivers for custom protocol support and DIY driver development.