Standardisation of home and building automation solutions

The home and building automation industry has witnessed rapid changes in technology and this has provided challenges for those wanting to be involved in the industry.

The American human rights activist Malcolm X stated “the future belongs to those who prepare for it today”.

As technology developed and became more accessible, the early adopters of building automation technology have discovered a beneficial extension for their businesses and have provided important services to their customers.

New technology often spreads like the spokes of a wheel, with various solutions from competing applications all trying to find their place in a crowded marketplace. Whilst choice is a great stimulus for competition, too many competing systems can reduce adequate investment into the development of technology and applications.

In the late 1980s the electrical industry in Europe considered the way forward for home and building automation. At the time there were a number of protocols in use across specific market segments as well as various geographic areas. The industry recognised that having conflicting protocols would hamper the ability of the industry to sustain growth and provide accessible automation solutions to the market.

The technology of the Sigma i-bus system became the foundation of an association known as the European Installation Bus Association (EIBA) in the 1990s. This system was popular across much of Europe.  In the French speaking areas of Europe the popular system tended to be the BatiBUS system. The European Home Systems Association (EHSA) was also working for a standardisation of networking for household appliances.

In 1991, discussions took place between these individual groups to provide a common specification for the industry. Utilising EIB as the foundation, a specification was developed to allow EIB, BatiBUS and EHS to communicate on a common platform. This system became known as KNX and has allowed the industry to thrive through interoperability and competition between manufacturers.

KNX technology rapidly gathered support and acceptance in the home and building automation market and in 2003 became approved by CENELEC as the European Standard EN 50090. In the US KNX Technology was approved as the US Standard ANSI/ASHRAE 135 in 2005. In 2006, CEN approved KNX as EN 13321-1 and in the same year KNX technology was approved as the International Standard ISO/IEC 14543-3. KNX technology was also approved as the Chinese Standard GB/T 20965 in 2007.

After being the preferred installation bus in Europe for many years and becoming the international IEC standard in 2006, KNX established itself as the protocol that could provide a futureproof assurance to users, as communication was possible both backwards to old projects and forwards to new projects due to the protection and definition provided by the standard.

Standards provide safety and benefits for users through a protected and defined specification. Having a standard underpin a communication protocol allows an industry to confidently grow to create larger-scale automation solutions without the necessity or inconvenience of gateways and mixed technology. Users only need to learn one technology and manufacturers can develop products in higher volumes at lower prices through a standardised communication specification. Competition is assured as products between different manufacturers are compatible and interoperability is guaranteed by an independent association.

The experience in Europe has clearly shown the adoption of KNX as the international standard IEC 14543-3 allowed the industry to prosper and grow. In 2012 the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA) in the UK published their European Smart Home Market Study which asserted the market share of KNX-based solutions exceeded 70% with an average growth in share of three percentage points each year.

Studies have indicated buildings are responsible worldwide for 40% of the consumption of final energy and 21% of the production of greenhouse gases. Having standardised solutions for home and building automation provides an essential building block for a sustainable future.

In Australia, the building codes require contractors and installers to provide appropriate solutions.  Six star green star buildings also require high-level solutions to achieve the energy efficiency standards nominated by consultants, developers, building owners and tenants. Installers have to keep abreast of technology to provide appropriate solutions. The challenge for installers is to invest in systems that will benefit their business without the need for ongoing training of staff on changing technologies. This is where the benefits of standardisation can really assist a business through reduced expenditure on the constant development of staff on different technologies. The knowledge of a standardised system allows staff to hone their skills on smarter and more competitive solutions, which is good for business. With KNX, the IEC standard IEC 14543-3 defines the communication of the home and building automation system, so the installer has the security of not being in a position where a protocol may be unsupported over time and new technologies introduced.

Many installers have seen an installation where one bus technology may have been used for lighting controls and a different technology could have been used in the HVAC system. Yet further technologies control security, audio visual, facade shading, blinds and shutters, etc. A conference room or boardroom could have a different control panel for each of these applications and each system may be stand-alone or could have basic communication via a cumbersome gateway.  The installer’s dilemma could be that they are required to support all of these technologies in order to service the needs of a customer. Using the standards approach, a single system can be used across these multiple applications. At present there are over 320 different manufacturers producing KNX products compliant to IEC 14543-3 across all of these applications. The installer not only has a single system that can be used to provide the multidiscipline solution, they also have a number of manufacturers where they can source a competitive solution.

The Australian market often follows the trends from Europe and this is sometimes the ‘crystal ball’ of our market for the next few years. Given this historical trend, as well as the Australian Government’s desire to follow IEC standards, it is likely that the growth of automation products and suppliers offering IEC 14543-3 compliance will increase in coming years. As the market develops, the automation segment is also likely to migrate into increasingly cost-effective solutions for residential customers, expanding the already accepted commercial building automation segment.

Modern building automation systems operate with a bus technology that requires a different wiring topology to conventional systems. Often the power circuit feeds the actuating devices and the control is provided by a bus cable to each of the switches and sensors. This change of wiring philosophy can be a challenge for building retrofits, however, if substantial redevelopment works are undertaken then the wiring change can be easily accommodated.

Once a commercial building has been configured using bus technology, the building automation system usually lends itself to simple reconfiguring of the office layout, which reduces cost over the life of the building. Internal walls can be relocated in a commercial space and the need for physical rewiring may be avoided as the system could be reconfigured using the automation bus technology.

In the IEC 14543-3 standard the communication protocol is defined across four different communication media - twisted-pair wiring, power line, radio frequency and KNXnet IP. This provides a variety of solutions across segments and applications.

Most installers are familiar with a lighting control system being able to provide an ‘automation’ of sorts. This has developed over the years from basic time clock control to presence detection and daylight harvesting where the ambient light conditions from outside of the building are considered so that internal artificial light is only used as a supplement to natural light in order to save energy. The challenge for installers is modern buildings require more from the automation system.  In addition to lighting controls, it is desirable to integrate the HVAC system so that unoccupied rooms need not be heated or cooled to the desired occupancy level in order to save energy. External facades, blinds and shutters may also be required to work with the automation system so that, for example, daylight is harvested from outside however shutters must provide shading so that direct sunlight is prevented from heating the glass so that the HVAC system must work harder to cool the building.

Whilst considered a challenge previously, all of these applications can exist on the same platform due to the benefit of standardisation. Various specialist manufacturers in all of these disciplines have developed readily available products that communicate along the IEC 14543-3 standard and a KNX system provides an overall building automation structure for the total solution.

The multidiscipline concept of KNX underpinned by the IEC standard makes it suitable for large and small-scale installations. The KNX system readily interfaces to large BMS systems and IP backbone structures ensuring total scalability for an application.

We started this piece with a quote from Malcolm X, “the future belongs to those who prepare for it today”. It is up to the consultants, electrical contractors, systems integrators and end users to assess the market trends and decide on the best system for their businesses and applications. Positioning the business for the inevitable growth of the home and building automation market will be important for the sustained growth of individual businesses. The preparation and choices made today will encourage success for the future