ICT for smart buildings and cities

In today’s digitalized world, the constant evolution of information and communication technologies (ICT) results in opportunities to develop new kinds of smart services. One technology area seeing sustained growth is that of smart buildings and cities, which aims at creating globally optimized buildings and cities while enhancing user interaction.

Smart buildings and cities employ a range of sensors to collect data from technical management systems. Data processing techniques are then used to optimize energy consumption management, leading to considerable quality-of-life gains for users.

A close monitoring of technological advances is therefore essential in this rapidly evolving sector, especially in relation to the key issues of data protection, security, system interoperability and reliability, and the integration of these technologies in conventional building automation systems (BAS).

This project focuses on surveying the market for construction solutions that incorporate recent advances in the world of ICT (cloud solutions, API, IoT, MQTT protocols, etc.). The goal is to test state-of-the-art components and architectures in order to determine both their strengths and their limits. Results are then used to inform and guide decision-making in connection with innovative building projects, particularly within the framework of the Smart Living Lab.

The architectures currently on offer from BAS suppliers increasingly integrate a range of innovative technologies such as networks of on-field sensors and actuators, various communication protocols enabling data transmission, and clouds – where data is stored for subsequent processing – equipped with interfaces that enable smart management. In addition, these architectures now support third-party integration for clouds and applications, thus making it possible to connect older BAS architectures with IoT objects and services. This modern infrastructure is sometimes supplemented by augmented reality equipment fed with data from BIM models.