Costs of connecting appliances in EEBuildings SEEDS - Self learning Energy Efficiency buildings and open Spaces DG CONNECT & ETSI Workshop on Smart Appliances Brussels, May 27 28, 2014 Manuel Díaz Rodríguez SoftCrits 1
Outline Wireless Sensor and Actuators in EEBuildings Challenges and strategies to develop cost effective devices SEEDS hardware/software platform SEEDS communication infrastructure and support tools Conclusions and Future Work 2
Wireless Sensor Actuators in EEBuildings Wireless Intelligent Sensor and Actuator Networks (WISAN) are gaining gmarket acceptance in Building g Automation Systems (BAS) because they are both cheaper and faster to deploy than traditional wired field buses Different issues are raised when adapting this technology to the BAS domain: Security, reliability and time constraints are very important and have initially limited the adoption of the technology Other aspects related to energy consumption and self configuration f are not as important as in other domains: The network topology is determined by the building and the location of the energy and HVAC components Power supply is availablein in most of the cases Cost saving is not so clear with the current state of art Many proprietary solutions, but most of them are incompatible among them 3
Wireless Sensor Actuators in EEBuildings SEEDS WISAN has been developed in the context of the SEEDS (Self Learning Energy Efficient buildings and open Spaces) project SEEDS aims to develop a novel system for real time monitoring and control of energy consumption parameters inside buildings and surroundings or districts based on selflearning and optimization techniques. The development of self learning control algorithms requires a large number of real time data, obtained during the normal operation of the building 4
Wireless Sensor Actuators in EEBuildings SEEDS SENS has been designed to fulfill the monitoring requirements of SEEDS These requirements have been defined after a thorough and detailed study of monitoring condition and equipment of the two SEEDS demonstrators Demonstrator 1. University of Stavanger with six blocks built at different times, including open spaces Demonstrator 2: OfficeBuildinginMadrid6floorsforoffices,a ground floor for commercial uses and three underground floors for parking. 5
Wireless Sensor Actuators in EEBuildings The first step when designing a WISAN solution of EEBuilding control is deciding about using commercial wireless nodes or developing a specific solution taking into account the specific requirements of the domain Some pros and cons: Commercial nodes are sold as ready to go /plug&play solutions, but the cost is very high (200 500 EUR per node) and the associated software is usually closed or not flexible enough Ifthe number ofnodes is low, the equipment to control is not very heterogeneous and standard this can be anyway a good alternative Open source based products are considerably cheaper (60 150 EUR), but require firmware programming and developing some electronics for sensor/actuator signal adaptation This approach maybe appropriate when the number of devices is medium 6
Wireless Sensor Actuators in EEBuildings A third option is developing an ad hoc solution The specific requirements of EEBuilding can be taken into account The signal adaptation electronics for sensors and actuators may be included in the design of the hardware Design and manufacturing costs must be taken into account This solution is only feasible if number of nodes is very highh An intermediate solution is to use open source architectures and standard communication protocols to reduce the design costs 7
Challenges and strategies to develop cost-effective devices The most relevant costs in a WISAN node comes from the Wireless Interface and the Microcontroller The most common used wireless technology in this domain are the protocols based on the low power IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless interfaces aresold in twodifferent formats: just as transceivers or as components with its own processor implementing the low layers of the protocol stack Code Description Units Price ( ) (Taxes not included) AT86RF212-ZU ATMEL TRANSCEPTOR, 1 4,00 ZIGBEE/802.15.4.4, 32QFN CC2420-RTB1 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, 1 8,00 RF TRANSCEIVER, SMD, WFN-48, 2420 MRF24J40-I/ML MICROCHIP TRANSCEPTOR, 1 3,00 ZIGBEEE, MIWI, QFN-40 XBEEPRO-SMA DIGI XBEE PRO ZB SMA MODULE 1 35,00 ZBEEZB-UFL DIGI XBEE ZB UFL MODULE + PIGTAIL 1 23,00 8
Challenges and strategies to develop cost-effective devices Transceivers are cheaper, but are more difficult to integrate in the PCB and the implementation of the protocols in the processor board may consume a lot of resources. For the case of the microcontrolers, the situation is similar. There eare solutions o s based on Arduino fully integrated, with headers and ready to use at a very low price (30 EUR) Implementing the electronics for the signal adaptation and/or integrating actuators is not simple and increase a lot the price Description Units Price ( ) (Taxes not included) ARDUINO UNO REV.3 1 20,00 ARDUINO MEGA 2560 1 39,00 REV3 REV.3 ARDUINO FIO 1 18,50 ATMEL ATMEGA328P 1 2.60 ATMEL ATMEGA32U4 1 5,34 9
Challenges and strategies to develop cost-effective devices Taking into account these considerations, we have carried out a cost study, taking into account the most relevant factors and the medium prices of components and manufacturing costs. 120,00 100,00 Cost per node 100,00 120,00 80,0000 80,0000 100,00 60,00 40,00 20,00 0,00 100 200 300 400 500 700 Nodes manufactured 4.000,00 2.000,00 1000 Design cost 60,00 80,00 40,00 60,00 20,00 40,00 0,00 20,00 10
Challenges and strategies to develop cost-effective devices The most cost relevant factors are: Number of nodes to be manufactured Cost per node Design costs (if any) Manufacturing cost (if any) For commercial solutions the cost per node is almost lineal, with slight changes, as the cost of the devices may change depending on the amount, as suppliers may give a discount when buying large amounts. However, when manufacturing your own device the situation is different as there are more variables involved. A modular approach may allow to reduce price in the final nodes For instance, in a single node different actuator and sensor boards may share the most expensive components (wireless interface and microcontroller) 11
SEEDS Hardware/Software Platform Low cost, based on standards and looking for ease adaptation of sensors and actuators Including the adaptation electronics for all the sensors and actuators needed for the demonstrators The final nodes should also implement local control algorithms Developed in two steps: First step: prototype base on commercial components (Arduino mega). The prototype was developed to test the different sensors and actuators and as development platform for the communication middleware These prototypes were also used to get initial i i ldata from the building demonstrator monitoring that were needed for the development of the self learning algorithms 12
Hardware Platform Three different types of node: Room nodes. Designed to gather data from in door building facilities (offices, classrooms, auditoriums,...). The variables to be measured are Temperature [º C] and Relative Humidity [%] Air Quality, in terms of CO2 concentration [ppm]. Lighting [lux]. Air Damper status [%] Presence. Radiator electric current consumption [ma] Light ON/OFF status. Air Handling Unit nodes (AHU). Designed to monitor the operational conditions of the different AHU installed in the demonstrator buildings. Temperature [º C] and Relative Humidity [%] Air Quality, in terms of CO2 concentration [ppm]. Outdoor nodes. Designed to gather data from out door building facilities. The variables to be measured are: Temperature [º C] and Relative Humidity [%] Air Quality, in terms of CO 2 concentration [ppm] Solar radiation Wind speed and direction 13
Hardware Platform In door Prototype Out door Prototype Final CPU board Final Actuation board 14
Hardware Platform 15
Hardware Platform The final board can include their own sensors (for places where there not currently exist) and provide sockets for the connection of all the different types of sensors found in the demonstrators The boards are still compatible with the Arduino open architecture. 90,00 80,0000 70,00 60,00 50,00 40,0000 30,00 20,00 10,00 0,00 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Costs of first SEEDS prototype Costs of integrated PCB 16
Communication Infrastructure The SEEDS communication infrastructure is a mesh network compliant with the IEEE 802.15. 4 standard. Gateways are implemented with a low cost standard raspberry pi,with the same wireless interface that the nodes (total cost 77EUR). 17
Support Tools WISAN networks need configuration and maintenance tools that are different from the ones used in wired networks These tools make the installation and maintenance of the WISAN much more easier and allow to take full advantage of the approach SEEDS includes two different tools for helping in these tasks: Network Maintenance Tool. Designed to help the user to install, configure and maintain the WISAN. The main features are: Navigation through the connected devices Reading the status of the different nodes Node configuration (sensors, actuators, ) Network monitoring and configuration (secdurity, reliability, ) Network Design and Deployment Tool. The tool has been designed to help the user to determine the number and position of the network elements based on the building information. 18
Network Maintenance Tool 19
Network Design and Deployment 20
Conclusions The system is now on the validation phase The nodes are still far from being a final product, but their cost is reasonable and the commissioning phase was easier than expected Some lesson learned: Too many different configurations. The building equipment is a mix of new and old equipment and we need to consider many different types of sensors and actuators Regulations and certification issues are important if the nodes are going to to be used in non researh oriented public places Support tools are as important as the nodes themselves There is a need for standards, d not only in communications, i but also for many other aspects in Building Automation Systems Certification processes should be easy, fast and with low costs. In other case it could heavily influence the costs and put out of the market SMEs 21
Q&A Thank you for your attention! For additional information, please contact: E mail: mdr@softcrits.es / fdiaz@softcrits.es Web: www.softcrits.es SEEDS. First Project Review Meeting 22