Implementation of a user interface model for systems control in buildings

Abstract

Occupant control actions in a building (i.e. user interactions with environmental systems for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, etc.) can significantly affect both indoor climate in and the environmental performance of buildings. Nonetheless, relatively few systematic (long-term and high-resolution) efforts have been made to observe and analyze the means and patterns of such user-system interactions with building systems. Specifically, the necessary requirements for the design and testing of hardware and software systems for user-system interfaces have not been formulated in a rigorous and reliable manner. This paper includes the prototyping of a new generation of user interface model for building systems in sentient buildings. The outcome of these efforts, when realized as a web-based user interface, would allow the occupants to achieve desirable indoor climate conditions with higher levels of connectivity between occupants and sentient environments. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.