BMS Zone Communication Channels for Direct IoT Device Collaboration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current building management systems (BMS) face challenges in direct communication between IoT devices, leading to complex deployment issues and limited collaboration, as they often require data to pass through a centralized server, hindering efficient data management and optimization.
Innovation Solution
An agent-based communication system is implemented, where agents are generated for each device to manage communication channels dynamically, allowing devices to publish and subscribe to messages based on a building zone hierarchy, enabling direct communication and optimizing data distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a centralized server architecture is used for BMS communication, then data management and device control can be achieved, but communication efficiency decreases and deployment complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized server architecture into distributed edge computing nodes deployed at different levels (building, campus, enterprise). Each edge node handles local communication and data processing independently, eliminating the single-point bottleneck of centralized servers while maintaining manageable system complexity through modular deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a hierarchical dimension to the communication architecture, organizing edge nodes across multiple levels (building-level, campus-level, enterprise-level). This multi-dimensional structure allows data to be processed and routed at appropriate levels, improving communication efficiency by localizing data handling while reducing overall deployment complexity through structured hierarchy.
2Loss of information
If IoT devices communicate through a centralized server, then device collaboration can be achieved, but data search complexity and processor cycles increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by enabling each edge node to autonomously manage and process data locally without requiring centralized server intervention. Devices communicate directly through local edge nodes, reducing data search complexity by limiting search scope to relevant local data sources and minimizing processor cycles by avoiding redundant centralized data retrieval and processing.
3Productivity
If direct communication between IoT devices is enabled, then collaboration efficiency improves, but system scalability and deployment flexibility may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates universal edge computing nodes that can function at multiple levels (building, campus, enterprise) and support various communication patterns. These multi-functional nodes enable direct device collaboration while maintaining deployment flexibility, as the same edge node architecture can be deployed in different configurations depending on system requirements, whether that's centralized-like or fully distributed.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for managing communication between building management system (BMS) devices includes a memory and a controller. The memory includes instructions stored thereon. The controller is configured to execute the instructions to implement an agent manager, a zone manager, and a channel manager. The agent manager is configured to generate an agent for each of the BMS devices. The zone manager is configured to define at least one zone relating to a physical location zone or a building control zone. The channel manager is configured to generate a communication channel associated with the at least one zone. The channel manager is further configured to manage registration of an agent to the communication channel, wherein an agent is configured to communicate over a communication channel in response to being registered to the communication channel.