Modern buildings use a variety of devices, sensors and actuators to manage daily building activity data in order to improve energy efficiency and user comfort. Smart buildings connect disparate systems together using Internet of Things technology, enabling administrators to access, control and monitor these connected systems in the building in a centralized manner. Corresponding systems for human building interactions are in high demand to stay up to the increasing standards of building users.
The thesis works on designing and developing a software control application for personalizing the office building indoor environment that integrates with different kinds of HVAC (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning) devices. The pilot environment is built in TUAS building, Aalto campus. Indoor environment control equipment and building automation systems are integrated with the environment. Moreover, various sensors are utilized to collect data about various environmental measurements. Data between building systems and information technology systems is shared with open communication interfaces.
The main outcome of this thesis includes a software system architecture for office building indoor environment control that follows the Microservice architecture, and a demo application which implements core features of the designs based on the pilot environment. The application implemented basically consists of cloud Microservices as back-end and mobile clients as user interfaces. Testing results shows the application finally improves interaction between users and buildings and strengthens the user’s ability to control the office building indoor environment.
