Smart buildings have been getting a lot of buzz this year. Technologies are constantly improving and evolving, and experts are having a lot of fun predicting what’s next for smart building and building automation technologies. Here are the top three predictions we’ve seen so far:

All About the Cloud

The future of smart buildings will rely much more heavily on Cloud computing. The Cloud has already been implemented into our daily lives in many ways. Many of use it for data storage and sharing on a daily basis. Large businesses are beginning to use the Cloud for their applications and seeing the benefits it has in giving them more flexibility for the expansion of infrastructure. Cloud computing is a natural partner for smart building systems and programming. It is easy to see how Cloud will be able to host and run building automation applications and store data. As technologies continue to expand and become more complex, the Cloud will be an essential tool to accommodate for systems with more data and more complex algorithms.

Fewer Controls

Currently, building automation systems tend to rely heavily on controls to tell them what to do and when. However, eventually these controls will no longer be necessary. Instead, intelligent building systems will be integrated completely with mobile devices to automate complex and individualized sequences. What would this look like? Imagine arriving and work and parking your car. Your mobile device would then trigger your personalized work sequence. That could include automatically doing a data transfer from home devices to those at the office, adjusting heating and cooling systems to your profile’s preference, and alerting the security system that you are entering the building. These sequences will create a whole new experience of walking into a building and enabling the building to know who you are and how to respond.

Bluetooth Locators

Bluetooth beacons will potentially be an integral part of future smart building systems. One of the key aspects of building automation is managing building occupancy. Systems need to use building occupancy data in order to effectively regulate security, heating and cooling systems, and lighting. However, currently there are not many buildings that have yet implemented the necessary data to automatically know how many people are in the building and where they are. Bluetooth beacons may be the solution. Most smartphones already have Bluetooth capabilities, making it fairly easy to implement the necessary technology. Bluetooth beaconing has the ability to generate data on a building’s occupants, including how many people there are, where they are located within the building, and when and where they enter and exit the building. This data will enable automation systems to optimize building operations in order to more effectively manage energy consumption and increase security.

Smart Buildings for the Future

ACS is a leading expert in implementing smart building and building automation technologyinto buildings. Call us today in the Kansas City area at (913) 248-8828.