Research Article
An Occupancy Based Cyber-Physical System Design for
Intelligent Building Automation
Kottarathil Eashy Mary Reena,
1
Abraham Theckethil Mathew,
1
and Lillykutty Jacob
2
1
Department of EE, National Institute of Technology, Calicut, India
2
Department of ECE, National Institute of Technology, Calicut, India
Correspondence should be addressed to Kottarathil Eashy Mary Reena; maryreenake@gmail.com
Received 3 April 2015; Revised 31 July 2015; Accepted 9 August 2015
Academic Editor: Yong Lei
Copyright © 2015 Kottarathil Eashy Mary Reena et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Cyber-physical system (CPS) includes the class of Intelligent Building Automation System (IBAS) which increasingly utilizes
advanced technologies for long term stability, economy, longevity, and user comfort. However, there are diverse issues associated
with wireless interconnection of the sensors, controllers, and power consuming physical end devices. In this paper, a novel
architecture of CPS for wireless networked IBAS with priority-based access mechanism is proposed for zones in a large building
with dynamically varying occupancy. Priority status of zones based on occupancy is determined using fuzzy inference engine.
Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) is used to solve the optimization problem involving conficting demands
of minimizing total energy consumption and maximizing occupant comfort levels in building. An algorithm is proposed for power
scheduling in sensor nodes to reduce their energy consumption. Wi-Fi with Elimination-Yield Nonpreemptive Multiple Access
(EY-NPMA) scheme is used for assigning priority among nodes for wireless channel access. Controller design techniques are also
proposed for ensuring the stability of the closed loop control of IBAS in the presence of packet dropouts due to unreliable network
links.
1. Introduction
Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are the system level integra-
tions of the computation, networking, and physical dynamics,
in which embedded devices such as sensors and actuators
are (wirelessly) networked to sense, monitor, and con-
trol the physical world [1]. CPSs are expected to have a
tremendous impact on many critical sectors (such as energy,
manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, and aerospace)
of the economy and they transform the way human-to-
human, human-to-object, and object-to-object interactions
take place in the physical and virtual worlds [2]. Complex
cyber-physical systems are compositions of heterogeneous
components; they ofen include thermal, electromechanical,
chemical, computing, and communication elements with
an underlying data network thread for communication and
control. Te dynamics of all the networked elements, both
cyber and physical, are critical to the performance of the
overall system [3]. In energy conservation application of CPS
in large scale and comfort critical systems, like Intelligent
Building Automation System (IBAS), various physical sys-
tems comprise HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air condi-
tioning), lighting, elevators, and other electrical subsystems
on each foor, which are networked and controlled to achieve
the set goal of energy efciency, user comfort, and economic
operation [4].
Further, the skyrocketing energy costs and the widely
accepted concept of green buildings are driving the adop-
tion of Networked Control Systems (NCSs) for building
automation so as to use the best technology for the pur-
poses mentioned above [5, 6]. NCSs combine low cost and
low power devices with embedded processors networked
in order to provide intelligent and efcient sensing and
actuation over a geographic area [7]. Energy efciency and
occupant comfort are two major issues in building control
system design as discussed above, and research eforts are
needed to develop appropriate communication and control
strategies for minimizing the total energy consumed without
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Mathematical Problems in Engineering
Volume 2015, Article ID 132182, 15 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/132182