User-oriented verification of automation stations

TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Building Services Engineering, 50674, Cologne, Germany

^* Corresponding author: ralf.ulmer@th-koeln.de

Abstract

Building automation systems are used to meet the increasing requirements for energy efficiency and sustainability of buildings. In such systems, BACnet has established itself as the standard communication protocol for communication between devices from different manufacturers. In order to ensure conformity with the BACnet standard, the devices are certified for conformity. In practice, however, the implementation depth described in the standard profiles is not sufficient for operating a system. As a result, many users demand an extended implementation depth of the BACnet protocol. In most cases, an AMEV certificate is sought, which extends the BACnet objects and their properties in comparison to the standard certification. Despite the BACnet standard certification and the fulfilment of the AMEV test certificate, problems often occur during the operation of building automation systems. These problems can be attributed to the fact that neither the functionality nor the performance of automation stations are determined. In addition, special user requirements are not checked before commissioning a building automation system. For this reason, a model was developed with the help of which a pre-commissioning of the automation station is possible in order to automatically check it for errors and special user requirements before commissioning. Initial tests of automation stations revealed that some user requirements were not met.