Enabling Self-aware Smart Buildings by Augmented Reality

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel approach using augmented reality to enable buildings to self-construct physical models for more accurate and responsive HVAC control, improving building management through real-time simulation.

Contribution

It introduces a self-aware building concept utilizing augmented reality to capture physical structures and materials for real-time modeling and control, which is a new approach in smart building management.

Findings

Prototype demonstrates real-time building simulation capabilities.

Enhanced accuracy in HVAC control through self-constructed models.

Potential for improved energy efficiency and occupant comfort.

Abstract

Conventional HVAC control systems are usually incognizant of the physical structures and materials of buildings. These systems merely follow pre-set HVAC control logic based on abstract building thermal response models, which are rough approximations to true physical models, ignoring dynamic spatial variations in built environments. To enable more accurate and responsive HVAC control, this paper introduces the notion of "self-aware" smart buildings, such that buildings are able to explicitly construct physical models of themselves (e.g., incorporating building structures and materials, and thermal flow dynamics). The question is how to enable self-aware buildings that automatically acquire dynamic knowledge of themselves. This paper presents a novel approach using "augmented reality". The extensive user-environment interactions in augmented reality not only can provide intuitive user interfaces for building systems, but also can capture the physical structures and possibly materials of buildings accurately to enable real-time building simulation and control. This paper presents a building system prototype incorporating augmented reality, and discusses its applications.