What is Building Automation Systems (BAS) Integration?
Building Automation System (BAS) integration is the process of connecting multiple-vendor products from one or more building subsystems, such as HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), lighting, access control, fire alarms, cloud-connected devices and energy management, into a single, unified network.
How BAS Integration Works
Because different building systems are often manufactured by different companies, they typically speak different digital languages. BAS integration relies on translators to get them to communicate. Here is how the process generally works:
- Communication protocols: Integrators use open, industry-standard communication protocols, such as BACnet, Modbus, or LonWorks, to establish a common language. Emerging technologies, such as MQTT and APIs, are also used.
- Gateways and middleware: Hardware devices (gateways) or software layers (middleware and APIs) are installed to translate the proprietary data from legacy systems into the standard open protocol.
- Centralized platform: All the data is funneled into a central supervisory software platform. This gives facility managers a single dashboard to monitor, control, and analyze the entire building's operations. Instead of operating in silos, these interconnected systems can communicate, share data, and work cooperatively through a centralized command center or dashboard.
To discover how BAS integration can help your organization achieve efficiency goals, contact your local Trane representative today.