Collaborative building control: a conceptual mixed-initiative framework

ABSTRACT

In the last two decades, automation systems have shown advanced developments and are widely adopted for various purposes in many fields. However, automation in buildings has not gained popularity and has a low acceptance level amongst the occupants. Decreased perceived control, ever-changing dynamic human needs, and standardized, one-size-fits-all approach in current automation systems lead to disharmony in human-machine coexistence. Although well-established continuous interaction between building control systems and occupants is acknowledged as one of the core elements of intelligent buildings, defined borderlines of the prevailing automation modalities fail to satisfy this primary feature. This research proposes a conceptual mixed-initiative building control framework enhancing collaboration and communication between building occupants and the automation. Through benefiting from both the control capacity of computer-powered methods and flexibility granted by incorporating occupants in the loop, demonstrated framework components may enact concurrent assessment of occupant comfort and energy efficiency while making automated applications more favorable for building inhabitants.

KEYWORDS:

• Building automation
• building control
• mixed-initiative
• human building interaction
• intelligent buildings

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fatih Topak

Fatih Topak is currently a PhD Candidate and working as a research/teaching assistant in the Department of Architecture at Middle East Technical University. His research interests include occupant-centric building control, intelligent buildings, building automation, energy efficiency, and human comfort in the built environment.

Mehmet Koray Pekeriçli

Dr. Mehmet Koray Pekeriçli completed his undergraduate degree at METU Architecture Department in 2000. Later, he went on a joint scholarship between TEV and the British Government and received his master's degree in Construction Management from Reading University in 2002. He pursued his doctoral studies in the field of Civil Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in the USA, where he went with a joint scholarship of NSF and YÖK in 2003. He received his PhD in 2011 from Reading University in England, where he returned in 2006 to work on an EPSRC-funded project. Since then, he has been working as a lecturer at METU Department of Architecture. His research interests include building information modeling, construction management, construction informatics, innovative solutions, and sustainability.