The following solutions for Smart Buildings were developed by C-DAC

1. Lighting

C-DAC has designed, developed and deployed Zigbee controlled dimmable LED (ZLED) luminaire to provide energy efficient illumination in buildings. Different levels of dimming (5% to 100%) are provided for optimum illumination in work place. ZLED luminaire can be automatically controlled for optimum illumination based on human occupancy by using an Android application. A deployment with cluster tree topology which is controlled wirelessly through Zigbee network having human occupancy prediction using Hidden Markov Model (HMM) has energy savings up to 60%.

2. HVAC and Automation

Smart homes are designed to have a HVAC system (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) to maximize the comfort of the residents with minimal energy consumption. C-DAC has developed a prototype to control the Air Conditioner (AC) in a room. The sensing, controlling and actuation is done using Zigbee based wireless sensor networks. Occupancy plays a major role in determining the efficiency of the system. Occupancy detection modules based on both motion and carbon di-oxide sensors were developed to enhance the accuracy of HVAC control.

3. Sensor Embedded Zigbee Modules for Temperature and 3D Accelerometer

This is a miniaturized coin cell operated wireless sensor node with onboard sensors like accelerometer, temperature and relative humidity. The RF interface is compliant to the IEEE 802.15.4/ Zigbee standards. This device is suitable for various dedicated applications like data centre monitoring, AC control, gesture reorganization, activity monitoring, etc. The droplet shape of this device is attractive and suitable for deployment at various places.

4. Indoor Air Quality Monitoring System

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially relating to the parameters that affect the health and comfort of building occupants. C-DAC has developed a toolkit to monitor real time measurement of temperature, humidity, CO and CO2 using WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) motes and particulate matters using aerosol monitor. IAQ has been formed as per Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards from these measurements. These data are useful for HVAC control system.

5. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Mote

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a new specification aimed at ultra low power wireless applications with an option to interact with the existing mobile devices. A BLE mote has been developed by C-DAC to address the unique requirements of application areas like health monitoring, home automation, smart home, smart city, etc.

C-DAC has also designed the power-aware C-mote which monitors the available power sources and selects the optimum one. Along with various power saving mechanisms, the device is also capable of harvesting energy from solar, due to which it can sustain for a longer time.