Intelligent Buildings

The use and development of integrated sensor based systems in building design could turn the concept of an intelligent building from dream to reality over the next few years. To the user, an intelligent building offers economic and efficient environmental systems - heating, lighting and air conditioning; increased safety - with fire and security monitoring; improved business potential - with integrated data communication systems. To the manufacturer, intelligent buildings offer a lucrative market, particularly if they are able to exploit both the commercial and consumer markets. This book provides architects, building developers, system suppliers, engineers and academic researchers with a state of the art overview of the intelligent building market. The book brings together previously published papers as well as important new material and examines the economics of sensor based systems; it explores the latest technological development and discusses the problems and the pitfalls. Considerable emphasis has been placed on practical case study material, covering a broad range of end users.