3. Security and Reliability Concerns. Exposing building data and system controls via wireless networks poses obvious security concerns. Papay points out hardwired solutions have a much higher degree of fidelity and less problems with interference—a pervasive problem with wireless technology in existing buildings.
But it’s important to note facility managers now have the choice of how much information is available via the web. “Reporting and alarm management—they don’t necessarily have to be on an exposed server. Now we’ve got more options for outputting display data and not necessarily controls if they don’t want it,” McCulley says. He also highly recommends customers utilize VPNs for automation solutions, even if the security policies are somewhat cumbersome, rather than just dumping automation data onto the web.
4. Costs. Papay suggests the perception of wireless technology in the market is that it’s still significantly limited from a cost-benefit analysis. “The technology has yet to get to a point where it is less costly to purchase the wireless [system] to avoid that initial installation cost along with ongoing maintenance and potential problems with a wireless solution so that it’s feasible,” he says. Not everyone agrees on this point, however.
According to Oswald, from a cost standpoint, wireless products have come down in price and are more competitive than ever. He also points out “instead of being limited to a complete retrofit or an overhaul that would cost 10 times what customers want to spend, some of these devices are more easily implemented. And being that they can now sit on an existing infrastructure, it will reduce some of the install costs.”
5. Limited Graphics. With BAS, graphic user interfaces typically feature a schematic for an air handler, a chilled-water plant or a heating plant, which are most often displayed on a large monitor in a building engineer’s office. Graphics get compromised and are far more difficult to view on mobile devices. “At one time, we were all excited about graphics on our phones, and then came to realize that doesn’t work very well on the BAS side of it,” McCulley says. “The graphics are cool but don’t always translate well. They translate well on an iPad, they don’t do too bad on a big iPhone 6 Plus, but there’s a limit to how much real estate you can put on a screen.”
6. Keeping Up-to-Date. “It’s challenging for an operations team to stay consistent with technology because it’s ever-changing,” Oswald says. “It’s not impossible but you have to adapt as this technology grows, and you’re talking about an industry where things wouldn’t change for 10 years at a time and now every six months something new is coming out.” He adds trying to adopt too much too quickly can create confusion for many building owners and, as a result, it can hinder the upgrade process.
Silver Linings
In spite of the many challenges to wireless technology and mobile applications that are emerging in the building-automation space, the trend still holds a great deal of promise in terms of helping owners and facility managers optimize building performance and energy efficiency.
“For what it’s trying to solve, wireless technology gives building owners more options,” Oswald explains. “The ability to pull up a VAV box or pull up an air-handling unit through a user interface that’s now HTML5 compatible and then you have full controllability of that piece of equipment, I think that is something that if I’m a building owner and I now have that ability to walk around with my tablet or my smartphone and make changes to devices, it not only facilitates my troubleshooting but it also helps in my overall efficiency of my daily tasks.”
Many manufacturers now offer integrated software and mobile apps (see “Trend Products”) that can be downloaded (some of them free of charge) and will tie-in seamlessly with existing building-control systems, as well, making the transition a much more attractive and cost-effective proposition.