A Middleware Framework for Integrating Intelligent Building Systems Based on the Sub-system Peer Mode

This paper describes a middleware framework for integrating heterogeneous building sub-systems on the Internet. The middleware framework is based on the sub-system peer mode, that is all sub-systems are peers. In this model a middleware provides the standard industry interface OPC for all sub-systems, to accommodate different communication interfaces/protocols such as BACnet, LonTalk, API, DDE and RS485, thus these sub-systems supporting different interfaces/protocols can be easily integrated into the management platform. By filling the gap between control network and data communication network, we can realize IBMS integration and interoperation with enterprise applications on the Internet. The first version named I-Building2005 of the middleware platform has been developed and been applied in some practical projects. This paper discussed its framework and the key technology as well as primary tasks, which include the design of a multi-protocol interface, the structure design of an I/O point table, the remote workstation graphic display, the configurable tool based on the electronic map, the management of the real-time database and historical database. The I-Buiilding2005 platform is based on java component technology, so it is very flexible and easy to upgrade.