ASHRAE Journal - October 2024 - 32

TECHNICAL FEATURE
The Meta of Data in
Smart Buildings:
What's In It For You?
BY PIETER PAUWELS; JUAN DAVID BARBOSA RAMIREZ; LASITHA CHAMARI; EKATERINA PETROVA; LU WAN; GABE FIERRO, ASSOCIATE MEMBER ASHRAE; FRANCESCO GOIA
There is an increasing push to engineer and build smart control systems that better
fine-tune and manage the operation of a building based on users' needs. As these
control systems rely increasingly on data-driven methods, the term " data-driven
smart buildings " becomes more commonly adopted. Such data-driven smart
buildings nevertheless rely also on an appropriate description of the context of these
data: what is measured, for which rooms or zones, for what purpose? These data are
called metadata, and they are available in a number of forms in a building operating
system: the meta of data. What is the actual value of these metadata? How much effort
does it cost to include such data, and what is the added value? What's in it for you?
To achieve a smart control system for a smart building,
one does not only need telemetric data and sensor
readings, but also their metadata and context. This was
discussed in an article in the September 2024 issue of
ASHRAE Journal.1 Clearly, it is important to know and
understand what these data represent. In other words,
informed control systems require an indication of the
context of building controls and actuators as well as the
context of input data streams. It is important which
properties are observed and in which context (e.g.,
HVAC system, building structure, material use) to be
able to use them properly. This can be achieved through
the use of metadata, which can be described using
basic naming conventions, commonly used metadata
schemas or similar methods.1
Such metadata tracks what observations are made,
which units are used, what is being measured, where
data is stored and so forth. Using these metadata for
engineering a building control system is important to
make a system either more tailor-made (e.g., tuned
to personal comfort) or more generic (e.g., overall
indoor air quality). Good use of such data and their
metadata has a considerable impact on the efficiency
and effectiveness of control systems during design,
engineering and implementation of these systems.
The configuration of a smart data-driven control
Pieter Pauwels is an associate professor, Lasitha Chamari is a Ph.D. researcher and Ekaterina Petrova is an assistant professor at Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands.
Juan David Barbosa Ramírez works for Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA). Lu Wan is a Ph.D. researcher at Bosch Engineering and Eindhoven University of Technology,
Germany. Gabe Fierro is an assistant professor, Colorado School of Mines. Francesco Goia is a professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway.
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ASHRAE Journal - October 2024

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