Wireless Smart Buildings: Interview with Bob Heile, ZigBee Alliance - Building Priorities Briefing
Denis Du Bois interviewed ZigBee Alliance Chairman Bob Heile at ConnectivityWeek 2008. ZigBee is an open protocol for wireless communications for building-automation sensors and controls. The Alliance is a group of vendors who align themselves with the ZigBee protocol. Heile led a track at ConnectivityWeek -- one session was on ZigBee in commercial buildings, and another was on the role of ZigBee in smart energy.
May 21, 2008
Podcast
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Music by Alexander Blu
"The MGM Grand property will end up with over 100,000 ZigBee radios...the take-away was, 'gosh, you can build some really big networks!'"
--Bob Heile, Chairman, ZigBee Alliance.
Program notes
If the systems in a building have enough information, and they can communicate with each other, the building's energy performance can improve dramatically. Getting more information often means installing more sensors; improving energy efficiency means automated controls. For existing buildings the barrier usually isn't the cost of the sensors and controls -- it's the cost of wiring them so they can communicate over a network.
Eliminating that wiring eliminates costs, and that's where wireless building networks come in. ZigBee Alliance Chairman Bob Heile explains what's so hot about wireless sensors and controls, what new capabilities they enable, and what nuggets of knowledge this year's ConnectivityWeek attendees took home from the wireless track.
Comments
Why would you not use WiFi for building controls? Specification is accepted widely. Only need to make sensors IP enabled.
Posted by: Mikal | August 20, 2008 06:56 PM