A Distributed Automation Architecture Enabling Simulation-in-the-Loop of Energy-Efficient Buildings

This paper presents a novel framework for designing and simulating the decentralized control of Building Management Systems (BMSs) based on the concept of virtual smart meters. The proposed approach uses simulation in real-time to allow building managers and users to have a thorough perception of the power consumption, which establishes the basis of Demand Side Management for energy-efficient buildings. It will be demonstrated that predefined power usage scenarios can be simulated in the closed-loop model and the results can be intuitively analyzed. More importantly, the decentralized control logics of the BMS subsystems can be developed independently from the deployment configurations.