FMJ.CO.UK ATEA STAVANGER CASE STUDY
NOVEMBER 2019 25
a meaningful step forward over earlier
generations of smart buildings, such as
The Edge in Amsterdam. The converged IP
network powers and integrates all of the
building’s di erent systems, from scheduling
systems and meeting room video cameras to
wi-fi and lighting.
Employing a single network consumes
less energy than running multiple separate
systems. It also o ers advantages for data
collection. “It’s easy to pull out the sensor
data from one network instead of having
lots of di erent systems talking di erent
languages,” Riska explains.
The Atea Stavanger building uses an
Interact connected lighting system from
Signify not only to illuminate the working
environment, but also to collect data
on the building’s workspaces and the
activities taking place within them.
The building currently contains
around 700 luminaires equipped
with multisensors for measuring
environmental factors such as
presence, temperature, daylight
levels and humidity. The connected
luminaires and their multisensors can
be powered using power over Ethernet
(PoE). This means that these luminaires
can be powered and controlled without the
need for electrical wiring.
“You will always need light, so why
not utilise the ceiling and put in sensors
connected to the same infrastructure?”,
Senior Network Engineer and System
Architect Pål Bjelland asks. This is a new
approach to creating the smart o ice.
“Altogether, this will give more accurate
information than traditional workspace
design and will support better decisionmaking.”
With sensors collecting information from
the lit environment on everything
from temperature
to humidity to
occupancy and
more, the
building
generates a large amount of data. The
building systems themselves also
generate data on status and
operations. In fact, there’s so
much data that it’s also crucial
for facilities managers and
technicians to work out what
kinds of data to collect, how
o en to collect it, how to
store and remove it, and
how to analyse and use it for
forecasting and reporting.
Only then does this data
become valuable, with facilities managers
able to use and take action on it. This insight
is crucial for them to know where they need
to focus their future e orts on improving
building operations.
Cloud storage is also a crucial
consideration. Atea is collecting much
more data from the building than it
initially anticipated, and the data capacity
required can o en fluctuate significantly,
depending on the types of data that
need to be recorded and analysed.
The cloud allows facilities managers
to expand or reduce their data storing
capacity to fit their needs. “That’s why we
use our cloud service providers,” says Riska,
“to have a kind of expanded possibility.”
Bjelland agrees. “By using this kind of
technology, we get better utilisation of all
the areas and facilities in the building. We
work more e iciently and get more satisfied
employees.”
DIGITAL TWIN
Atea’s facilities managers need to be able
to act on the insight from many di erent
systems and sensors across the new
smart o ice, so technicians turned to a
revolutionary new approach: building a
digital twin.
A digital twin is a three-dimensional model
of a space that you can move through in
the same way that you can move through a
virtual world in a first-person video game.
In fact, engineers at Atea Stavanger created
its digital twin by putting the architect’s 3D
building information model into a gaming
engine.
“This pairing of the virtual and physical
worlds allows analysis of data and
monitoring of systems to head o problems
before they even occur,” explains Bjelland.
“You can prevent downtime, and you can
develop new opportunities or even plan for
the future by using simulations.”
Sensors in the building feed data into the
digital twin. Real-time data from Cisco DNA
Spaces displays people counts in meeting
rooms and common spaces. Real-time
sensor data from Signify multisensors
appears in the digital twin as temperature
and humidity measurements, while real-time
data from the building management system
Atea’s FMs need to be able
to act on the insight from many
diff erent systems and sensors
across the new smart offi ce, so
technicians turned to a
revolutionary new approach:
building a digital twin.”