Service Portability and Information Discovery in Building Operating Systems using Semantic Modeling

A semantic information-discovery mechanism for Building Operating Systems that integrates with existing ontologies such as Brick. Applications query for what they need (e.g. an occupancy estimate for a specific room) rather than calling specific endpoints, so services can be merged, split, or arbitrated without code changes in dependent applications. Demonstrated by porting nine services across three real building models – a collaboration with Gabe Fierro (UC Berkeley).

research
building operating systems
ontology
service discovery
semantic modeling
11th International Conference on the Internet of Things (IoT 2021), pp. 110–117. ACM.
Authors

Jakob Hviid

Aslak Johansen

Gabe Fierro

Mikkel Baun Kjærgaard

Published

March 8, 2022

Publication

Abstract

To achieve cost-efficient IoT-based Building Operating Systems (BOS), portable building services are needed. Most previous work has gone into hardware abstraction, while service abstraction has been neglected. This paper presents an information discovery mechanism for BOSes built on an ontology which integrates with other semantic models used in the space.

The built environment is characterised by extreme heterogeneity; no buildings are entirely alike. Equipment is replaced or updated, control systems and building functionality evolve, as applications, models, forecasters, and controllers improve. For services deployed in such settings to operate at scale, they must be robust to change. Describing service interfaces using a semantic model, together with the physical context in a building, enables applications to query for their service dependencies. Applications then depend on an abstract query, instead of specific services.

For evaluation, nine services running on models of the service ecosystems of three concrete buildings are implemented, demonstrated, and discussed. Results show services have successfully been made portable and adapt to the changing environments of buildings. Merging and splitting services without code changes to depending services also work as intended, as well as increasing system resilience by arbitrating similar services.

Why this matters

Where the Service Abstraction Layer (SAL) introduced the concept of decoupling applications from specific service implementations, this paper takes the next step: services don’t just have to be abstracted, they have to be discoverable across heterogeneous buildings. The ontology integrates with Brick (which describes the building) so applications can phrase queries like “find me a service that delivers occupancy estimates for this room” – with no prior knowledge of the building’s specifics.

This was a collaboration with Gabe Fierro (UC Berkeley), building on Jakob’s research stay at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2018.

Citation

Hviid, J., Johansen, A., Fierro, G., & Kjærgaard, M. B. (2022). Service Portability and Information Discovery in Building Operating Systems using Semantic Modeling. In 11th International Conference on the Internet of Things (IoT ’21), pp. 110–117. ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3494322.3494337