Investigators: Professor Dennis Shelden, Assistant Professor Pardis Pishdad-Bozorgi, Xinghua Gao, and Shu Tang.

This research is a systematic investigation of defining data interoperability requirements between smart building systems for the Internet of Things (IoT) and Building Information Modeling (BIM).

Researchers working in the IoT field are trying to extend the digital systems (the internet and the web) into the physical realm (the built environment, the transportation system, etc.) to enable a new class of applications and services. Even though the built environment is a crucial component of the IoT paradigm, it is frequently overlooked.

One major reason is that building systems lack inter-system connectivity or exposure to the larger networks of IoT devices. With the networks of sophisticated sensors and devices, building systems have the potential to serve as the infrastructure that provides essential data for IoT, smart buildings, and smart cities, and as the actuators that execute intelligent controls.

While many researchers are working on BIM [3] and building data interoperability in the architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) industry, most of the attention has been paid to BIM applications in design and construction and the development of intelligent building systems that serve individual buildings.

Furthermore, recent research, including studies by the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST), is looking to define the attributes and requirements of IoT-enabled Smart Cities.

This research aims to: 1) use the IoT-enabled Smart City framework to identify the characteristics of a smart building (also named “use case” herein), 2) identify building data required by a smart city, 3) determine the source of the building data (e.g. BIM data, IoT devices data), and 4) explore the interoperability requirements between the data housed in BIM and the data housed IoT-building systems.

This research will lay out a framework for developing a federated data hub consisting of both BIM data and IoT-building systems data, which will meet the building data requirements of an IoT-enabled Smart City.