Author: Andrey Volkov, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Information Systems, Technologies and Automation in Construction (ISTAS) of MGSU.
This article is essentially a presentation of the fundamentals of the innovative approach of Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (MGSU) to the projection of the experience and results of many years of work of scientists and researchers in various areas of theoretical and applied science onto one of the most important areas of human life and activity — construction, the period of its emergence coincides with the beginning of meaningful human existence.
It is since then that man-builder has been solving the problem of creating a strong and reliable house in which he would feel safe and comfortable. After thousands of years, he faces the same task. But what has changed? What makes us today look for fundamentally new forms and methods of solving it, which, I note, is not at all so simple?
There are many reasons. The main ones are rooted in the constant natural and artificial correction of the meaning of the concepts of «safety» and «comfort». The nature and diversity of forms of natural and man-made disasters do not allow builders to put an end to any of the most modern projects either today or in the estimated future. Moreover, if in the cave it was appropriate to talk only about protection from wild animals and bad weather, today, sadly, a person has to think about protection from a person. In this case, the most modern technologies of creation and destruction are on both sides of the «barricades». Any achievements of scientists are instantly divided into two «sides of the coin».
In the context of what has been said, the change in human perceptions of comfort over the past millennia does not seem to be such a large-scale problem. However, in recent years, specialists have found it difficult to find a compromise on this issue. The economic component, which plays an important role, increasingly forces modern builders to «jump above their own heads.» Unfortunately, there are many examples where such a «jump» cost a person too much…
Despite such a pessimistic picture, there is no need to despair, of course. Today, several serious modern scientific schools are being formed, exist and develop, offering complex and subject-oriented solutions to various aspects of the outlined problems. I am proud to note that the main ones were created and are being developed at MGSU.
It is appropriate to begin the analysis of the problems of constructing general theories of building and structure management with an analysis of the meaning and content of the concept of an “intelligent building” (IB), which arose as a result of the practice of using new engineering solutions in modern construction.
Today, despite the fact that the concept of an “intelligent building” is quite often used by scientists and specialists representing various areas of construction design, production and management, it is impossible to formulate any universal definition of this term that would satisfy the diversity of existing contexts.
In addition to the above, we are talking about such concepts used in modern construction and architecture as “sustainable building”, “energy-efficient building”, “bioclimatic architecture”, “healthy building”, etc. It is possible to speak with some bewilderment about the fact that today a building or structure “becomes” “intelligent” at the will of its creators, who considered it possible to classify one or several engineering systems as a fashionable trend, allowing the object to be positioned on the market at a qualitatively new level and justify unjustified costs.
There is probably nothing wrong with this, but with the only caveat that in many cases we are talking about a certain aura of an “intelligent house”, which accompanies certain engineering and technical solutions, the originality and quality of which vary within very wide limits.
In any case, they can be classified into one or more of the following well-known categories:
– automation of systems and processes;
– security;
– information and communications;
– optimization of resource use;
– functional/technical compliance and flexibility;
– ecology;
– ergonomics and comfort.
Despite the terminological uncertainty, the relevance of scientific and practical research in each of these areas is beyond doubt. Moreover, in many countries, such tasks are given the status of state priorities and are solved within the framework of federal government programs at all levels.
Without in any way diminishing the merits of modern engineering solutions within the designated area, let us try to look at the problem somewhat more broadly.
The currently prevailing paradigm of the «intelligent building» and related areas can be formulated on the basis of the concept of the so-called building management system (Building Management Systems — BMS), the main task of which is to automate the processes of assessing situations that arise during the operation of a building and responding to them in a certain way.
The main problem that any specialist faces when assessing such solutions from the standpoint of analyzing the fundamentals of the methodology for constructing original systems is that they are generally of an extremely narrow, subject-oriented nature, which limits the capabilities of the project's systems engineering to the engineering level.
Methodological gap in the existing paradigm of the «Intelligent building»
The “integrated solutions” and “system integration” of BMS offered by some, mainly foreign manufacturers, do not qualitatively change the current situation, since they are nothing more than so-called automated control systems (ACS) of different levels and directions, compatible in one or several key parameters, with extensive means of information support for operational interfaces.
It can be reasonably stated that today the practice of creating building management systems is significantly ahead of the theory. The objective reason for this is the relevance of the issue under consideration, first of all, from a practical standpoint, which determines the willingness of the customer (investor) to incur additional costs, the payback of which is no longer in doubt these days. The result of such projects is often far from being ideal, or even from any acceptable level in the estimated perspective. From the point of view of real BMS design, this leads to the fact that the engineer increasingly faces issues that are fundamentally unsolvable at his level.
There is a serious methodological problem due to the lack of foundations of applied science — the theory of design and construction of systems in the described context (figure).
The saddest thing is that the invaluable experience accumulated by several generations of scientists and researchers in many areas of modern natural science over the past centuries is being used to solve this problem in a far from proper way.
Today, entire areas of fundamental scientific knowledge have been formed or are being formed that are capable of qualitatively changing the paradigm of engineering practice by means of developing the relevant applied sciences. It is safe to say that the construction of buildings and structures is one of the most promising industries in this regard.
Thus, the efforts of contemporaries should be aimed primarily at eliminating the contradictions that characterize the situation when many practical solutions are in dire need of theoretical justification, and the declared achievements of fundamental science are unable to enter our lives without any real opportunity for industry testing.
The paradigm of abstract cybernetics, declaring the general principles and methods of studying systems of qualitatively different nature (biological, technical, social, etc.), formed by the beginning of the second half of the 20th century, the high level of development of information and telecommunication technologies in technical systems, fundamental and applied research of leading scientific schools, reflecting various areas of modern knowledge in the context of the principles of the theory of functional systems, can and should become today the methodological basis of a qualitatively new approach to the generation and evaluation of engineering solutions in construction — one of the most popular, dynamically developing and promising branches of industrial production, largely determining the level of scientific and technical progress in general. The objective necessity of such an approach is dictated by a number of technogenic and social factors, the relevance of the closest attention to which is confirmed by the disappointing statistics of its own errors for humanity.
It is obvious that the use of the latest achievements of science and technology, along with tangible benefits, conceals a potential danger, sometimes so significant that the scale of possible disasters cannot be assessed.
On the other hand, stopping the development of scientific and technological progress today is not only impossible, but also dangerous due to an equally weighty set of objective reasons. All we can do is skillfully maneuver in the area of reasonable compromises of our own achievements with nature and the surrounding world.
Norbert Wiener, professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, noted that «… nature, in the broad sense of the word, can and should serve not only as a source of problems solved in my research, but also as a suggestion for an apparatus suitable for solving them…». It is this thesis of the creator of the foundations of cybernetics that underlies the concept of engineering functional systems for managing buildings and structures at the homeostatic level, which involves using the principles of functioning of living organisms to solve problems of managing complex technical systems.
The possibility, as well as the success of solving problems in such a formulation, directly depend on how well a modern researcher is able to perceive and use the experience and knowledge accumulated to date by the science of human nature and technology, as products of his intellect.
Today, the foundations of applied science have been created that make it possible to design the most modern technologies of an «intelligent building» at a qualitatively new level of practice in implementing such systems.
The next stage of development of the proposed paradigm is the “smart city”, the theory of creation of which today forms the basis of innovative development of MGSU in scientific, applied and educational aspects, allowing domestic construction science not only to keep up with world achievements in this area, but also in some matters to share experience with foreign colleagues.
The declared results of scientific, innovative and educational activities are confirmed by dozens of dissertations defended in recent years, hundreds of scientific publications and educational and methodological developments of our teachers of the highest level.
An important feature of the paradigm of design, construction and operation of «intelligent buildings» and «smart cities» proposed at MGSU is the possibility of involving in its development scientists and specialists with relevant practical experience and knowledge in specific applied areas from any scientific, educational, industrial, design and other organizations both at the level of theory and at the level of practice of the proposed solutions.
Close cooperation of our university with the Association for Building Automation and Engineering Equipment Control Systems BIG-RU in the stated context, which has been actively developing recently, can and should become the basis for the creation of an innovative scientific and educational center that involves and generalizes domestic and foreign experience in the theory and practice of implementing solutions from the field of «intelligent buildings» and «smart cities» in the process of creating and transferring industrial technologies for the design, construction and operation of modern buildings and structures at a qualitatively new level of safe, energy-efficient, environmentally friendly and comfortable objects — representatives of the most complex triad «man — technology — habitat».
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AZ Bulletin No. 6 2007
AZ Bulletin No. 7 2007
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