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Intelligent BUILDINGS

Higher Standards for Building Optimization
and Performance

Bruce Sher

Selex ES

C ommercial buildings are undergoing a metamorphosis that will New York. Selex ES technologies have helped to define today’s standards
make them far safer and more efficient for future generations. in safety and efficiency for global communities and public environments.
Highly advanced technology, newly available, will operate The challenge, however, was how to take that technical intelligence and

buildings that host thousands of people on a daily basis. By learning the put it to work where people spend the majority of their time.

habits of their occupants, buildings “By learning the habits of their occupants, Rudin had an innovative idea: to
outfitted with a true operating buildings outfitted with a true operating make their commercial buildings
system will establish and maintain system will establish and maintain much smarter and equip customers with the
much higher standards of energy higher standards of energy optimization, necessary tools to help influence the
optimization, comfort and safety, comfort and safety, raising the bar across consumption of energy in a positive
raising the bar across the smart way. The goal? Rudin wanted its
buildings industry. These ‘vertical cities’ the smart buildings industry.” buildings to be more technologically
are integrated sites where people advanced and environmentally
work, live, and play, and their goal is sustainable…not a small task.

to meet the challenge of urban sustainability with new technology and Selex ES and Rudin Management knew it would be necessary to

optimized systems. address sustainability issues with a multidisciplinary approach, through

Rudin Management, a long-established, privately owned real estate across-the-board methods that combined technology, engineering,

company that owns 15 million square feet of commercial and residential physics, statistics, biology and social sciences. The confluence of

property in Manhattan, teamed up with Selex ES on the optimization of expertise between the two companies was further enhanced by the

energy consumption and management of 16 commercial buildings in participation of researchers from the Center for Computational Learning

Systems (CCLS) at Columbia University in New York. CCLS has extensive

longtime experience in applying artificial intelligence to energy and

environmental solutions through the development of algorithms and

methodologies for machine learning and forecasting. Rudin had already

been collaborating with Columbia and filed patent applications outlining

a new, more effective Building Operating Systems (BOS).

The new OS called Di-BOSS (Digital Building Operating System

Solution) is comprised of numerous innovations. First, the pooling of all

systems and sensors found in vertical cities makes it possible to ensure

that all complex systems managing specific functions speak the same

language. Distribution of electricity and heat, management of the

elevators, access control, fire control and the ICT backbone all become

part of a central nervous system controlled by the Di-BOSS ‘brain’. The

critical interconnections between the nervous system and the brain

were established by Columbia University via proprietary matrices and

algorithms capable of monitoring energy.

In terms of integration, Selex ES’s experience in the development and

implementation of solutions aiding civil protection and satellites control,

allowed them to effectively handle the integration of massive amounts

of data collected from the buildings. This information is expressed in real

time for those who are responsible for the buildings’ operations via Di-

BOSS’“cockpit style” user interface.

Another innovation is the system’s ability to ‘learn’ from the normal

behaviors of a commercial building with respect to acceptable energy

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