Smart Public Building

Head: Prof. Dr. Dieter Uckelmann

Key players in the smart home market have so far been unable to establish themselves either technologically or economically – the enforcement of individual technologies and providers is still uncertain.  At present, a commitment to a particular provider could turn out to be a bad investment in the short term.
For sustainable, energy-efficient and resource-conserving building use, novel concepts based on an open source platform (OpenHAB) are being developed, which, with increased use of sensors, actuators and information technology, ensure greater networking of smart buildings and Internet structures, involving users and interested user communities in all planning and development steps. The prototypical implementation within the university also serves as a show case to motivate other universities and public institutions to use and further develop the developed application scenarios themselves. This is the only way to ensure sustainable development and continuation beyond the end of the project despite the extremely dynamic development and technological diversity. The users and building operators and not the technology suppliers are the focus of attention.

The scientific questions to be answered in the course of the project are structured as follows:

• What special demands do smart public buildings make on the use of smart technologies? For this purpose, a classification (e.g. museums, schools, offices) of public buildings is first made and an application matrix is created, which will be expanded in the course of the project through user participation.
• Which technologies from the field of smart homes are suitable for smart public buildings? Der Grad der Eignung wird anhand einer Triple-Bottom-Line (ökologische, soziale und wirtschaftliche Aspekte) ermittelt.
• What special opportunities do public buildings offer in the use of smart technologies? This concerns on the one hand the integration and networking of further (partially) public infrastructures, such as e-charging stations, car and bike sharing and parking spaces. On the other hand, the role of public buildings as part of the participation and dissemination process of smart technologies is examined.
• What impact do smart technologies in public buildings have on data protection and how can privacy be proactively secured?