Technical Details

Unobtrusive yet effective architecture

The Infometrics system links into a facility’s mechanical equipment (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, etc.) through the building’s automation system and utility meters using the firewall-friendly Infometrics Cache device, acquiring a secure and ongoing flow of operational data.

Here is an overview of how Infometrics works.

The value that Infometrics delivers is primarily derived from data collected from sensors and actuators that are connected to building control systems and building mechanical equipment. When combined with system and equipment set points, the data can tell us a great deal about how well the building control system is performing and where the problems are, including issues that can’t be detected through simple equipment observation.

There is a vast amount of data available in a large building—if you were to read one sensor every 15 minutes, you would have 35,000 data samples after one year. Most large buildings have thousands of sensors and actuators, resulting in tens of millions of data samples per year! Special tools and expertise are needed to collect, manage and analyze all of this information. It is not surprising that most facility maintenance departments do very little effective analysis of building control system data.

Cimetrics has invested many man-years of effort into understanding how to extract valuable information from building data. Our Infometrics analysts review each facility’s points list and building system documentation to determine what data we should collect. In some cases we may recommend that the customer add specific sensors to the building control system so that we can provide the maximum possible benefit.

Infometrics relies on data collected from our customers’ building control systems.

In order to maximize the potential value of the building systems data that we collect, they must be gathered at the right time and at the right frequency. Cimetrics has developed a special data collection device, called the Infometrics Cache, which gives our analysts excellent control over how information is collected. The Infometrics Cache is connected to the building control system at each customer facility. In most cases, the collection of data consumes a small fraction of the available network bandwidth.

Cimetrics engineers have considerable experience in connecting our equipment to different building control systems. BACnet is our preferred communication protocol—if the control system uses BACnet as its native network protocol, then the connection of the Infometrics Cache is very simple. If the building control system does not use BACnet, or if BACnet is not the primary protocol in use, then we may need to arrange for the installation of a hardware or software gateway that will translate the necessary data into a format supported by our device.

The Infometrics Cache temporarily stores the data collected from the facility’s building control system, then periodically transmits the information to the Cimetrics Data Center. In most cases, the best way to send the data to Cimetrics is to use an existing Internet connection at the customer’s facility. The Infometrics Cache transmits information using a secure industry-standard network protocol that is compatible with firewalls.

The Infometrics system has been designed to ensure that the security of our customers’ systems and data are maintained. Our I.T. experts are prepared to work with security-conscious customers to ensure that the Infometrics system meets their particular requirements.

Turning Building Data into Actionable Information

Facility managers need concise and accurate information in order to help them make decisions about how to maximize the performance of building systems. Infometrics was developed specifically to address this need.

Cimetrics delivers actionable information to Infometrics customers using a combination of state-of-the-art technology and analysis by experienced engineers. Infometrics reports include specific prioritized recommendations, most of which can be implemented at low cost, along with estimates of the resulting savings.

Our analysis and recommendations are based on industry research in the areas of fault detection, fault diagnosis, building system optimization and commissioning. Cimetrics has used that research to develop algorithms and software tools that allow Infometrics staff to quickly and efficiently analyze the data that we are continuously collecting from our customers’ building systems.

An Infometrics analyst is assigned to every Infometrics customer. The analyst is responsible for creating a data collection strategy, analyzing the data, producing the Infometrics reports, reviewing our recommendations with the customer, and being available to each customer for consultation when questions arise. Each of our analysts has years of experience as an energy engineer or mechanical engineer. Our analysts can also consult with Cimetrics staff engineers that are experts on building control systems, HVAC equipment and data analysis.

We believe that the Infometrics approach—skilled analysts using state-of-the-art technology to analyze building data—is the best way to deliver actionable information to customers that want to maximize the performance of their building systems.