Prototype provides personal workspace environmental control via the web

Engineered Systems, Oct, 2007

* Syracuse, NY-based company CollabWorx Inc. and collaborators from the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (Syracuse CoE) and Syracuse University (SU) have developed a working prototype of an indoor climate control system that has the ability to make "smart" decisions in response to changing conditions within an office or building based on interaction with the human occupants.

The Open Web Services-based Indoor Climate Control System technology allows individuals to communicate, monitor, and adjust their personal environmental preferences (temperature, light, humidity, etc.) much like they would in an automobile, via the Web.

The system is equipped with an occupancy sensor that recognizes the presence and identity of the individual. A built-in expert system can make decisions based on data from multiple sources so that the system can alter its activity to conserve energy while maintaining users' comfort. The Syracuse CoE provided $350,000 in funding to develop the technology.

The system's first working prototype consists of three typical cubicle workstations with system components connected to desktop computers. The system components include a main unit, manual control device, network interface controller unit, small vents, and a heater unit.

The prototype uses only pervasive Internet-related technologies, including Internet Protocol-based sensors and device controllers developed by Sensyr LLC, another Syracuse-based company and a partner in the project.

Researchers plan to deploy the three-cubicle working prototype into a full-scale, real-world office setting as part of the new test lab areas being built at SU or at the Syracuse CoE headquarters, where occupants will operate the system and researchers will document system performance and energy savings. This trial will allow for subsequent commercialization of the technology.

CollabWorx's description of the climate control system was one of three winners of the Best Poster Award at the international "Clima 2007" conference in Helsinki, Finland, on in June. The CollabWorx entry was selected from 206 entries from 33 countries that competed for the award. CollabWorx emerged from the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Computer Applications and Software Engineering (CASE Center) at SU, where it started as an incubator company in 2000. Today, CollabWorx is based in the Syracuse Technology Garden with additional offices in the New York City metropolitan area and in Virginia, and employs 15 people.