To find out about the contributions integrated building systems can provide to enhance the working and living environment inside a commercial building, I interviewed Dwight Stewart, Founder and CTO, Igor, Inc. (West Des Moines, IA).

Tech Briefs: There’s been a lot written about how smart buildings can save energy. However, I'm interested in how you can improve conditions such as people’s health, sense of well-being, and productivity in commercial buildings. I’m thinking, for example of lighting controls, HVAC controls, measuring air quality, things like that.

Dwight Stewart: Igor has a platform that can unify a building’s infrastructure. It enables you to use Power over Ethernet to a node rather than end to end cabling for each separate application. You can connect different sensors, for example, motion and daylight sensors for lighting control. You can hook up sensors for indoor air quality so you can measure CO2, PM 2.5 particles, VOCs, and other metrics. The node can even act as a thermostat — it can connect directly to nearby HVAC device controls and include a display.

Through the platform, you can not only see all the metrics that you care about to create healthy spaces, but also deliver outcomes.

Figure 2. The API documentation screen allows you to create your own program. (Photo: Igor, Inc.)

Tech Briefs: So, the user would be able to write rules into your software platform?

Stewart: Yes, we have a software technology stack comprised of three different things. One is our node, which connects real-world devices to our software — you can have nodes in the ceiling every 10 square feet. At each node, you can connect nearby devices, whether they're lights, or sensors, or actuators for devices like window shades. This gives you a great amount of versatility. Whether on day one or two years after you've installed the system, you can add or remove things easily and quickly. Anything you connect to the node will show up as a device on the network as soon as it is connected, and you can then start to program it. Say, two years from now a new device comes out that can sense a type of chemical in the air that people are starting to care about.

Tech Briefs: How do you deal with the data?

Stewart: We have Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow you to create your own programs. So, for example, if you have elevated levels of CO2 in a room, it can be a real problem. It increases drowsiness; you can become really irritable; you can make rash decisions. It also indicates that the same air is cycling between different people’s lungs. Let's say there are five people in a room, you get elevated CO2, which means that that the same air is breathed in and out, probably being exchanged between people. So, when you think about the pandemic, it's more and more likely that you're exchanging germs when that CO2 level is going up. There are a lot of different reasons you don't want to have high CO2. Therefore, you should bring in fresh air until the CO2 goes back to a normal level. You can program the API, such that if the CO2, reaches a certain level, you turn on the ventilation system. You don't have to change the temperature, you don’t have to heat or cool, you just want to get fresh air by means of the HVAC system.

Figure 3. Each light can be controlled separately by a node mounted on a light fixture. (Photo: Igor, Inc.)

Tech Briefs: I suppose you could make it a little more complicated and measure the number of people in the room with an occupancy sensor and compare that to the CO2 level.

Stewart: Exactly. You can integrate with people-counting sensors. That's a good way of being proactive. Especially over time, if you can see there’s a correlation with the number of people raising the CO2 in a certain space, you can be smart about it. Say, you see 10 people walk into a room, you know the CO2 level will start going up, so you turn on the ventilation system ahead of time.

Tech Briefs: Regarding lighting control: Can color temperature be tuned to adjust for circadian rhythm?

Stewart: We do have a circadian rhythm plug-in that mimics natural light variations based on latitude and longitude and time of year. It mimics the reds of dawn and dusk compared to the blues of day. That can have a whole number of health benefits including brain functions and moods. For example, in schools or offices it can really help with concentration. But you can't maintain high levels of blue light throughout the day, or people will just get worn out. Using the right colors at the right times can maintain engagement longer. Limiting how much you use blue and using it more strategically rather than just all the time can have a lot of health benefits. We automate the color changes, and do it very smoothly, so you don't even notice. It gradually changes from more reds in the morning, to daylight color at noon, but it's so gradual you don't even know it’s happening.

Tech Briefs: Can daylight harvesting be used along with the circadian rhythm plug-in?

Stewart: Yes, they work independently of one another. Daylight harvesting is about the dimming level, while adjusting the lighting color is about circadian rhythm.

An important feature included in our technology is that every light can be controlled individually. In contrast with controlling lights zone by zone, controlling every single individual light fixture provides additional personalization capabilities. So, let's say, if you want to take control at your desk, we have an app that allows you to share access with someone. If there’s hot desking (sharing desks), a manager could say, “let's give that person access to this particular desk.” You could control a fan, or you might have an HVAC for that desk for heating or cooling as well as lighting. You could then personalize these settings. For example, if someone has macular degeneration, they could scale up the light so it's really bright. But high amounts of light can activate migraines. That person could lower the amount of light. Individual control of lighting can have a big impact when it comes to health and well-being.

Figure 4. You can change parameters with your mobile device. (Photo: Igor, Inc.)

Tech Briefs: How would a person control these functions?

Stewart: You can either bring it up on your computer or you can bring it up on your phone. You just log in and it will show you what you have access to and then you can change the lighting and other parameters right there.

One feature of our system is that it can learn each individual’s preferences, so they don’t have to input them every single time. To accomplish that, we have “asset tracking.” Let's say it's just a tag; for example, in senior centers or in office environments you can have an ID badge that the system can read to know that a particular person is in a particular room. That person can enter their personal preferences in our cloud portal. When they go up to a door, it can automatically unlock because it “knows” that person has access permission. Then, when you walk in it'll automatically adjust the lights to go to a certain level because you've already told the system what you like. It makes it that much easier from a health and well-being perspective, because if you have to bring up an app every time, that's going to be annoying, and people will tend not to bother.

Tech Briefs: How easy would it be to install all this cool stuff into an existing building? Wouldn’t it be expensive and time-consuming to do this kind of renovation?

Stewart: The companies we're working with have made it a priority for their workers or their occupants to have healthy and comfortable environments and they're trying to differentiate themselves. So, it's not so much about us selling it to them, but more about finding those people who care and have made this a priority. It's typically installed into a building that is already undergoing some sort of retrofit. For example, if it's a core-shell building and you’re fitting out a space for a new tenant, you're already going through a lot of work, so it would make sense to add this technology as an additional benefit. Or if you're constructing a new building, it's just a matter of laying in Ethernet cables. In most places, there are drop ceilings so it's just a matter of wiring up the cables and deploying the sensors.

This article was written by Ed Brown, Editor of Sensor Technology. For more information, visit here .