Smart buildings in a Covid-free World

COVID-19 has indelibly transformed the way society thinks and interacts. Extended lockdowns around the world have compelled most people to work from home. And while some may perceive this as temporary, the emerging sensibility is that social distancing and even semi-lockdowns will continue over the foreseeable future to safeguard public health.

Smart strategies and technologies to support public health policies will be needed worldwide for the next two to three years, and may become the new norm. Ultimately, pandemics and infectious diseases are cyclical and will continue to strike hardest in the heart of densely packed cities.

Hence, the smart cities and buildings of tomorrow must evolve to create more secure and resilient working and living spaces. A paradigm shift is in order: Smart building technologies must make a due departure from cost-optimisation thinking, and step up as a key contributor in pandemic management, public health and safety.

Prior to Covid-19, the overwhelming focus for smart building architecture was on achieving maximum utilisation of space and optimisation of power consumption. Statistics showed that on average, as much as 40 per cent of space was being under-utilised and 30 per cent of electrical consumption was being wasted. It was imperative to "eliminate" such wastage.

In stark contrast, the post-Covid era calls for radically different optimisation models, designed and calibrated for social distancing. Counter-intuitive as it may seem, designated empty spaces, such as alternate seating arrangements and expanded waiting lines, must now be planned in advance and integrated with critical accuracy.

Vacancy is no longer a failure to occupy, but a life-preserving necessity. The archaic, commercial desire to maximise occupancy should and must take a back seat, and give rise to safer and more spacious offices, schools, malls and public venues.

To add to the challenge, these high carbon footprint designs must continue to be economically and environmentally sustainable. This poses a serious conundrum - the very act of social distancing consumes more space and resources, thereby incurring higher costs which a globally declining economy can ill afford.

Moreover, to conduct temperature screenings and monitor mask and social distancing protocol, more technology and support staff are required. Solutions are only as good as they are viable, hence there needs to be a way to address these overheads. According to technology research companies, innovation and the Internet of Things (IOT) are able to reduce operating costs by up to 30 per cent. That, at least, is a promising start.

The race is on. Never has there been a more critical time to re-define smart building purpose and architecture. Touchless entry - along with fever detection and mask detection technology - will be the key safety measure at all entry points. Combining thermal imaging with video analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques provides a robust system to identify individuals, their body temperature and whether they are wearing masks.

Thermal cameras will be integrated with access control systems where personnel are identified by their access cards, and temperature data is stored along with access information and anonymised facial data. Time-tested video analytics models will be utilised for facial recognition as well as mask detection.

Fever detection is a more complex issue. Skin temperature as measured by thermal cameras is not always an accurate indicator of body temperature.

As an example, the skin temperature of passengers alighting from air-conditioned shuttles or taxis is lower than their actual body temperature. Immediate temperature screening would result in inaccurate readings that may fail to identify a fever.

To enhance fever detection, facial and skin temperature data is sent to AI models which track temperature information and any anomaly with historical data is flagged. This helps to accurately identify fever where ambient conditions can impact skin temperature.

This system will eventually be integrated with public healthcare systems such as contact tracing to accelerate tracking speed, locate exposed individuals and quickly contain the spread of infection.

Smart panels for elevators and doors is another critical technology which will help prevent cross infection. Voice-activated technology or touch-less buttons will be integrated with the management systems.

There will be a surge in voice-based apps to control common facilities such as elevators and washroom doors. Voice-based controls could become the new norm. Alternatively, buttons could be activated by hand proximity and motion detection, without physical contact.

Within office spaces, the older models of optimising space utilisation will no longer be applicable. Social distancing will be the key optimisation parameter. To effect this, there are various video-based solutions which can detect if people are overcrowded and raise alerts accordingly.

CRITICAL DATA SOURCE

However, as it is impractical to install cameras everywhere, office WiFi systems and occupancy sensing systems will become a critical data source to facilitate social distancing. Video information will be fused with information from occupancy sensors to detect social distancing violations and raise alerts to the administration teams.

Electrical consumption optimisation will be another key concern due to lower occupancies. Occupancy information in correlation with lightings and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) will help avoid unnecessary cooling/heating of unoccupied areas.

Similarly, we will be able to utilise WiFi and occupancy sensors to identify and predict the room or floor occupancy. The results from these AI models will interact with the control systems to shut down the HVAC fan units when the prediction component shows no occupancy, or reduce air flow in the case of low occupancy. These control models can optimise chiller usage, saving significantly on power consumption and overall maintenance.

To meet increasing demands in public hygiene and sanitation, smart buildings will utilise AI models to analyse current and historical occupancy information, and plan optimal cleaning routines.

We will see a surge in robotic applications and assistance. For example, sanitation robots can be fitted with arms that mimic human movement, and deployed to hard-to-reach or hazardous areas.

By utilising electrostatic spray nozzles, they can disperse disinfectants more widely and evenly on critical surfaces. Additionally, they can be equipped with ultraviolet (UV-C) light powerful enough to irradiate and destroy microbes such as bacteria and viruses.

The above measures are just the tip of the iceberg. Developments in smart building technology are accelerating in this new direction and there are many innovations to come.

In the aftermath of Covid-19, I foresee comprehensive sets of health and safety regulations coming into play from employment agencies and authorities. In all likelihood, there will be regulatory inspections and audits on both individual and organisational compliance.

Smart building systems as described above will greatly help businesses and organisations to automate increasingly complex facilities management and monitoring processes, practise effective crowd control and stay within operating requirements.

Given the complexity of the parameters, high volume of repetitive tasks and little to no margin for error, the implementation of intelligent and well automated systems should be ubiquitous and perhaps mandatory, as is the case with fire detection and extinguishing systems.

The valuable lessons gleaned from the current pandemic serve to protect us from future ones. Whether another pandemic or natural disaster occurs in the next five, 10 or 15 years, smart and resilient cities will ensure that we are ready to defend ourselves with utmost sophistication and order. Impact on our economy and daily life would be greatly minimised compared to the chain of detrimental effects we see rippling through 2020 and beyond.

Throughout human civilisation, new and better cities had often been painstakingly rebuilt upon the ashes of fallen ones. Covid-19 has dealt our modern world a harsh and destructive warning. Fortunately for us, IOT and AI technology have matured in recent years and are ready for our harvest. It is only a matter of will and dedication. The tools we require are at hand, and the time to rebuild is now.