Smart buildings

Smart buildings are reinventing how we interact with the world around us. By equipping offices, airports, shopping malls, and other non-residential buildings with the ability to sense, think, and react in the same way humans do, the gap between human and technological coexistence is being bridged. Infineon offers a broad portfolio of products designed for use in multiple aspects of smart building design. From sensors and power management ICs to microcontrollers and security ICs, Infineon offers a wide range of solutions to transform buildings into connected smart buildings capable of making intelligent decisions for increased convenience and energy efficiency.

Infineon’s comprehensive range of products encompasses the full spectrum of sensors, power management ICs, microcontrollers, and security hardware required to create efficient, secure, and intelligent smart buildings. Infineon’s XENSIV™ family of sensors has been designed to enable technology to sense its surroundings in innovative and comprehensive ways. Microcontrollers with the most advanced embedded security features then compute and analyze the data before relaying it to actuators of superior energy efficiency and design. All this equates to a forward-thinking solution to the issues of energy efficiency, increased strain on buildings, and potential cyber security threats.   

Infineon solutions for smart buildings include:

• XENSIV^TM sensor portfolio for data collection in a building’s environment
• Leading power MOSFETs and drivers for power-efficient devices
• Microcontrollers for data processing and analyses on the edge
• Security ICs developed with proven expertise for protection of IoT devices against cyber security threats
• Wireless connectivity modules and ICs for connecting the different domains of buildings

In order to make effective and intelligent decisions, smart buildings must be equipped with contextual awareness. Sensing technology plays a key role in smart building design as it provides the building with ‘smart senses’, helping it to collect relevant data for operation of the building management system (BMS). Sensors can react to a building’s environment, interacting with intelligent lighting controls and smart HVAC systems to reduce overall energy consumption.

Sensor hardware made up of a system of microcontrollers, integrated circuits (ICs) and sensor elements can also be used for condition monitoring in predicative maintenance. Predictive maintenance anticipates a potential system or component failure before it happens. Working outside of planned maintenance intervals, smart building automation systems like predictive maintenance ensure buildings are even more reliable, cost efficient and secure in their operations.

And with the increased number of connected devices in a smart building, intelligent and effective security systems are more important than ever. Secured with the next generation of hardware IoT protection, smart buildings outfit BMS and building managers with unparalleled levels of efficiency and security.

All these systems are extensively integrated in the modern smart building for comprehensive control over the daily operation of all domains.

Infineon’s XENSIV™ sensor technology enables smart buildings to sense, report upon, and respond to their environments – ultimately bridging the gap between human and technological interfacing. Sensors used in smart buildings offer an indispensable sensory insight into the crucial systems that keep the lights on and the motors running.  

The IoT building automation system of tomorrow is one of prevention over reaction, capable of detecting future system failures before they ever become an issue. Sensors for condition monitoring can detect a multitude of minor deviations from a system’s typical operating parameters – monitoring vibrations, sounds, airflow, positioning, and current, amongst others – that can then be used to estimate a time of failure and schedule maintenance before system deterioration.

Common smart building solutions include monitoring elevator and HVAC equipment for deviations in current, vibration, and airflow to accurately predict maintenance needs before a building’s occupants experience any disturbance. Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance can be employed across isolated systems or as an integral component of a smart building’s IoT solutions, empowering maintenance teams to reduce overall costs, increase efficiency, and optimize spare part inventories.

Control the flow of people with Infineon’s solutions for smart building security. Electronic access management systems have traditionally proven difficult to scale and inflexible to the varying requirements of a business. Infineon’s range of Identity and Access Management (IAM) Systems have been designed for a range of purposes, from ticketed events, public transport, and door access within commercial settings. Infineon’s CIPURSE^TM products remain ahead of the curve by providing a continually evolving platform capable of handling the full spectrum of identity methods. Whether you want to grant access via physical cards, smartphones, wearables, or single-use paper tickets, Infineon solutions for smart building access control  offer flexibility, efficiency, and security for your application.

Smart building components work best when in tangent with one another. Alongside access control, surveillance offers the insight necessary for true security. Without the need for a local recording device, smart IP cameras reduce operating and installation costs immediately, while smart building IoT motion sensors - that activate the surveillance system only when necessary - increase efficiency even further. Additional IoT building solutions can be integrated for enhanced security and quality; Infineon’s intrusion alarm system is capable of detecting frequency changes when glass is broken and pressure changes when a door or window is opened. Smart building automation systems for doors can add the final touch of physical security while improving the user experience inside the building.

Improved smart building connectivity offers exciting new ways to secure commercial buildings. However, with every connected device, the threat of cyberattack increases. That’s why it’s crucial to defend smart buildings against online intrusion with hardware embedded IoT security. Infineon’s OPTIGA^TM portfolio offers end-to-end protection for cloud-connected smart buildings and IoT devices with hardware solutions that can be integrated for faster and more secure connections than a software approach alone. OPTIGA™ has been designed by Infineon to stringent cloud security standards without sacrificing efficiency and ease of integration. Modern IoT (Internet of Things) smart buildings are secured by Infineon – both against the physical threats of today and the cyber threats of tomorrow.

Intelligent lighting forms a critical component of overall smart building energy efficiency, as well as promoting productive working environments and a superior comfort level within a commercial space. When combined with intelligent sensors, energy-efficient LED lighting equips the building management system with the data necessary to actualize IoT smart building solutions centered upon cost efficiency, energy reduction, and comfort.

Collecting data on the number of occupants in a room or section of a building, whether the blinds are open or closed, as well as factoring in the time of day/time of year, sensor solutions are able to adjust lighting conditions in real-time. At its most simplistic, this allows for automated lighting systems that are only active when necessary, saving energy and reducing overall costs. Smart building IoT integration across multiple domains offers even greater system control, enabling lights to be dimmed/brightened with color mixing functionality in response to another system (e.g., highlighting safe passage to an emergency exit in response to heat detection or access control).

Innovative detection solutions such as radar, improve how Infineon solutions used in smart buildings monitor and report on their surroundings. Seamless integration into light fixtures and superior sensory functionality expand the scope beyond traditional lighting control; incorporation into the BMS allows for the monitoring of asset management, such as index counting for meeting and recreational rooms.

As the number of solutions used in smart buildings continues to grow, the demand for a dependable and efficient power supply is only set to increase. Infineon’s industry-leading range of power solutions ensures cost-effective reliability no matter the requirements. When the briefest downtime could spell disaster, uninterruptible power supplies provide the required level of protection to critical infrastructure, such as hospitals, data centers, and telecommunication facilities. Stable voltage and frequency are ensured by decoupling the load from the grid, while automatically activated batteries ensure zero downtime between a power cut and a backup generator being brought online.

With the demands of smart connected buildings and Internet of Things devices rapidly outstripping the capabilities of older commercial buildings, POE (Power over Ethernet) is becoming an increasingly necessary workaround. By reducing the need to install power cabling, access sockets, or other costly infrastructure, POE offers immediate, secure scalability, even within antiquated buildings.

An efficient power supply requires equally efficient technology. Fluctuations in temperature extremities and air quality have driven electricity consumption upward globally. As a result, the demand for cost and energy-efficient HVAC systems for industrial and commercial settings and smart aircon for residential spaces is considerable. Likewise, as actuators are being called upon for an increasingly broad range of smart building automation solutions, optimizing every system becomes critically important. Infineon solutions are intelligent enough, powerful enough, and efficient enough to meet the demands of today and tomorrow.

Wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth® technology is critical in the development of effective smart buildings using IoT technology, as they allow for seamless communication between systems and devices.

With sales in excess of three billion globally, AIROC^TM connectivity products offer Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, and dual integrated models to serve smart building IoT applications. With the introduction of the newly developed AIROC™ Wi-Fi 6/6E and Bluetooth® 5.2 range, Infineon has redefined industry standards with 40% greater coverage than the average Wi-Fi 6/6E solution, enhanced interference mitigation, reduced latency, and 20% greater power efficiency. The result is a family of connectivity products optimized for use in smart building systems using IoT that depend upon reliability, instantaneous feedback, and long-range connectivity, such as security systems, media streaming applications, and smart building automation.

Full system solutions for automatic opening system