Distech Controls was an early adopter of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and could see the opportunities it offered to the building controls industry. The company created a team of dedicated experts and, over the years, has built strategic partnerships with leading research institutions and collaborated with universities to shape its AI roadmap.

We speak to Charles Pelletier - vice president, product management at Distech Controls about these partnerships and also demonstrate how product innovation that utilises AI technology to collect and respond to data is delivering highly efficient and human centric buildings.

AI shows extraordinary promise for transforming the world with its ability to compile and analyse vast amounts of information in real-time, apply reason, and improve processes. Research by PwC UK, commissioned by Microsoft, estimates that using AI for environmental applications could contribute up to $5.2 trillion USD to the global economy in 2030.

However, the tremendous computational power required for AI processes could derail Net Zero pledges. Large corporations are rushing to embed AI into their processes to increase efficiency, improve the customer experience, and lower costs. Many of these also have aggressive carbon-reduction goals and while these organizations continue to grow, adding more customers and services, keeping emissions down is already a challenge. Understanding how the thoughtful application of AI frameworks combined with clean energy and managed energy use is critical.

Some businesses are focusing on developing energy-efficient AI algorithms that use resources and power more efficiently to lessen the carbon impact. Google is leading the way here, using its own AI “DeepMind” to reduce the energy consumption of its data centres by 40%.

AI has its share of enthusiasts and doomsayers, but its promise lies somewhere in the grey area between those saying it will solve all our problems and those predicting disaster and chaos. For many, the technology cycle is early, and there will likely be much discussion and upheavals as society figures out how laws will be created and applied.

Distech Controls strives to be a pioneer in the application of AI in intelligent buildings and the company's commitment to innovation and pursuit of cutting-edge technologies have positioned it at the forefront of the AI revolution within the building controls industry.

Let’s start at the beginning

Distech Controls saw the potential of AI back in 2017 and began to see where it could have benefits within its products. For this reason, the company set up a dedicated AI team alongside Atrius, also part of Acuity Brands' Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). It took time to understand how the technology could add value whilst also ensuring that any product development would be commercially viable with our industrial Longevity/Quality standard. The core goal for Distech Controls is to deliver products to the market that are reliable, robust and trusted as well as being applicable to numerous control applications. That’s when we started working on scenarios and projects to see how the technology would work and behave. It was in 2020 when the idea to integrate a dedicated AI coprocessor to sustain market and business into our next APEX Controller started to be shaped.

From this experience, we identified opportunities for AI. For example, within the industry, we saw the need for devices that could incorporate people counting. Building owners and facility managers want to know how many people are in their building or in a space so they can adapt systems and services, such as, HVAC and lighting system operation, cleaning rotas and even catering services to better serve the occupants as well as delivering performance and energy efficiencies. We also knew that privacy was going to be a big issue when it came to collecting data so that was part of the challenge when it came to the research phase.

Product development

Our newest addition to the product family is Resense Move and it is the perfect example of how our team and partners came together to create a product that utilises AI technology suitable for now and the future.

In collaboration with the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada since 2020, Distech Controls is working with students to solve real industry problems and create innovative solutions. Distech Controls has a Research Chair at the university and has virtually doubled its team by working with professors and PHD students down to interns.

As an example, one of the scenarios the university has been working on is how we can distinguish between two humans in a space and an electric baseboard, a dishwasher or even the sun with a low-resolution IR Sensor, that is where AI learning comes into play. It is this technology we have incorporated into our Resense Move sensor, with people counting through an inbuilt thermal sensor. Without the support of AI technology within this sensor, the ability to accurately count people with a space would be limited.

The AI technology incorporated into Resense Move has benefits for numerous stakeholders. For instance, end users benefit from enhanced wellbeing and proactive ventilation while facility managers can optimise their buildings and deliver proactive maintenance, such as fault finding.

Through their very nature, the university researchers do deep dives in certain areas and we can utilise those findings to understand what is going to work for our market. The partnership is extremely valuable to us and it is continuing to grow.

The AI technology integrated within Resense Move has recently been recognised with an award win at the highly-respected Commercial Real Estate Digital Innovation (Digie) Awards. Resense Move won the Best AI Tech Innovation – Intelligent Buildings award, which celebrates the most innovative new idea/technology/product/service for the smart, connected, high performance, intelligent building marketplace.

The data is what makes Distech Controls stand out

Our ultimate goal is to have the ability to embed AI into every one of our small devices, without dropping on performance levels. We are unique in that we are creating networks that can be used on smaller hardware and we offer a range of processing power across our network. From our smaller devices right through to our most powerful controllers, ECYLPSE APEX, AI technology is being utilised. We are adding value at all levels.

With ECLYPSE APEX, we are gathering vast amounts of data all of the time, but we are using AI power to help that process to ensure that data is acted upon quickly, for example, when it comes to fault detection. These innovations are just the beginning of the AI journey in building controls.

We are excited about where AI can take us. However, we are balanced and through our research we know that AI technology is not right for every application. But in certain scenarios, it can bring amazing advantages. Because we have been deeply immersed in AI for so many years, we are at the forefront of its implementation into building controls. So, watch this space!