How it works

We use your existing Webex collaboration devices, such as the Webex Room bar, as an occupancy sensor by utilizing the person detecting ability native to the Webex cameras.

That occupancy data is pulled down from the Cisco Spaces Cloud to the Cisco Spaces OT gateway which connects to your BMS network as a BACnet device. The OT gateway is the only new hardware needed if you already have Webex collaboration devices installed. When the BMS is operational, and a space is unoccupied, we set back the heating or cooling point for that space to cut down unnecessary heating or cooling. When the space becomes occupied or is about to be occupied (if integrated with your meeting calendar) the set-back is released and the BMS returns the space to an optimal temperature. We continue to monitor temperate while the space is occupied to ensure optimal conditions are maintained.  

Pre-Requisites:

• Your building has a BMS using the BACnet communication protocol (such as Johnson Controls – Metasys, Siemens – Desigo, Honeywell – Niagara (Tridium) & WEBs, Schneider Electric – EcoStruxure, Trane – Tracer SC, Distech, Optergy, or  many others)
• Your building has room-level HVAC controls
• You are an existing Cisco Spaces Customer with an ACT license; Rich maps operational, with a WebEx control hub integration

Key Benefits:

1. Energy Savings: Eliminates unnecessary heating and cooling during idle periods, lowering utility costs.
2. Optimized Wellbeing: Spaces are comfortable upon arrival and maintained at optimal levels throughout meetings, enhancing tenant experience and productivity.
3. Sustainability: An average-size meeting room can save 100lbs of carbon per year, equivalent to 2 fully grown trees.
4. Data-Driven Insights: Gain insights into room utilization patterns and energy trends through detailed analytics.

All data to and from the cloud is sent through an encrypted tunnel. BACNet data is sent unencrypted.

• Data From Cisco Spaces Cloud
• Room Schedule
• Room Occupancy
• Person Booking the room

Objectives

1. Setback – To setback the conference rooms occupied setpoints when the rooms are not being used to reduce wasted energy from HVAC equipment.
2. Precondition – Precondition conference rooms prior to usage to provide occupants a comfortable room upon occupancy.

SOO Notes

For the VAV Setback and Preconditioning sequence changes only the OCSP & OHSP points will be written to. It’s important to note that the heating setpoint should never be greater than the cooling setpoint and should always be at a minimum of 1°F less than the cooling setpoint.

The Schedule point is an important point that is used to indicate that the Air Handler that serves the VAV box is on or off. If the Schedule point is reading zero it indicates that air is not available for the VAV box resulting in no available cooling.

Setback SOO

When the room is not scheduled the VAV occupied setpoints will be adjusted to reduce the cooling or heating demand of the room. The room will still be conditioned just at different setpoints when not scheduled. The sequence will perform as follows:

When:

1. Cisco Room Schedule = OFF and the VAV SCHED = 1
   • Write OCSP default value +4°F at priority 10 (Example default OCSP =73°F new value = 77°F)
   • Write OHSP default value -4°F at priority 10 (Example default OHSP =71°F new value = 67°F)
2. Cisco Room Schedule = ON and the VAV SCHED = 1
   • Write OCSP current value null at priority 10 (This change VAV box to operate at default)
   • Write OHSP current value null at priority 10 (This change VAV box to operate at default)
3. Cisco Room Schedule = ON and the VAV SCHED = 0
   • Write OCSP current value null at priority 10 (This change VAV box to operate at default)
   • Write OHSP current value null at priority 10 (This change VAV box to operate at default)
   • Note with the VAV schedule off air might not be available to the room which is out of Views control.
4. Cisco Room Schedule = OFF and the VAV SCHED = 0
   • Write OCSP default value +4°F at priority 10 (Example default OCSP =73°F new value = 77°F)
   • Write OHSP default value -4°F at priority 10 (Example default OHSP =71°F new value = 67°F)
   • This will typically be seen at the end of the day and will keep the box in setback when the building starts the next morning unless there is a Cisco Room Scheduled for first thing in the morning.
   • Note with the VAV schedule off air might not be available to the room which is out of Views control.

Precondition SOO

Prior to a Cisco Room Scheduled event Preconditioning is used to have the room at default occupied setpoints at the start of a meeting. It’s important to understand how long it takes a room to recover from a setback state to an occupied state. For example its important to know the average time for the space temperature to decrease or increase by 1°F. For example if it takes 5 minutes for a space to drop 1°F and we are transitioning from a space temperature of 76°F to a setpoint of 73°F the room should be taken out of Setback 15 minutes prior to the Cisco Rooms scheduled event start time. The same logic will be used for heat recovery. For this sequence we will call these points as follows.

Cool Recovery Time (CRT) = Average minutes it takes to lower the temperature 1°F Heat Recovery Time (HRT) = Average minutes it takes to raise the temperature 1°F The Preconditioning SOO shall be as follows: When Preconditioning Cooling

• Cisco Room Schedule has an event starting in 30 minutes and the space temperature is above the default cooling setpoint the precondition start time is calculated as follows:
• Precondition Cooling Start Time = Room Schedule Time – ((ST – default OCSP)*CRT)
• Example: ST = 75°F, default OCSP = 73°F, and CRT = 5 minutes for meeting starting at 11:00am the Precondition Cooling Start Time = 10:50am.
• At Precondition Cooling Start Time write the following:
• Write OCSP current value null at priority 10 (This change VAV box to operate at default)
• Write OHSP current value null at priority 10 (This change VAV box to operate at default)

When Preconditioning Heating

• Cisco Room Schedule has an event starting in 30 minutes and the space temperature is below the default heating setpoint the precondition start time is calculated as follows:
• Precondition Heating Start Time = Room Schedule Time – ((ST – default OHSP)*HRT)
• Example: ST = 67°F, default OHSP = 71°F, and CRT = 5 minutes for meeting starting at 11:00am the Precondition Heating Start Time = 10:40am.
• At Precondition Cooling Start Time write the following:
• Write OCSP current value null at priority 10 (This change VAV box to operate at default)
• Write OHSP current value null at priority 10 (This change VAV box to operate at default)
• Note: If the room is only served by cooling only VAV boxes preconditioning heating is not available and should not be used for the space.

Monitoring and Exception Handling

The system is designed for resiliency. All control programming runs on the edge device, and not in the cloud. If requested the system can be deployed in High-availability configuration if the customer opts for the premium package.

  The gateway, WAN and LAN connectivity, and individual Webex devices are all monitored as part of the managed service. Cisco’s support teams will proactively address any issues, if they cannot be resolved by the support team or necessary changes will impact the customers systems, the customer will be notified of the issue and steps to be taken for resolution. If disruption in connectivity will significantly impact performance of the system the team may disable the Smart Rooms functionality until it is resolved, allowing the building’s default programming to fully assume control.   If there is a failure in connectivity or the gateway, the following behaviors ensure a safe degradation of functionality:  

Webex Devices Lose Connectivity

If Webex cameras or devices in the room lose connectivity, there will be no occupancy data coming from the room.    In this event the gateway will release any programming and set all setpoints back to the default building programming. Once connectivity resumes the application will resume proactive conditioning.

Loss of Internet Connectivity

If there is no connection to the internet the local gateway will not receive occupancy data or calendar data for setbacks and preconditioning. In this event the gateway will release any programming and set all setpoints back to the default building programming. Once connectivity resumes the application will resume proactive conditioning.

Hardware Failure

If there is a hardware failure the support team will be immediately alerted and can alert the customer to take action. The latest setpoint changes will remain in place. Once the hardware comes back online it will resume adjusting setpoints. If the device remains offline, depending on the BMS the setpoints will eventually be overridden by the existing programming of the BMS.

BMS Communication Monitoring

The constant monitoring of connection between the Smart Rooms gateway and BMS is critical when commands are received from the Cisco gateway to the BMS. If connection is lost from the Spaces Gateway, the BMS must revert to default programming. To accomplish this, a heartbeat connection point will be discovered from the Spaces gateway and trended on the BMS to monitor.

This is accomplished by the following:

• Cisco gateway will deliver a binary point to be discovered by the BMS. This point will oscillate and be used to disable Cisco gateway commands if the connection is lost (the point stops oscillating & goes stale). In this event, the BMS will revert to base unit sequencing until connection is reestablished.
• Cisco cloud will change the value of this point every 60 seconds, It will toggle from ON to OFF. The BMS will need to be programmed to monitor this point and if it does not see a change of value over a 5 minute (adjustable) period, the Cisco gateway connection status will be off and remain off until communications are reestablished.
• When the Cisco gateway connection status point goes inactive, a BMS alarm will be activated notifying the building operators/Cisco Spaces/BMS operators.