A S H RA E

JOURNAL

The following article was published in ASHRAE Journal, November 1997. Copyright 1997 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning
Engineers, Inc. It is presented for educational purposes only. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or in paper form without permission
of ASHRAE.

The Munich Airport uses a state-of-the art intelligent building management system to control systems such as HVAC, runway lights, baggage handling, etc.

Intelligent Building System for Airport

By Mark Ancevic

lanning the new Munich II international airport provided a unique

opportunity to use the latest state-of-the
art technical systems, while integrating
their control through a single intelligent
building management system.
Opened in 1992, the airport is Germanys second-largest airport after
Frankfurt. The airport is staffed by
16,000 employees and can handle 17
million passengers a year. The sprawling
site encompasses more than 120 buildings. The airports distributed control
system is specifically designed to optimize the complexs unique range of
functions, while providing a high degree
of comfort, convenience and safety for
airport visitors.
With the capacity to control 200,000
points, this system controls more than
112,000 points and integrates 13 major
subsystems from nine different vendors.
It provides convenient, accessible control of everything including the complexs power plant, HVAC Control, the
November 1997

200,000 Point System

Controls Everything
From HVAC to Baggage
terminals people-moving functions,
interior lighting controls, runway lights,
baggage forwarding systems, elevators,
and boarding bridges.
The airport was named 1993 intelligent
building of the year by the Intelligent
Buildings Institute Foundation. Its building management system is a striking
example of the degree to which a building
complexs functions can be integrated for
greater operational control and efficiency.
Airport Incorporates Innovations
The airport itself incorporates a large
number of technological and design innovationssolutions that airport planners
wanted to complement and extend with
an integrated control system.
To improve energy efficiency, the airport has its own power plant with co-gen-

eration of heat and chilled water providing

50% of all energy used in the complex.
Through a direct pipeline connection, the
airport can also use rejection heat from a
nearby commercial power plant.
Travelers arriving at the airport by car
are directed to the nearest available
parking spot by sensor-controlled signals. Once inside the airport terminal,
the large windows in the waiting areas
have frames warmed by hot water to
eliminate cold drafts. Travelers then
board their aircraft via unique boarding
bridges that are actually building exten-

About the Author

Mark Ancevic is Honeywells director
of worldwide programs for building
management systems. He was a member of the Marketing and Programs
Committee and Open Protocols Council for the (now defunct) Intelligent
Buildings Institute from 1990 to 1995.
ASHRAE Journal

31

Table 1: Subsystems integrated into the Munich airport BMS.

sions, featuring the same comfortable temperatures as the rest

of the terminal.
Creating the Building Management System
The airport can provide these amenities because Munich
planners recognized that the best method to maximize airport
operations was to use integrated systems control.
The highly technical nature of each subsystem requires an
integrated control system. If airport engineers, operators and
maintenance staff were required to learn each system, the
sheer magnitude of the task would require additional staff.
Task sharing and rotation to cover for sickness and holidays
would be almost impossible.
After two years of assessment, the airport planning and
engineering teams formed the objectives for the airports
Building Management System (BMS). Specifically, they
sought to create a single, state-of-the-art facilities management environment that would deliver:
Centralized technological command and control of all integrated subsystems.
Multiple workstations throughout the complex, segregated by user (1,000 users) rather than hardware.
Discrete as well as global energy efficiency operations.
Fast identification of all malfunctions.
The scope of Munich technical functions created a massive
system design challenge. The airport required a control system
that went far beyond the capabilities of any building management system then on the market. The problem was determining
the best way to integrate diverse and highly specialized sub32

ASHRAE Journal

systems from vendors that each had different architectures,

communications protocols and software standards.
Essentially, an opensolution needed to be created before
the industry had begun moving toward open standardsat a
time when proprietary control systems were still the norm.
Today, nearly five years after commissioning the airport, open
communication standards are evolving in the building control
industry, with the clear winners emerging as LonMark and
BACnet, building automation and control networking protocol. However, even these standards would not have solved all
the complex integrations required at Munich.
Using a DDC System
To meet airport managements objectives, to keep up with
rapidly changing airport requirements and technology and to
provide a path for future system evolution, the best solution
was a to use a direct distributed (DDC) system with an open
architecture.
The DDC system developed for Munich II is modular and
scaleable. It relies on a combination of commercially available
and proprietary software and communications tools, using
standardized tools whenever possible. To support the open network concept, we chose an architecture based upon Local Area
Network (LAN) technologies utilizing Ethernet and TCP/IP. A
UNIX operating system for the computers and graphic workstations was chosen because of its ability to support all sizes of
computers and related hardware with an acceptable price to
performance ratio.
See Ancevic, Page 34
November 1997

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November 1997

ASHRAE Journal

33

Ancevic, From Page 32

Choosing database software was an equally important decision. To leverage industry standards, the system needed Standard Query Language (SQL) for relational databases. The
Sybase SQL Server software we selected offers facilities such as
disk mirroring, referential integrity and server-to-server communications, thus simplifying the task of meeting stringent data
security requirements. Additionally, the softwares powerful
data management functions, such as online file maintenance,
significantly reduce systems administration.
Overall, the BMS software has been designed so that there is
no single point of failure in
the system. Every field network subsystem server has
Interfaces/
Points
Controllers
the ability to work in isolation; the breakdown of any
server or workstation has no
27,000
1
negative effect on the rest of
the system. This modularity
7,500
1
enables building operators to
1,300
46
scale up the system to meet
2,700
62
future needs.

Using this open platform, the designers created a truly distributed control systemone in which no hierarchical relationship between the main DDC computer and other
subcomputers exists. Rather, the BMSs functions are fully
distributed among 14 servers, 32 high resolution operator stations and 28 alphanumeric operator stations.
For optimum system usage, the BMS Computers (servers)
are distributed over the entire airport and are organized in a
database server (master and
standby) and field network
subsystem service server,
Application Type
with the potential to expand
to 20 field network subPower Plant Management
system service servers.
System with 20 kV Switchgear
The servers and workstaControl System
tions communicate quickly
Runway Lighting System (PLC)
and effectively with one
Elevators
another through LANs, based
People Movers
on fiber optics. The LANs
Boarding Bridges
2,000
34
also provide the crucial comBMS Controls Systems
munications link between the
Baggage Routing Systems
11,000
11
BMS computers and the airThe BMS manages not
DDC for HVAC, Lighting, e.a.
48,000
984
ports maintenance computonly
HVAC DDC controlIndividual Room Control
21,500
205
ers, as well as the traffic
lers, but also the computers
Passenger Information System
500
1
computer (see Figure 1).
that control nine other airParking
Control
System
200
1
Field network subsystem
port mechanical systems
service servers installed
(see Table 1).
throughout the airport con- Table 1: Points and interfaces by application.
The largest subsystem in
nect the subsystems to the
the BMS network is the comLANs, giving users a transparent means of supervising and plexs power plant that has a power switching system with
controlling information. The BMS also features more than more than 20,000 data points. The smallest subsystems
1,000 DDC stations at 200 airport locations.
include the flight plan monitor system and the central waste
The LANs use Ethernet and TCP/IP standards. The sub- disposal system, with 150 data points.
systems are connected to the BMS field network subsystem
The BMS currently controls and monitors more than
service communications protocols. The workstations graphi- 112,000 data points, with the potential to expand up to roughly
cal operator interface is based on X-Windows and OSF-Motif. 200,000 points. It links in four large subsystems (computer
To avoid separate cabling, the field network subsystem ser- links) and 150 smaller PLCs that control the airports subvice server transmits and receives over the airports EDP net- systems. The system provides for alarms to alert operators at
work. This network of fiber optic cables forms the backbone of the control center level within three seconds of their appearthe airports entire information and communications system. ance at the terminal strip of the DDC stations.
The BMS also communicates with two key airport comThe completed light wave conductors that serve as primary,
secondary and tertiary areas constitute one of Europes largest puter information databases: the system maintenance comprivate fiber networks. The network features ample additional puter and the air traffic computer. The integration of these
bandwidth to accommodate future additions and changes.
databases permits BMS programs as well as operators to act
upon key information in their control and management of the
BMS Demands Processing Power
complexs systems.
Because the systems capacity includes 200,000 points and
Data management programs automatically track the various
up to 20 subcenters, the BMS obviously demands major pro- subsystems in-use time and schedule maintenance for offcessing power. The computers selected for the main center and peak usage hours. The interface with the air traffic control
subcenters are HP series 700I industrial workstations with an computer permits indoor lighting and HVAC control functions
impressive CPU performance using the PA-RISC 7100 pro- to be coordinated with flight and gate information. Additional
cessor with integrated floating point co-processor. The indus- automated DDC functions performed through hardware intertry-standard VME bus is used to integrate peripherals and faces include fire and smoke interfaces.
communications.
The graphic workstations are networked and provide rapid BMS Provides Consistent Interface
screen builds. They also provide 1280 x 1024 pixel resolution
The BMS gives Munich engineering, operations and mainon color monitors, an important consideration when operators tenance staff full and transparent access to the large number of
are using screen-based graphics for direct control of the air- functions. Despite the variety of protocols, proprietary subports complex subsystems.
systems and different data types, the operator sees a single,
34

ASHRAE Journal

November 1997

BUILDING SYSTEMS
consistent control environment. From
the users perspective, there is only one
virtual computer.
BMS software provides text descriptions and numerical codes (key names)
for each unit used throughout the airport.
The written descriptions (used for menu
selections) and the numerical codes
(used for short search methods) enable
operators to identify and select individual data points within the building management system.
The BMS offers more than 5,000 system graphics, depicting everything, even
aircraft docking lights (apron lights). The
graphics, available at all graphic workstations, have a maximum build-up time of
five to 10 seconds, depending on the
amount of dynamics. Powerful graphics
with up to 350 points enable the specialists in the power plant, for instance, to
make informed decisions without paging
through many graphics. Some of the
graphical workstations have the ability to
generate hard copies, initiated from any
of the 32 graphical workstations.
With the proper security clearance, an
operator can access information from
the largest technical unit to the smallest
technical installations, such as individual bathroom lighting. The same picture
is presented, and the same control possible, at each BMS workstation.
A computer-based documentation system that contains continuously updated
critical technical information is in the test
phase. This system provides Munich
operators with detailed operating instructions and information concerning electrical connections and circuit diagrams
function descriptions.
The system organizes database information for system maintenance purposes.
Operators can quickly and easily access
data using the same hierarchical structure
applied to key namesi.e., building, unit
type, floor number, unit number, data
point type and data point number.
In the technical control center, a PC
loaded with computer-aided engineering
tools and software permits Munich engineers to make programming changes to
the airports environmental controls subsystems. Project engineers were trained
on site in computer-aided engineering,
enabling them to immediately put theoretical knowledge into practical use.
Managing Energy Use Efficiently
The integrated control and command
of the airports subsystems permits its
November 1997

operators to take full advantage of all

energy-saving opportunities.
Power management: A link between
the power plant control system and the
BMS enables airport operators to maximize the benefits from co-generation of
electrical energy and hot and chilled water, and to balance energy supply with demand. Peak demand control eliminates

ously updated flight schedulesensuring that comfort levels in the various

gate areas are planned to coincide with
actual usage.
In addition to these control functions,
BMS software enables consumption
data to be collected and processed, permitting operators to track usage, identify
trends and take appropriate action.
Conclusion

Intelligent building systems

already are being embraced
in Japan and other progressive international commercial buildings markets.
costly surcharges from the utility company. The airport operators are able to monitor and change the power generation of
the airport from the same control room
using the same BMS interface which
lowers operations personnel costs. Because of these links, the airport is able to
save money overall.
Lighting control: Outside and inside lighting is automatically controlled
system-wide based on time and ambient
light. Lighting for the aircraft docking
areas is controlled through the BMS,
with the primary workstation located in
the control tower.
Sophisticated software logic allows
the apron control operator to see that the
docking aprons and adjacent areas are
illuminated when planes are present and
active. In the airports waiting areas,
lighting is automatically planned in conjunction with arrival and departure
schedules, depending on flight plan
schedule information.
Comfort optimization: Munich
HVAC systems and operations incorporate classic energy management saving
functions, combined with a number of
customized intelligent features. The
BMS implements energy optimization
programs for remote buildings, as well
as for gate areas, including lighting control and temperature. Individual room
controllers control temperature and ventilation in roughly 1,700 rooms around
the airport complex, permitting operators to precisely manage energy use and
comfort levels. The main terminals airconditioning systems are programmed
to operate in coordination with continu-

While intelligent buildings and building management systems such as the

Munich airport are still relatively rare in
the United States, we can expect them to
continue to gain in both understanding
and usage.
Intelligent building systems already are
being embraced in Japan and other progressive international commercial buildings markets. The controls industry
supports integrated, open systems through
the adoption of universal operating protocols and standards worldwide. At the same
time, microprocessor technology is bringing true intelligence to the smallest units.
As we look into the future of building
control, we see the industry moving at an
exciting pace towards open communications and interoperability at all levels
and between all types of products and
systems. Systems will feature open communications for field devices, such as
intelligent sensors, intelligent actuators
and controllers, coupled with open
information access across local, wide
and Internet networks. The result will be
unprecedented sharing of information
and interoperability between competitive and complementary products.
The success of the BMS at the Munich
airport demonstrates the potential advantages of intelligent building systems. It
proves the reliability and enormous multitasking capacity of the UNIX platform for
building automation. It shows the degree
to which functionality and control can be
brought down to the PC level.
It also demonstrates that a set of functions, no matter how widespread, diverse
or complex, can be smoothly and effectively integrated together for maximum
control and productivity.


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