An agent-based test bed for building controls

This paper presents the design, deployment, and initial testing of an agent-based test bed to support a wide range of experiments and demonstrations of advanced control of building systems for energy efficiency, occupant comfort, and reliable interaction with the electric power grid. The test bed possesses the following major characteristics: 1) it supports interactions among heterogeneous components and systems; 2) it can be easily reconfigured to test, validate, and demonstrate different control methodologies ranging from fully centralized to completely distributed control architectures; 3) it provides an option to choose the communication protocols/mediums and the location of agents for managing the distribution of computation resources; and 4) it is an integrated part of a larger test bed that includes distributed renewable generation, energy storage, power systems, and peer buildings. Some of these features are demonstrated using two experiments on a real building HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) system, which is a part of the test bed. Both experiments focus on control for buildings-grid integration applications. In the first experiment, several distributed control agents coordinate with one another to limit the fan power consumption of an air-handling unit (AHU). In the second experiment, a centralized controller tracks the total AHU fan power to a predefined profile.