SmallCAN - A Reliable, Low-Power and Low-Cost Distributed Embedded System for Energy Efficient Building Automation

In this paper we propose a new reliable, low-power and low-cost platform for a building automation system, BAS, which is suitable to be used as a single platform for all appliances of a building. Furthermore today's platforms for building automation do not focus on low-energy consumption of the platform itself. The costs are also quite high and the installation has limited flexibility and needs extensive planning. The proposed platform features low-power consumption, has a reliable wired structure which is flexible, simply structured and can easily be extended. The low-power and low-cost approach targets the wide spreading of smart buildings to maximize global energy saving and to easily interface with a future smart grid. The SmallCAN platform has shown during evaluation in our demonstrator that it is able to fullfil all identified requirements of a modern building automation system.