World Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2017 Hong Kong

Track 1: Smart Initiatives & Advanced Building Systems

Enhanced Engineering Services for Electrical & Mechanical System via

Integrated Building Management System, Remote Monitoring Unit, and
Geographic Information System
LEE Che-kita, Sammy YEUNG Sau-kuenb, HU Jinshanc, CHAN Kin-hongd, FUNG Ka-yane
a Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, Government of the HKSAR, Hong Kong SAR, cklee@emsd.gov.hk
b Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, Government of the HKSAR, Hong Kong SAR, skyeung@emsd.gov.hk
c Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, Government of the HKSAR, Hong Kong SAR, jshu@emsd.gov.hk
d Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, Government of the HKSAR, Hong Kong SAR, chankh@emsd.gov.hk
e Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, Government of the HKSAR, Hong Kong SAR, kyfung@emsd.gov.hk

ABSTRACT

The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region provides operation and maintenance engineering services for electrical and mechanical
systems in various government venues and public transport infrastructures.

To enhance manpower utilization, optimize building services system performance, and to achieve greater energy
saving, various building management systems (BMS) of government venues are being integrated and connected
to a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, which will map all the critical assets being operated and
maintained by EMSD.

Critical traffic infrastructures such as traffic signal systems, footbridge lifts and escalators, ventilation and lighting
systems in public transport interchanges, and submersible pumps in subways/underpasses will also be mapped
onto the GIS via remote monitoring units (RMU). The integrated BMS/GIS/RMU platform enables real time
detection of equipment fault and prompt alert to maintenance staff, and provides a user-friendly geographical
interface to facilitate quick deployment of technical workforce.

This paper gives an overview of the use of the integrated BMS/RMU/GIS platform which helps reduced fault
response time and fault rectification time, achieve energy saving, and improve reliability of critical transport
infrastructure for the benefits of the general public.

Keywords: integrated building management system, geographic information system, green building management

1. INTRODUCTION
Hong Kong is a densely populated cosmopolitan city with the urbanized areas covering less than 30% of this small
city of 1,100 square kilometre. The city is characterized by sophisticated infrastructure systems and tall buildings,
both of which rely on reliable operation of modern electrical and mechanical (E&M) systems. The Electrical and
Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
provides operation and maintenance engineering services for E&M systems in various government venues and
public transport infrastructures.

2. OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF E&M SYSTEMS IN GOVERNMENT VENUES

Building management system (BMS) is widely used in modern buildings to control and monitor the E&M systems
such as air-conditioning systems, mechanical ventilation systems, lighting systems, security systems, lifts and
escalators, etc. BMS substantially improves the efficiency of building management and reduces the operation and
maintenance cost as it provides an easy way to assess the performance of the various systems, simplifies the
operation, helps in planning operation and saves energy via more accurate control and operation schedule.

Though BMSs are providing a lot of benefits, they are scattered in a variety of buildings. For property maintenance
agents who maintain a large number of buildings, monitoring such scattered BMSs is still time and manpower
consuming, as a resident maintenance team is required for each building or the team needs to travel between
buildings to operate and maintain the BMSs. On the other hand, continuous monitoring of the E&M systems is
usually only possible at the consoles of the BMSs usually located in the control rooms of the buildings. Alarms
identified by BMSs have to reach the management staff and repair teams via some reporting mechanism. For

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Track 1: Smart Initiatives & Advanced Building Systems
maintenance agents with a large portfolio of buildings, this may cause delay in responding to alarms occurring
concurrently in different buildings.

EMSD is maintaining a large number of government buildings which are widely distributed all over Hong Kong.
Many of these buildings are equipped with BMSs. The work load to cater for BMSs in these buildings is quite heavy.
As an example, the headquarters of a government department consist of a cluster of four buildings, each with their
own BMS. Consoles of the BMSs are located in BMS rooms of the four buildings. The maintenance staff,
particularly those on night shift, have to travel between buildings which is manpower consuming and very often the
response to alarms is not as prompt as desired.

2.1. Integrated Building Management System (iBMS)

In view of this, EMSD developed an integrated BMS (iBMS) in order to enhance the efficiency and performance of
operation and maintenance work and to relieve staff work load. The iBMS enables control and monitoring of the
E&M systems of the four buildings within the headquarters complex via a single platform using either computer,
tablet, smart phone at any location by operators with proper authority.

The major challenge to the integration was to exchange massive real time data of commands and system status
between the central iBMS and the BMSs smoothly. To address this issue, optic fibre network was installed to
connect the iBMS with the four BMSs. The second issue to be solved was that the four BMSs were using different
protocols. Thus, a BMS upgrading work was conducted. BACNet communication modules were installed so that
all the BMSs will work with the same protocol. As BACNet is an open protocol, it enables future integration of other
systems. With optic fibre and the open protocol of BACNet, an iBMS server was installed and the connection with
the BMSs were established in 2015.

All the E&M equipment including air-conditioning system, mechanical ventilation system, lighting control system,
electrical system, lift system, emergency generator, etc. can be monitored and controlled via the console of the
iBMS. Energy consumption of the systems is also monitored and recorded. In addition to the integration, the iBMS
also provides web based access. With proper authority, operation and maintenance staff can use the iBMS
anywhere with Internet access. Management staff and repair team can also monitor the system to obtain
information of system performance and alarms directly. Furthermore, as a further step towards a smart city, the
iBMS is integrated with a GIS platform installed in the headquarters of EMSD for map-based asset management.
System status and alarms are visualized on the GIS platform. Management staff can get an in-depth understanding
on the system performance which enables prompt and accurate decision making. The system architecture diagram
is shown in figure 1.

iBMS Server

Fibre cable
Signal Protocol: BACNet

Existing Existing Existing Existing

CCMS CCMS CCMS CCMS

(Building A) (Building B) (Building C) (Building D)

Figure 1: System architecture of the integrated BMS (iBMS)

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Since the implementation of the iBMS, the operation and maintenance work has become more effective. As the
control and monitoring of the E&M equipment can be carried out through one central console, the maintenance
team does not need to travel between buildings. Manpower is saved and staff can carry out maintenance work
more efficiently and effectively. Operation and control of E&M systems of the four buildings become easier as
these can now be done using the same interface.

The iBMS also enables a faster response to equipment faults and even allows pre-diagnosis to be carried out. By
setting the auto escalation mechanism, alarms can be sent directly to management staff and repair team whenever
they are triggered. Alarms will be shown in iBMS, the GIS and alarming SMS will be sent to mobile phones of the
maintenance staff. Reporting time is saved. As the iBMS can be accessed anywhere, the repair team can check
the system status and conduct a pre-diagnosis. Proper manpower, parts and tools can be well prepared which
significantly enhance the efficiency of repair work.

iBMS also helps in energy saving. With the iBMS, energy consumption is monitored and recorded continuously.
The trend analysis provides data-driven insight to optimize E&M system operation. On the other hand, the energy
consumption data also helps identify abnormal energy consumption pattern due to equipment failure, e.g., a faulty
control valve which cannot be properly closed wastes energy and causes overcooling.

The remote monitoring provided by the iBMS also helps in maintenance management. With the understanding of
the system status and load, management can suitably mobilize maintenance workforce and prioritize the work.

3. OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

Over 90% of Hong Kong’s 7.3 million population use public transport regularly. Every day, over 12.6 million
passenger journeys are made on the public transport systems which include railways, buses, minibuses, trams
taxis and ferries. The efficient mobility provided by the public transport systems, and also to the users of around
half a million of private cars, depend on a well-developed and properly maintained transport infrastructure and its
associated road side facilities, enabling people in Hong Kong to move around and reach their destinations easily,
quickly and safely despite its high density.

3.1. Traffic signal control system

A central traffic signal control system covering over 1,800 signalized junctions is operating round the clock
throughout the year for the allocation of the right-of-ways properly at road junctions for safe movement of vehicles
and pedestrians.

The planning, upgrading and replacement of all traffic signal systems are initiated and undertaken by the Transport
Department of Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, whilst EMSD looks after their
maintenance.

Apart from equipment aging and system expansion, traffic signal systems and associated equipment distributed
throughout the roads of Hong Kong are exposed to all kinds of weather phenomena – from the dry, cool winters to
the wet and hot summers, from tropical cyclones to torrential rain and thunderstorms. They are also prone to direct
damage by traffic accidents. Underground cables are sometimes damaged by road excavation works. With a view
to improving the reliability and performance of the equipment, which is of paramount importance in ensuring road
safety, EMSD started to implement in 2013 an asset management system, and has subsequently accredited under
the ISO 55000 series of international standards in 2014. Under the ISO 55001 asset management system, critical
analysis of past failures/complaint cases and associated risk analysis were performed. The maintenance team
identified and implemented a number of improvement measures, including the implementation of a two-tier
monitoring system to ensure timely feedback of repair status to complainants, enhancement of fault data collection
and analysis, taking immediate action to investigate repeated junction controller failures, etc.

3.2. Geographic information system

As there are a huge number of traffic signal assets distributed over the territory of Hong Kong, a geographic
information system (GIS) platform was developed for better management of the asset information. All asset
information of traffic signal system was converted into a manageable database. A live monitoring feature with
three condition levels was developed for indicating the equipment status. The integration of the asset databases

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with GIS has greatly improved the user-friendliness and life cycle maintenance of the asset management system,
enabled faster response to equipment failure and enhanced the effectiveness in maintenance management and
replacement planning of these assets.

3.3. Remote Monitoring Unit (RMU) for transport infrastructures

Upon the successful use of GIS for asset management of traffic signal system, EMSD has extended the GIS-AM
protocol to other transport infrastructures under her maintenance. Unlike traffic signal system, most of these
infrastructure systems are operating in standalone mode without any remote monitoring tools. To acquire the
desired information from the remote facilities, we have adopted wireless solution as mobile network technology is
very mature nowadays.

EMSD has developed a remote monitoring unit based on customized System-on-Chip (SoC) module with mobile
network module integrated to enable mobile transmission of the equipment operation data. The RMU has different
interface ports for various monitoring purposes, and can monitor on/off status and measure analogue signal. The
measured signal is digitized for transmission to the server via mobile network.

The RMU is now applied to transport infrastructures including footbridge lifts and escalators, ventilation systems
at public transport interchanges, and submersible pumps in subways and underpasses.

4. INTEGRATION OF iBMS/RMU/GIS
Live equipment status from iBMS and remote conditions of transport infrastructures are now integrated under a
single GIS platform, as shown in figure 2. Different types of systems or infrastructures are displayed in different
layers of the GIS. Staff responsible for different systems can select individual layers of interest, while management
staff or staff in the fault call centre can select multiple layers for territory-wide overview of the infrastructure
conditions.

The integrated iBMS/RMU/GIS platform enables real time monitoring of system healthiness, and sends early
warning of equipment fault to maintenance staff. This integrated platform also provides a user-friendly
geographical interface to facilitate quick deployment of technical workforce to resolve problems. All these help
reduce the fault response time and fault rectification time and improve the reliability of critical infrastructure systems.
Furthermore, the integrated platform also facilitates optimization in energy usage in building and infrastructure
systems.

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Figure 2: Integration of iBMS, RMU and GIS

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5. CONCLUSION
As a positive step in transforming Hong Kong towards a smart city, EMSD has built an integrated iBMS/RMU/GIS
which enables easy visualization of the real-time status of a wide range of E&M systems distributed around Hong
Kong; provides critical information to facilitate decision making and quick deployment of suitable workforce and
support to resolve problems; as well as facilitates optimization in energy usage in buildings and infrastructure
systems.

REFERENCES
[1] Transport Department, Hong Kong, (2015). Annual Transport Digest 2015. Hong Kong.

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