Automating the design process for smart building technologies

Smart buildings are emerging as complex cyber-physical systems that aim to provide safe, comfortable, energy-efficient, and aesthetically pleasing environments. However, traditional design methods are becoming inefficient due to increasing functional complexity, cost pressures, and market demands. This paper introduces a platform-based design (PBD) methodology for smart buildings. PBD promotes hardware and software reuse on shared infrastructures, enables rapid prototyping, and facilitates extensive design space exploration to optimize performance. We identify, abstract, and formalize key components of smart buildings, presenting a design flow that transforms high-level functional specifications into physical implementations within the PBD framework. To demonstrate the practical application of this approach, we present a case study on the design of an occupancy-responsive heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system.