Stuttgart Airport
Remote meter reading combined with building management technology
The growing number of M-Bus-capable consumption meters presented Stuttgart Airport with the challenge of further developing remote meter reading at an appropriate cost. The impressively simple solution consists of universal gateways from MBS GmbH with firmware from Baeris. In this way, data can now be transmitted securely and reliably. At the same time, a future-proof infrastructure is created that gives operators unrestricted access to building automation.
With around 8 million passengers a year and around 10,000 employees at over 300 companies and authorities, Stuttgart Airport is an important factor in the state capital of Baden-Württemberg. The airport aims to reduce its CO2 emissions to an absolute minimum by 2040. Its climate protection concept includes environmentally friendly energy generation through the expansion of solar systems and the development of an intelligent digital power grid. This is because it operates a closed distribution network as an energy supplier via a subsidiary.
Overcoming performance limits
The number of electricity meters - which communicate via the M-Bus protocol using TCP/IP or adapters for converting serial data from an RS-485 interface into IP packets - had grown continuously over the years. While they were initially connected via a self-developed solution using cascaded PLC systems, this reached its performance limits when the number of devices from different manufacturers increased. "As a result, maintenance and further development were barely possible with internal resources," recalls Klaus Sieker, Project Manager Facility Management at Stuttgart Airport.
In addition, the consumption data was to be made available to the downstream systems, such as the BelVis energy data management system (EDM) from Kisters, the Heiko heating cost billing system and the newly procured Siemens Desigo CC building management system (BMS) with a BACnet interface.
However, the search for a suitable solution proved difficult. In Sieker's experience, there are enough providers of hardware, software or complete systems - but those responsible were initially unable to find a simple, customized connection of the 256 electricity meters to the existing infrastructure. Finally, a meeting was held with Baer Energie- und Messtechnik GmbH from Fürth. Their Baeris technology is frequently used to read consumption data for electricity, gas, heat or water. When the Baeris people mentioned that they wanted to use gateways from Krefeld-based MBS GmbH for their proposal, Sieker was immediately impressed: "We were already using an MBS gateway for communication from BACnet to OPC, which works reliably."
Uncomplicated solution also for future tasks
The solution, which was created for Stuttgart Airport as a wall-mounted housing, consists of a Baeris Box APS. It contains a Baeris Resource Controller with the Baeriscon software, which is connected to a universal gateway from MBS as a communication interface for the M-Bus and BACnet bus protocols. The box is completed with a pulse recording device with two inputs, an Mbus master plus a wireless M-Bus converter for devices that cannot be reached via cable. "This means that all consumption data can be collected and made available to the various systems," explains André Wankelmuth, Managing Partner at Baeris.
A total of seven of these boxes, each of which is connected to a certain number of field devices via TCP/IP, were connected to the meter network for remote reading. "This gives us the desired, uncomplicated solution for our current tasks, but also for future challenges," says Sieker happily. He was also satisfied with the technical implementation during ongoing operations. As a distribution network operator, the airport must continuously provide certain data for market communication and cannot afford any downtime.
Remote reading plus data exchange
"With our successful partnership, we are overcoming the boundaries between remote meter reading and building automation," emphasizes Nils-Gunnar Fritz, CEO of MBS GmbH. The highlight: data acquisition protocols from the remote reading are used for the BMS across manufacturers and divisions. When porting the special Baeris software to the universal gateways, the MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport) network protocol is used for internal communication. Data mapping between the two software worlds is automated. "As a result, the box can not only be used for reliable remote reading of electricity meters, but also for secure data exchange in building automation," confirms Wankelmuth.
The many benefits of this approach: the boxes not only work reliably and are very easy to maintain - they are also ideal for energy management. "The airport's systems can be operated more efficiently than before, which benefits both the sustainability target and our tenants' electricity costs," says Sieker, citing one example. In addition, the cost-intensive exceeding of critical consumption thresholds can be avoided without great effort. "The meter supplies the consumption data to the control technology, which automatically takes over the appropriate control of the systems and switches them off if necessary," explains Wankelmuth.
Taking the operator's perspective
With their solution, Baeris and MBS are creating a new approach to building automation, as the use of the BACnet interface means that it is not necessary to use an additional automation station. "Even if additional field devices such as temperature sensors or innovative applications are to be added, no additional hardware or software is required," emphasizes Fritz. Instead, these can be added to the network via cable or radio in order to transfer the data directly to the BMS. If a different bus protocol is required, the gateways can also be flexibly expanded. Airports that want to make their infrastructure more secure with BACnet/SC also have the right equipment with the boxes, as the MBS gateways have also been certified for BACnet/SC for two years.
In addition, by bundling several functions in a single gateway, less needs to be invested in the acquisition, operation and maintenance of infrastructures and software protocols. At the same time, operating costs are reduced if recorded data is only sent once. In this way, a property operator can improve its environmental footprint, as a smaller network requires less energy. "This project shows that it can make a lot of sense to define which devices are really necessary from the operator's perspective," Wankelmuth and Fritz concluded.
