Smart Cities

Chapter 23Smart Audio Sensing-Based HVAC Monitoring

Shahriar Nirjon¹, Ravi Srinivasan² and Tamim Sookoor³

¹Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

²M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Building Construction Management, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

³Senior Professional Staff, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA

Chapter Menu

Introduction

Background

The Design of SASEM

Experimental Results

Objectives

• • To become familiar with HVAC faults and their acoustic characteristics.
• • To become familiar with distributed acoustic sensing system.
• • To become familiar with cloud-based remote sensing and monitoring system.

23.1 Introduction

Centralized HVAC systems are the primary means to control the indoor climate and maintain occupants' comfort in over 88% of the commercial buildings in the United States [1]. They are also one of the most expensive systems in commercial buildings – in terms of both installation/replacement cost and energy consumption. Failure of an HVAC system is therefore detrimental to our well-being as well as to the finances. A notable consequence of faulty HVAC systems is the “sick building syndrome” – which leads to respiratory problems attributed to poor ventilation, low or high humidity, and unfiltered airborne particles and chemical pollutants in buildings. With adults spending over 40% of their average daytime at workplaces, proactive prognosis of HVAC system ...