Commercial building automation has come a long way over the years. Many strides in technology have contributed to the changes we have experienced over the years. In the future, building automation will continue to evolve, and with new breakthroughs in machine learning, we are now at a new beginning in many ways.
In the 1960s and ‘70s, building automation was primarily pneumatic controls. It’s quite incredible what can be controlled using just air signals. However, these systems were only as good as the maintenance and calibration of the equipment. Many control strategies were able to be utilized, but constant tweaking and adjustments were required for temperature and occupancy.