In case you didn’t know I am a control freak. Not in the sense that I feel the need to control everything around me, but in the sense of what I do for a living. I operate and program the control systems for all the buildings on campus. I am the Scotty of the USS College Campus.
In general, people are ignorant about atmosphere that they work in every day. They have no idea what goes on behind the walls and above the ceiling. They take for granted all the gadgets, gizmos and doodads. I find this fascinating. I also find the gadgets themselves fascinating. In the old days, shade and a fan were all that was needed in the summer and some coal for the fire in winter. Oh how things have changed.
Buildings today behave much like space ships from the old Star Trek television series. Just about everything in the building is integrated and controlled by computer. And much like the Enterprise, buildings have environmental control system to keep everyone comfortable. This is, of course, much more critical in space; however there are still many parallels. Control systems operate heating, cooling, exhaust fans, entry alarms, security cameras, door access, parking lot lights, and fire alarms, and others to strange to list. The real differance is that buildings are not very space worthy. And the microwave won’t respond to the phrase: “Tea Earl Grey Hot”.
The other thing that all these control systems have in common with the old Star Trek series is that the controls are combined to run on one computer system. Scotty said it best: “Aye sir, the more they overtech the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.” — Scotty, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.
That is exactly how I would describe building automation systems. Which is fine with me or I would actually have to work for a living. I can usually find out what is broken from my desk. Then send someone out to fix whatever is broken. Most of the time the problem is usually a program that is doing exactly what it is supposed to do, with information that it is given. Bad information. Some of the time the computer simply tells a device to do something that it is either incapable of doing, or not appropriate for some reason. Like telling the heating system to run in the middle of the summer, or telling a camera to look at the sun.
Anyone who works with a computer that runs MS Windows is familiar with how a system will eventually corrupt itself until it starts acting loopy. This is why humans need sleep and why it is wise to turn off your PC every once in a while. Don’t tell me about the Mac. Apple doesn’t make building automation control systems. If they did I wouldn’t be quite so busy.
So if you’re reading this at work, look up. Think about what is over your head and behind the walls. You can’t see them but they are probably there. Machines are working in the back ground, probably doing their best to operate like they were designed to operate. And behind all that, someplace, there is a computer in the process of slow self destruction. And then there is the technician like me, struggling to hold it all together.
Scotty we hardly knew ya.
Prairie Flounder 
