BS-9 Network IFC: IFC for Cable Networks in Buildings

Business needs:

Improvement of the collaboration between the disciplines of architecture, HVAC, facility management, network design and network administration.
The project benefits from long experience of its members in the fields of data integration and in the development of facility management systems.

Solution:

The following solutions will support the business needs:
The co-ordination and integration activities between the disciplines of architecture, network design, facility management and others (s. above) are in the focus of the project. The co-operation will be supported by an extended IFC object model, that allows the following:

to transfer the description of various network facilities and to identify them for a usage in different CAFM- and CAD-systems
to use relevant data of building models for network design / facilities management
to use both network and building data in third application fields as HVAC, security, especially fire prevention and admission control

Expected benefits include the increase of design quality both on the architectural and the network side. Furthermore facility management processes and re-engineering of communication networks will be improved.

Scope of work:

In Scope:

The scope of the project is the support of the communication between the architect and the network designer and the facility manager using different software systems and the data exchange among different CAD- and CAFM-systems, especially network facilities management systems.
In particular the project supports the following business cases:

the description of cable lines (as suspensions and channels) in the frame of both building and network models (for the exchange between architects and network designer and network facilities managers)
the description of cable routes (shared information for network facilities managers, electricians, network administrators)
the description of sockets and their locations (shared information for network designers, network administrators, facility managers, interior architects)
the description of the breaks through walls for cable routing (shared information for architects, building engineers, security inspectors, especially fire prevention officers)
the description of the breaks through walls for cable routing (shared information for architects, building engineers, security inspectors, especially fire prevention officers)
the description of the location of network nodes (as hubs) in building- and network models (shared information for security inspectors and air conditioning engineers)

The following is in scope to support the business cases:

actions, action combinations, and reactions
geometrical descriptions
assignments of cables to cable lines
structural connections
object relations

Out-of scope:

pipe and other HVAC networks
long-distance electrical power networks

Project team
*Project leader*	Chapter	Roles	Contact email
Silvia Nitz	GS	R	nitz@gfai.de
*Technical leader*	Chapter	Roles	Contact email
Thomas Liebich	GS	I MSG	tl@aec3.de


Participants	Chapter	Roles	Contact email
Dipl.-Ing. Emmrich	GS	U
Prof. Runge	GS	U

Supporting Activities

German Federation for Co-operative Research (Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen, AiF): In the years 1999, 2000 and 2001 a project of co-operative industrial research in the frame of the AiF was supported by financial means of the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology. This project had the title: NETWORK-IFC - Industrial Foundation Classes for Networks in Buildings. An essential part of this project concerned the analysis of existing IFC with respect to cable networks in buildings and the elaboration of concepts for the usage of IFC (including extensions) to meet the challenges described above. This AiF-project is the basis for this IAI New Project Proposal. There is a good chance to acquire a following AiF-project as a financial basis for implementing the ideas, concepts and proposals, developed in the above mentioned project, in the IAI-framework. Speed of progress depends on the success of the new project submission.

Project addresses

Project web site:
Project FTP site:
Project email:

Remarks

THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN INTEGRATED INTO IFC2x2 (Release May 2003)

Sections

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BS-9 Network IFC: IFC for Cable Networks in Buildings

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