I n t e r n a t i o n a l T e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n U n i o n

ITU-T L.1370 TELECOMMUNICATION STANDARDIZATION SECTOR OF ITU

(11/2018)

SERIES L: ENVIRONMENT AND ICTS, CLIMATE CHANGE, E-WASTE, ENERGY EFFICIENCY; CONSTRUCTION, INSTALLATION AND PROTECTION OF CABLES AND OTHER ELEMENTS OF OUTSIDE PLANT

Sustainable and intelligent building services

Recommendation ITU-T L.1370

ITU-T L-SERIES RECOMMENDATIONS

ENVIRONMENT AND ICTS, CLIMATE CHANGE, E-WASTE, ENERGY EFFICIENCY; CONSTRUCTION,

INSTALLATION AND PROTECTION OF CABLES AND OTHER ELEMENTS OF OUTSIDE PLANT

OPTICAL FIBRE CABLES

Cable structure and characteristics L.100–L.124

Cable evaluation L.125–L.149

Guidance and installation technique L.150–L.199

OPTICAL INFRASTRUCTURES

Infrastructure including node elements (except cables) L.200–L.249

General aspects and network design L.250–L.299

MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION

Optical fibre cable maintenance L.300–L.329

Infrastructure maintenance L.330–L.349

Operation support and infrastructure management L.350–L.379

Disaster management L.380–L.399

PASSIVE OPTICAL DEVICES L.400–L.429

MARINIZED TERRESTRIAL CABLES L.430–L.449

For further details, please refer to the list of ITU-T Recommendations.

Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018) i

Recommendation ITU-T L.1370

Sustainable and intelligent building services

Summary

The concept of sustainable intelligent building (SIB) is closely related to efficiency and

environmentally-aware practices. The concept is therefore the key enabler of the sustainability of the

building itself, and of the city as a whole. Recommendation ITU-T L.1370 sets the minimal

requirements for the efficient and sustainable management of the building as a unit. The sustainability

of human activities in urban areas cannot be addressed without taking into consideration the building,

which is the most basic unit that cities are composed of.

This Recommendation also defines the services enabled by the SIB concept, the way it contributes to

the aforementioned goals of sustainability, its features, its different possible functioning modes, or its

internal architecture and requirements with the Internet of things (IoT) node at its core.

Interoperability deserves a special mention among these requirements and specifications, as most of

the added-value that the SIB provides comes into action when it interacts with other parts of the

building, other buildings, city elements, or the city itself. Protocols, semantics, and normalization are

key as a part of this interaction, and the SIB with its IoT node is required to be compliant with all of

them.

Extensibility is another key feature for the SIB and the IoT node. The technology behind smart and

sustainable cities is currently evolving very quickly, as it is a state-of-the-art technological arena. That

is the reason why one of the most important architectural patterns to take into consideration is to design

a SIB and an IoT node that support not only upgrading, but also the capacity to accommodate new

technologies, protocols, services and applications that may be relevant for the industry in the future.

In addition to these clear advantages for the technical durability of the SIB infrastructure, this will

enable as well the creation of an open "smart ecosystem", with third parties being able to integrate

their own developments, expanding the capacities of the SIB, and ultimately contributing to improve

the quality of life of citizens.

History

Edition Recommendation Approval Study Group Unique ID*

1.0 ITU-T L.1370 2018-11-13 5 11.1002/1000/13724

Keywords

Energy efficiency, environment, structural stability, sustainability, sustainable building.

* To access the Recommendation, type the URL http://handle.itu.int/ in the address field of your web

browser, followed by the Recommendation's unique ID. For example, http://handle.itu.int/11.1002/1000/11

830-en.

ii Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018)

FOREWORD

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the United Nations specialized agency in the field of

telecommunications, information and communication technologies (ICTs). The ITU Telecommunication

Standardization Sector (ITU-T) is a permanent organ of ITU. ITU-T is responsible for studying technical,

operating and tariff questions and issuing Recommendations on them with a view to standardizing

telecommunications on a worldwide basis.

The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), which meets every four years, establishes

the topics for study by the ITU-T study groups which, in turn, produce Recommendations on these topics.

The approval of ITU-T Recommendations is covered by the procedure laid down in WTSA Resolution 1.

In some areas of information technology which fall within ITU-T's purview, the necessary standards are

prepared on a collaborative basis with ISO and IEC.

NOTE

In this Recommendation, the expression "Administration" is used for conciseness to indicate both a

telecommunication administration and a recognized operating agency.

Compliance with this Recommendation is voluntary. However, the Recommendation may contain certain

mandatory provisions (to ensure, e.g., interoperability or applicability) and compliance with the

Recommendation is achieved when all of these mandatory provisions are met. The words "shall" or some other

obligatory language such as "must" and the negative equivalents are used to express requirements. The use of

such words does not suggest that compliance with the Recommendation is required of any party.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

ITU draws attention to the possibility that the practice or implementation of this Recommendation may involve

the use of a claimed Intellectual Property Right. ITU takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or

applicability of claimed Intellectual Property Rights, whether asserted by ITU members or others outside of

the Recommendation development process.

As of the date of approval of this Recommendation, ITU had not received notice of intellectual property,

protected by patents, which may be required to implement this Recommendation. However, implementers are

cautioned that this may not represent the latest information and are therefore strongly urged to consult the TSB

patent database at http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/ipr/.

ITU 2019

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, by any means whatsoever, without the prior

written permission of ITU.

Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018) iii

Table of Contents

Page

1 Scope ............................................................................................................................. 1

2 References ..................................................................................................................... 1

3 Definitions .................................................................................................................... 1

3.1 Terms defined elsewhere ................................................................................ 1

3.2 Terms defined in this Recommendation ......................................................... 2

4 Abbreviations and acronyms ........................................................................................ 2

5 Conventions .................................................................................................................. 3

6 Description of a sustainable and intelligent building and its control by IoT node ....... 3

6.1 Sustainable and intelligent building concept .................................................. 3

6.2 Functioning modes of the SIB: standalone mode, in association with

another SIB, or integrated with the smart city ................................................ 5

7 Building IoT node: concept and structure .................................................................... 6

7.1 Basic structure ................................................................................................ 6

7.2 Building IoT node functional needs ............................................................... 7

7.3 Building IoT node requirements ..................................................................... 8

8 Relationships of the SIB with other buildings .............................................................. 9

9 Relationships of the SIB with the city .......................................................................... 10

Appendix I – Examples of interaction between SIB and other systems .................................. 11

I.1 Fire detection case .......................................................................................... 11

I.2 Pollution ......................................................................................................... 11

I.3 Water losses .................................................................................................... 11

I.4 Earthquakes .................................................................................................... 11

Bibliography............................................................................................................................. 13

Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018) 1

Recommendation ITU-T L.1370

Sustainable and intelligent building services

1 Scope

This Recommendation sets out the services and data required for a sustainable and intelligent building

to improve the quality of life of citizens, as well as the specification of its functional features and the

technical requirements to be met by the device that provides these services and data.

2 References

The following ITU-T Recommendations and other references contain provisions which, through

reference in this text, constitute provisions of this Recommendation. At the time of publication, the

editions indicated were valid. All Recommendations and other references are subject to revision;

users of this Recommendation are therefore encouraged to investigate the possibility of applying the

most recent edition of the Recommendations and other references listed below. A list of the currently

valid ITU-T Recommendations is regularly published. The reference to a document within this

Recommendation does not give it, as a stand-alone document, the status of a Recommendation.

[ITU-T Y.4200] Recommendation ITU-T Y.4200 (2018), Requirements for the interoperability

of smart city platforms.

[ITU-T Y.4201] Recommendation ITU-T Y.4201 (2018), High-level requirements and

reference framework of smart city platforms.

3 Definitions

3.1 Terms defined elsewhere

This Recommendation uses the following terms defined elsewhere:

3.1.1 big data [b-ITU-T Y.3600]: A paradigm for enabling the collection, storage, management,

analysis and visualization, potentially under real-time constraints, of extensive datasets with

heterogeneous characteristics.

NOTE – Examples of dataset characteristics include high-volume, high-velocity, high-variety, etc.

3.1.2 city [b-ITU-T Y.4900]: An urban geographical area with one (or several) local government

and planning authorities.

3.1.3 city platform [ITU-T Y.4201]: A computer system or integration of computer systems that

, uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) to access data sources and process them

to offer urban operation and services to the city.

NOTE – The concept is extended to a community.

3.1.4 Internet of things (IoT) [b-ITU-T Y.4000]: A global infrastructure for the information

society, enabling advanced services by interconnecting (physical and virtual) things based on existing

and evolving interoperable information and communication technologies.

NOTE 1 – Through the exploitation of identification, data capture, processing and communication capabilities,

the IoT makes full use of things to offer services to all kinds of applications, whilst ensuring that security and

privacy requirements are fulfilled.

NOTE 2 – From a broader perspective, the IoT can be perceived as a vision with technological and societal

implications.

3.1.5 interoperability [b-ITU-T Y.101]: The ability of two or more systems or applications to

exchange information and to mutually use the information that has been exchanged.

2 Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018)

3.1.6 open interface [ITU-T Y.4201]: A public standard for connecting hardware to hardware and

software to software. Open interfaces are designed and documented for safe and easy use by third

party developers and freely available to all.

3.1.7 smart city platform (SCP) [ITU-T Y.4201]: A city platform that offers direct integration of

city platforms and systems, or through open interfaces between city platforms and third parties, in

order to offer the urban operation and services supporting the functioning of city services, as well as

efficiency, performance, security and scalability.

3.1.8 smart sustainable city (SSC) [b-ITU-T Y.4900]: A smart sustainable city is an innovative

city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve

quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services and competitiveness, while ensuring that it

meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental

and cultural aspects.

3.2 Terms defined in this Recommendation

This Recommendation defines the following terms:

3.2.1 sustainable and intelligent building (SIB): A concept that includes a building with all its

internal premises and systems, and also the surrounding area that has an impact on the building. In

the concept of SIB, energy aspects are especially relevant when considering sustainability. The SIB's

configuration can be either as an isolated building, or as a building linked to other SIBs in its

proximity (with which it may share resources), or as a city element.

3.2.2 Internet of things (IoT) node: The equipment located in the SIB that interfaces with the city

platform, other IoT nodes, external data sources, or internal data sources (sensors in the building or

the surrounding area).

3.2.3 open standards: Standards made available to the general public and which are developed (or

approved) and maintained via a collaborative and consensus driven process.

NOTE – Open standards facilitate interoperability and data exchange among different products or services and

are intended for widespread adoption.

3.2.4 Java: General purpose object oriented class based computer programming language.

3.2.5 sandbox concept: A set of security rules that are used to prevent the IoT from executing

certain functions when they are not allowed to do so.

4 Abbreviations and acronyms

This Recommendation uses the following abbreviations and acronyms:

API Application Programming Interface

BMS Building Management System

CO Carbon Oxide (monoxide)

ICT Information and Communication Technology

IoT Internet of Things

IT Information Technology

Java OSGI Java Open Service Gateway Initiative

KPI Key Performance Indicator

LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol

MEMS Micro-Electro Mechanical Sensors

Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018) 3

MQTT Message Queuing Telemetry Transport

OAuth Open Authentication

REST Representational State Transfer

SCP Smart City Platform

SIB Sustainable and Intelligent Building

SSC Smart Sustainable City

5 Conventions

None.

6 Description of a sustainable and intelligent building and its control by IoT node

6.1 Sustainable and intelligent building concept

An SIB building provides services and data that can contribute to improve the quality of life of

citizens and the sustainability of human activities. Usually, this information is very useful for the

cities, but the SIB can also contribute to these goals without interfacing with any other city element,

and by considering the building just from an isolated perspective. For all of these purposes, the SIB

shall meet some specifications regarding its functional features and technical requirements.

Although the services provided by the SIB can be very diverse, the scope of this Recommendation

only highlights those that are considered as basic services with high added value:

– Pollution information: The building can work as a powerful sensor of air pollution levels

(both at street level and at roof level), noise pollution levels, and water pollution levels. This

information enables the monitoring of the principal key performance indicators (KPI) taken

into account for analysing the sustainability of cities.

– Consumption of public services: The SIB can also be considered as an information source

that provides the city with data related to the consumption of the basic public services, such

as electric power, water, fuel gas and diesel. In the case of electric power, the SIB also

provides the city with information on the electric power generated by the SIB and the

capacities and status of its own energy storage. This information will be used by the city to

improve the power supply efficiency. Given the structure of the cities, distribution networks

define how public services are provided and operated; the aggregation of the public services

provided to the buildings, neighbourhoods, districts, etc., is a valuable mean to understand

the use that is made of these services, and will help to redesign and/or expand the distribution

networks and the provision of services in certain areas.

– Events and crisis management: From a reactive point of view, in a critical or anomalous

situation (fires, high occupancy levels, floods, gas leaks, spills of dangerous substances, level

of CO2 in garages, etc.), the building is an essential element that provides the city with

contextual information for the management of events in the urban area.

– Seismic and structural stability information: As a constructive element, the building is

one of the most important elements in seismic risk management. It provides valuable

information about structural stability by using types of sensors such as micro-electro

mechanical sensors (MEMS), inclinometers, crack meters, temperature sensors for structures,

etc.

– Mobility management: As the element of the city where people develop most of their

activity (working, sleeping, etc.), the SIB is a key element for defining the flows of people

through the city. It is able to provide information such as the number of inhabitants of the

building, the number of persons at a given time, or the number of vehicles within the building,

4 Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018)

etc. All of this information is relevant for handling the challenge of managing mobility and

controlling the CO2 emissions caused by vehicles.

– Energy efficiency: As a consumer, producer and energy operator, the SIB is a key element

regarding energy efficiency. It can provide valuable information and can adapt the SIB

behavior to the needs of the city or the building itself, taking into account sustainability,

savings, or any other predefined criteria.

Likewise, smart Wi-Fi data usage and entertainment systems present in the IoT node can provide

useful information for profiling the citizens and their habits, taking into account privacy and data

protection compliance requirements (e.g., the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

[b-EU 2016/679] in the case of European countries).

In addition to these basic services, the building will provide other services such as parking, number

of persons being hosted, lift management, etc.

These basic services with high added value could lead not only to the development of eco-rating

schemes or programs that will help the city as a whole, but they will also help end-users to make

better choices based on reliable information which will ultimately promote sustainability and

environmentally aware behaviours to the benefit of the city and its citizens. Beneficially, the citizen

will be empowered in terms of energy, health and mobility management.

6.1.1 Sustainable and intelligent building and energy efficiency

The cost of electricity is a main consideration to be taken into account for the purpose of cost

reduction. The SIB shall have real-time data of the cost of electricity (to be provided by suppliers).

This will contribute to the awareness in terms of energy consumption.

NOTE – Real-time implies the fastest possible response depending on the country's infrastructure.

An energy consumption analysis can be done at the SIB level. From the perspective of the SIB, energy

consumption is related to heating and lighting. By means of the IoT node and its functionality, the

SIB will be able to analyse energy consumption and make the best decision in order to maximize

sustainability.

The SIB will have different energy inputs and a control logic as well as information on the different

commercial offers of all the companies that offer energy supply to the building, as well as the different

available energy sources (solar, geothermal, wind, heat pumps, etc.) and energy storages (batteries,

heat tank, etc.), and will support the possibility of selling energy surplus. With all this information

and the control logic provided by the SIB, the building manager will be in a position to make decisions

based on savings, sustainability, or any other criteria. Additionally, the unified system that provides

the users with access to these data will allow them to:

– Monitor their own consumptions to prevent unexpected increase. This will enable users to

reduce their bills, which in some cases will be at the expense of their comfort.

– Maximize sustainability by reducing the impact on the environment, promoting the

awareness that energy inefficient consumption is directly translated into CO2 emissions.

Energy suppliers will be able to manage and monitor energy counters remotely, and they will also

have access to consumption data, which will allow them to:

– Estimate consumption forecasts.

– Profile their customers and provide them with appealing commercial offers. This will help in

consumption management as well.

– Improve fraud detection and prevention.

The SIB enables energy efficiency and promotes the use of green sustainable energy. The contribution

of the SIB to a more efficient approach to energy consumption will have a positive impact on

Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018) 5

sustainability to the benefit of the environment and the citizens, and thus contributing to reduce the

carbon footprint.

6.2 Functioning modes of the SIB: standalone mode, in association with another SIB, or

integrated with the smart city

The IoT node is at the core of the SIB. The functioning of this IoT node will be described in clause 6.3.

A variety of use cases can take advantage of the SIB's definition, bearing in mind that the area of

influence of the building goes beyond its physical limits. These use cases will be related to data that

affect the building somehow, and can range from information on surface parking slots to a pollution

sensor located on the rooftop, passing through geothermal information, solar installations, energy

excesses management in conjunction with adjacent buildings inside the same complex, etc.

The SIB will collect all of this information, it will process and enrich it, and finally it will execute

any logic based on the analysis of the data. The most typical scenarios for the isolated mode are

scenarios in which interfacing with other buildings or the city is not necessary. These scenarios

include use cases such as:

– controlling supplies,

– making decisions and taking actions to reduce costs,

– activating emergency or building evacuation plans,

– controlling temperatures inside the building and interfacing with air-conditioned or heating

installations,

– controlling lighting based on daytime and the presence of people in different areas of the

building,

– enabling mobility inside the building in cases of mass-presence or overcrowded situations,

etc.

The first functioning mode of the SIB is a standalone mode. The SIB works in an independent way

and it does not interface with other SIBs or city elements. Notwithstanding, even in a standalone

mode, the SIB is required to be integrated with the building internal systems, ranging from escalator

networks, to lifts or temperature control systems, among others, and specially being capable of

weighting and identifying the different destinations of energy consumption. The SIB collects data in

order to have the capacity to analyse and make decisions, but it does not necessarily need to be a

controller, as there may already be specific management systems that control these internal systems

of the building. In spite of this, the SIB may optionally control and operate these systems. As a result

of all the available information, the SIB has the capacity to analyse patterns of usage, implement

predictive models at SIB-level, and contribute to the improvement of consumption habits of the

citizens.

The second functioning mode of the SIB is its association with other SIBs allowing it to take on a

secondary role of interfacing with another master SIB. In this configuration, from the master SIB's

point of view, the secondary SIB plays the same conceptual role as an external data source. For the

interface between SIBs, a bidirectional data link is needed to support the flow of data exchange.

The third functioning mode of the SIB is as an element of the smart city. In this capacity, the SIB

adds value both as a building and as a part of a group of buildings that provide data. The SIB can be

considered as a basic city element that can help to provide valuable and relevant information to

achieve the aforementioned goals. In this regard, it maximizes efficiency in the use of resources, and

contributes to protect citizens, including their health and well-being. It also helps to minimize the

negative impacts of human activities, such as waste, inefficient energy consumption and pollution.

Once the information is provided by the SIB at a city level, it can be aggregated with other SIBs' data,

and then it can be used to define city or district maps showing pollution levels, energy or water

consumption per capita and rent, population density and presence, generation of waste based on

6 Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018)

different segmentation factors, such as, family incomes, etc. These maps will be very valuable when

used as an economic and social assessment to design new strategies and city plans with much greater

effectiveness.

For instance, in terms of energy efficiency, the SIB not only collects data from its sensors and devices,

but it also enriches this data with context information such as the number of tenants, usage profiles,

localization, etc. This is an additional enrichment of information that has already added value at the

SIB level and maximizes its value with the use cases in which the SIB sends its data to other buildings,

public city elements, and/or the city itself. With this information, city actors that generate and

consume electricity can be coordinated, which optimizes the use of energy, helps to formulate energy

management plans, and even the design and the expansion of the power supply network (or its

redesign). For the two former non-standalone modes, the interfacing of the SIB with other city

elements requires a bidirectional communication and data exchange, which will support both the

building manager and the city in decision-making processes.

For interfacing with the smart city, the data shall be exchanged using the normalized interfaces

defined in [ITU-T Y.4201]. These will be addressed in the following clauses.

7 Building IoT node: concept and structure

All SIB's services and data will be provided through the IoT node. The IoT node is an equipment that

is the main enabler of all these functionalities at the SIB level. It collects data from the different

sources, and enriches the data, stores them, interfaces with other SIBs and with the city. For all these

interfaces, it is key that the IoT node implements well-defined semantics, which shall consider the

whole range of use cases. These semantics will contribute to a layer of standardization that is critical

to ensure interoperability between different vendors, either inside the building itself, or when

communicating with other city elements. By means of the IoT node, the SIB will also be able to

interface with sensors, actuators and communications. This way, the IoT node will be able to detect

different scenarios, and react to them, thus incrementing the resilience of the building.

7.1 Basic structure

The building IoT node, in the context of the SIB, is an element for communication and processing of

information that will be implemented according to the structure described in Figure 1, and that is

required to offer the following capabilities:

– interact with city elements: The IoT node enables the building to be integrated into the city

and interact its elements in a secure way. The building will provide information to other urban

entities and it can take decisions, or to carry out specific actions in collaboration with other

elements of the city.

– Communicate with all elements of the building: The building IoT node, as an enabler, can

interact with the elements contained in it by specific actuators or sensors (measures basic

services, infrastructure sensors, technical alarms, atmospheric sensors, etc.) in a secure way.

– Interact with the systems and private networks of the building: The building can be

considered as a set of systems and networks which can interact with it. The IoT node shall

have the capacity to communicate with these systems and private networks.

– Process and infer information: The IoT node shall be able to gather the information,

aggregate it and perform rules and procedures locally according to the edge-computing

paradigm. This feature is key for allowing the delegation of certain tasks (mainly critical and

near real-time ones) from the smart city, filtering and improving the information with more

detail and providing value added services.

– Update and upgrade: The IoT node shall include updating capabilities in terms of new

service accommodation, new application accommodation and communication protocol

Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018) 7

extension and upgrading. In this sense, the IoT node shall be able to adapt to new services

and technologies.

Figure 1 – Building IoT node structure

7.2 Building IoT node functional needs

To cover all of the aforementioned needs, it is required that the IoT node is appropriately sized. It

will have enough processing power and storage capacity to process the local information, to buffer

this information in the absence of connectivity (mitigating the risks of data loss), and to transform it

into valuable data that allows decisions to be made (both locally and remotely). The following

functional needs have been identified:

– Communications and connectivity: The IoT node shall have the connectivity (both internal

and external) required to provide the basic services by using open and, as far as possible,

standardized protocols.

– Storage: The IoT node will store different data according to needs. It is recommended to use

static storage such as solid state drive to increase the reliability and durability of the system.

– Processing: The node shall analyse and immediately process the information received from

different sources, and it shall generate new triggers or signals that will be sent to other

systems. Additionally, the node may use these processing capabilities to ensure the quality

of the data gathered through the aggregation of different sources.

– Security: The IoT node should have the security elements, both software and hardware,

which ensure:

• Integrity of the system and its data.

• Confidentiality of the sensitive information.

• Availability of information to third parties and ensure the capacity to reject connections

not allowed.

• Authentication of source and destination.

• Codification of communications.

• Authorization to make use of the services and resources of the system by third parties, or

to make use of the software deployed on it.

– Software management: The IoT node will have the capacity to manage and certify its

software, and it will also supply the needed resources, both hardware and software, to support

updating the software on all of its layers. This capacity shall be provided both locally and

remotely.

– Extendibility: The IoT node will have the capacity to support specific third-party

developments for local-based services. This will allow the possibility of creating new

services based on the developed architecture. Additionally, the IoT node may include specific

8 Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018)

features and characteristics to allow hardware updates of the system in an easy way, for a

smooth implementation of new protocols.

7.3 Building IoT node requirements

SIB requirements are classified in functional and technical requirements.

7.3.1 Functional requirements

It is recommended that, as an adaptation of the mentioned standard, platforms that integrate the

information of the SIB support the following features or functions depending on the use-case:

– Integration: The integration with other SIBs and city platforms through standardized

application programming interfaces (APIs) and protocols (message queuing telemetry

transport (MQTT), representational state transfer (REST), etc.) to enable bidirectional

communication with IoT nodes or other systems., The requirements for the communications

are described in subsequent sections.

– Semantic rules: IoT node is required to have the capacity to manage multiple semantic

models of information. This capability is aimed at the mash-up application of information

between different data domains and representations of the objects (entities) included in them.

– Event interoperability: It provides the necessary interfaces so that the events generated in

the IoT node can trigger actions in the city platform and other connected external systems, as

well as being able to send events internally to the IoT node to trigger actions inside the

building, e.g., evacuation alarms.

– Data standards: The possibility to make available the generated information as open data to

be used by other city systems or citizens.

– IoT node security has the following features:

• Supports, authentication and authorization.

• Controls access to the SIB and all of the elements accessed through this IoT node, such

as, sensors, control centers, databases and applications.

• Ensures confidentiality in the communications with the SIB.

• Ensure confidentiality of access to data, so that each role can only view the data to which

it has been authorized.

• Enables the definition and management of security policies.

• Manages the maintenance of users, roles, permissions and profiles. Central module and

easy access (via web) to administer user management roles and permissions.

• Supports different authentication mechanisms such as user-based and password-based

solutions, tokens, open authentication (OAuth), electronic certificates (from individuals,

servers and applications) or other advanced solutions based, for example, on biometric

techniques.

• Enables integration with existing user repositories in the public administrations,

including, lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) style repositories and user

databases, among others.

• Gives the possibility of extension by adapting the security mechanisms in accordance to

the needs of each city.

Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018) 9

7.3.2 Technical requirements

It is required that the IoT node provides access to the information of at least a group of mandatory

sensors in SIB (the access type can be a direct access to a sensor or through connection with a building

management system (BMS) or legacy system) taking into account the following:

– The IoT node shall be able to capture information from at least one specific energy

consumption meter.

– The IoT node shall be able to capture information from at least one specific air quality and

pollution sensor.

– The IoT node shall be able to capture information from at least one specific flowmeter for

water service information collection.

– The IoT node shall be able to capture information from at least one fire detector.

– The IoT node shall be able to capture information from at least one flooding detector.

– The IoT node shall be able to capture information from at least one carbon oxide (monoxide)

(CO) detector.

– The IoT node shall be able to capture information from at least one fire detector.

In addition to this list of mandatory sensors for SIB, complementary services can be provided for

additional value-added services and solutions, such as, building occupation measuring cameras,

seismic detectors, etc.

The IoT node to be installed in a SIB shall include basic and optional requirements depending on the

use case. Technical specifications are recommended to guarantee the fulfilment of these functional

requirements introduced previously and are listed below:

– It is recommended that the IoT node includes a processor with at least two cores of at least

1 GHz processing speed to allow the smart functional requirement.

NOTE – This relatively low performance, compared to high-end general use personal computers, is

intended to profit from the very compact and low energy consumption of lower specification hardware

specifically designed for IoT, and which may cover the needs of small buildings. Larger buildings

may require a more powerful computer.

– It is recommended that the IoT node includes a low-latency and solid-state drive mass

memory up to 8 Gb to guarantee the performance of the system in non-communication

situations during a certain amount of time.

– It is recommended that the IoT node provides wireless local area network connectivity

through at least two protocols such as 802.11, 802.15 or Z-Wave, among others.

– It is recommended that the IoT node provides wired local area network connectivity through

at least two protocols such as Ethernet, optics fiber or RS-485, among others.

– It is recommended that the IoT node provides at least one wired wide area network

connectivity interface (for example, Ethernet) and one wireless wide area network

connectivity interface (for example, 3G, 4G or NB-IoT).

– It is recommended that the IoT node provides specific frameworks for third-parties

application and services deployment (for example, Java OSGI framework) through specific

integration API, enabling the sandbox concept.

8 Relationships of the SIB with other buildings

The IoT node can work as an independent element of the city by providing information management

to the building and offering services to the neighbours of the building. In this context, the IoT node

collects the information from the sensors and triggers the actions, in case of critical situations, that

are necessary to protect and safeguard the people. Although in this case, the IoT node does not

communicate with the city platform, it can communicate with the rest of the nearby SIBs enabling

10 Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018)

collaboration between them and generating coordinated responses to events, such as environmental

alerts, evacuation plans or safety closing in emergencies.

9 Relationships of the SIB with the city

Figure 2 – Intelligent building and the smart city platform

Inside a smart city ecosystem, the interoperable communication with third parties and with external

elements as illustrated in Figure 2 shall comply with Recommendation [ITU-T Y.4200] that requires

open and standardized interfaces. The SIB can be considered as an object of a smart city which,

additionally to its own functions, shall provide information as an external infrastructure. The

information should be in a standardized format to be understood by the city platform.

This standard format of information shall comply with [ITU-T Y.4200]. This Recommendation

should serve as a cornerstone for the effective development of communications between the different

stakeholders involved in the smart cities.

Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018) 11

Appendix I

Examples of interaction between SIB and other systems

(This appendix does not form an integral part of this Recommendation.)

I.1 Fire detection case

The IoT node through the sensor connection and/or the building management system (BMS) detects

the ignition of a smoke sensor and verifies if it is a false alarm. The IoT node adds relevant context

information to the alert event, for example, occupation of the building, arrangement of exits,

prioritization of areas that are expected to be incorporated into the fire event, local action resources

such as sprinkler system or fire extinguisher arrangement, etc.; and sends the message to the platform.

This message activates the corresponding alert event to the platform of the authority/ person/system

with responsibility or possibility to intervene. The platform processes the initial context of

information provided by the IoT node and enriches it with data external to the building such as the

location of nearby fire stations, traffic lights in the area, availability of water intakes, etc. This

enrichment is oriented to the application of the automatic intervention protocol. The platform

manages the automatic activation of the plan or, failing that, the request for action to the responsible

or authorized persons.

I.2 Pollution

The IoT node records the air pollution information by connecting to the sensors located on the street

and on the roof and enriches it with context information such as positioning, temperature, moisture

or other interest values, and sends this information to the city platform. With this information, the

city generates a pollution forecast and modifies the behaviour of the city, by, for example, closing or

diverting the traffic in some areas, keeping pollution at safe levels for citizens and issuing safety alerts

that can inform the citizens about the situations and risks.

I.3 Water losses

The IoT node obtains information regarding the water supply to the building and its consumption

including the number of litres of water consumed and other vital information such as, water pressure

and water pollution levels. The IoT nodes enriches this data with context data such as building

positioning, number of tenants, type of use of the facilities, etc., and sends this information to the

platform. The platform receives this information of the buildings of the city located in different

distribution areas and analyses the consumption and supply. If it detects water leaks or dangerous

pollution levels in any area, it informs the supplier companies of the incident and communicates with

the IoT nodes of buildings to limit or close the water supply to the building, thus fostering the water

management at a city level.

I.4 Earthquakes

In case of seismic movements, the buildings are the most affected elements of the city. Consequently,

the ability to make a real-time review of their conditions is very significant to minimizing the risks.

In this context, the IoT node integrated with the city platform represents a great advantage when it

comes to organizing and coordinating rescue services. The IoT node would receive the information

from the different sensors of the building (inclinometers, crack meters, MEMS, accelerometers, etc.),

process it and if structural problems are detected in the building, this situation is notified to the

platform of the city. Additional information such as, the location, number of people that are in the

building, access points, etc., could also be provided. The platform generates an evacuation plan

according to the status of the different buildings, sending the emergency services to the most affected

points of the city, evacuation zones or cutting the traffic of vehicles and people towards the dangerous

zones. Simultaneously, the IoT node enables the security mechanisms of the building, activating

12 Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018)

alarms, escape zones, closing the gas and electricity supplies or activating fire control systems. On

the other hand, the IoT node communicates its status to the nearby buildings and with this information,

these buildings can make decisions such as to disable evacuation zones, or to close windows and

shutters to minimize material and human losses in case of collapse of nearby buildings.

Rec. ITU-T L.1370 (11/2018) 13

Bibliography

[b-ITU-T Y.101] Recommendation ITU-T Y.101 (2000), Global Information Infrastructure

terminology: Terms and definitions.

[b-ITU-T Y.3600] Recommendation ITU-T Y.3600 (2015), Big data – Cloud computing based

requirements and capabilities.

[b-ITU-T Y.4000] Recommendation ITU-T Y.4000/Y.2060 (2012), Overview of the Internet of

things.

[b-ITU-T Y.4552] Recommendation ITU-T Y.4552/Y.2078 (2016), Application support models of

the Internet of things.

[b-ITU-T Y.4900] Recommendation ITU-T Y.4900/L.1600 (2016), Overview of key performance

indicators in smart sustainable cities.

[b-ITU-T Y.4903] Recommendation ITU-T Y.4903/L.1603 (2016), Key performance indicators

for smart sustainable cities to assess the achievement of sustainable

development goals.

[b-EU 2016/679] European General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679

Printed in Switzerland Geneva, 2019

SERIES OF ITU-T RECOMMENDATIONS

Series A Organization of the work of ITU-T

Series D Tariff and accounting principles and international telecommunication/ICT economic and

policy issues

Series E Overall network operation, telephone service, service operation and human factors

Series F Non-telephone telecommunication services

Series G Transmission systems and media, digital systems and networks

Series H Audiovisual and multimedia systems

Series I Integrated services digital network

Series J Cable networks and transmission of television, sound programme and other multimedia

signals

Series K Protection against interference

Series L Environment and ICTs, climate change, e-waste, energy efficiency; construction,

installation and protection of cables and other elements of outside plant

Series M Telecommunication management, including TMN and network maintenance

Series N Maintenance: international sound programme and television transmission circuits

Series O Specifications of measuring equipment

Series P Telephone transmission quality, telephone installations, local line networks

Series Q Switching and signalling, and associated measurements and tests

Series R Telegraph transmission

Series S Telegraph services terminal equipment

Series T Terminals for telematic services

Series U Telegraph switching

Series V Data communication over the telephone network

Series X Data networks, open system communications and security

Series Y Global information infrastructure, Internet protocol aspects, next-generation networks,

Internet of Things and smart cities

Series Z Languages and general software aspects for telecommunication systems