System and method for distributed facility management and operational control

An environmental control system configured for use in connection with a multi-facility enterprise for operational monitoring and control of disparate environmental control devices operating in accordance with disparate communication protocols communicating over disparate interface ports, the control system comprising:

• an environmental control system structural definition implemented as a node tree structure, the node tree structure further including;
• a communication port layer comprising nodes each defining a communication interface characteristic of a particular one of the disparate communication interface ports;
• a device handler layer depending from the communication port layer, the device handler layer comprising nodes each defining a particular one of the plurality of disparate communication protocols;
• and
• a device layer depending from the device handler layer, the device layer comprising nodes each defining a particular one of the multiplicity of disparate environmental control devices, wherein each device node depends from a particular corresponding device handler node.

An environmental control system configured for use in connection with a multifacility enterprise for operational monitoring and control of disparate environmental control devices operating in accordance with disparate communication protocols communicating over disparate interface ports the control system comprising:

• an environmental control system structural definition implemented as a node tree structure, the node tree structure further including;
• a communication port layer comprising nodes each defining a communication interface characteristic of a particular one of the disparate communication interface ports;
• a device handler layer depending from the communication port layer, the device handler layer comprising nodes each defining a particular one of the plurality of disparate communication protocols;
• and
• a device layer depending from the device handler layer, the device layer comprising nodes each defining a particular one of the multiplicity of disparate environmental control devices, wherein each device node depends from a particular corresponding device handler node;
• and the environmental control system further comprising a data point layer depending from the device layer, the data point layer comprising nodes each defining characteristic I/O data metrics for an environmental control device.

In an environmental control system configured for use in connection with a multifacility enterprise, a method for operational monitoring and control of disparate environmental control devices operating in accordance with disparate communication protocols communicating over disparate interface ports, the method comprising:

• providing a microprocessor-based control host;
• coupling a multiplicity of I/O ports to the control host, the I/O ports including a plurality of communication bus implementations;
• coupling a multiplicity of disparate environmental control devices to the host over the multiplicity of I/O ports, each control device operatively responsive to monitoring and control commands delivered in accordance with one of a plurality of disparate communication protocols;
• providing a configuration database, including configuration files, each configuration file further comprising an identification of monitoring and control commands corresponding to each of the multiplicity of disparate environmental control devices;
• defining an environmental control system structure, the structure implemented as a node tree structure, the node tree structure defining step further including;
• identifying an initial object layer, the initial object layer defining nodes that define physical or logical interactions required to perform an I/O operation to an environmental control device;
• depending a device handler layer from the initial object layer, the device handler layer comprising nodes each defining a particular one of the plurality of disparate communication protocols;
• and
• depending a device layer from the device handler layer, the device layer comprising nodes each defining a particular one of the multiplicity of disparate environmental control devices, wherein each device node depends from a particular corresponding device handler node.