ABSTRACT
Facility managers are confronted with a wide range of products and features that can contribute to improved facility performance. From alarms to fault detection and diagnosis (FD&D) and analysis tools, to automated analytics, each has their place and offers specific capabilities and benefits. From alarms to fault detection and diagnosis and analysis tools, to automated analytics, each has their place and offers specific capabilities and benefits. Alarms are one of the fundamental tools that have been available in building automation systems since the early 1980s and remain an important tool. Often, when first introduced to advanced analytic tools, people compare them with alarms. Adding new alarms typically means modifying control logic or parameters in controllers. FD&D techniques are typically equipment centric and characterized by pre-defined rules that are based on engineering model of a piece of equipment—for example, FD&D rules for a type of packaged.
