Network data aggregation system and method for building management systems
A network data aggregation system and method for connected building management systems are disclosed. The aggregation system assesses network connectivity for the building management system. For this purpose, the aggregation system includes building management control panels including modems for reporting to monitoring stations, and a customer management server (CMS). The control panels collect network connectivity information of the modems, and the CMS receives the network connectivity information. In one example, the CMS analyzes the network connectivity information to identify issues in service provider networks that provide connections between the modems of the building management control panels and the service provider networks.
1. A method for assessing network connectivity for building management systems, comprising:
building management control panels reporting alarm information to monitoring stations using modems;
the building management control panels collecting network connectivity information of the modems;
a customer management server receiving and accessing the network connectivity information of the modems from the building management control panels;
the customer management server identifying physical addresses stored in a field of rows in a table in association with each of the building management control panels;
the customer management server correlating the network connectivity information of the modems to the physical addresses to create a report comprising a connectivity map; and
the customer management server sending the report comprising the connectivity map to an installer of the modems.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the building management control panels comprise fire alarm control panels that report the alarm information to the monitoring stations.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the building management control panels comprise security control panels that report the alarm information to the monitoring stations.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
the customer management server storing the network connectivity information for each of the building management control panels.
5. The method of 1 , further comprising:
the customer management server analyzing the network connectivity information to identify issues in service provider networks that provide connections between the modems of the building management control panels and the service provider networks.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network connectivity information comprises cellular modem data that concerns aspects of cellular modems of the building management control panels and that concerns aspects of the building management control panels.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the modems comprise cellular modems, the method further comprising:
the customer management server collecting the network connectivity information and correlating the network connectivity information to the physical addresses associated with each of the building management control panels to create cellular coverage maps for cellular service provider networks that provide cellular connections between the cellular modems of the building management control panels and the cellular service provider networks.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
the customer management server creating the cellular coverage maps for different cellular service providers.
9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
the customer management server comparing the cellular coverage maps to existing coverage maps to guide equipment decisions for the installer of the cellular modems and to identify potential network outages in the cellular service provider networks.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network connectivity information comprises cellular network data concerning cellular connections between cellular modems of the building management control panels and corresponding radio base stations of cellular service provider networks.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the cellular network data comprises signal strength information of the corresponding radio base stations.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the modems comprise cellular modems, the method further comprising:
the customer management server analyzing the network connectivity information to identify possible connectivity issues and equipment failures in cellular service provider networks that provide cellular connections between the cellular modems of the building management control panels and the cellular service provider networks, and to identify trends in the cellular service provider networks.
13. An aggregation system for assessing network connectivity for building management systems, comprising:
building management control panels including modems for reporting alarm information to monitoring stations, the building management control panels collecting network connectivity information of the modems;
a customer management server receiving and accessing the network connectivity information of the modems from the building management control panels;
the customer management server identifying physical addresses stored in a field of rows in a table in association with each of the building management control panels;
the customer management server correlating the network connectivity information of the modems to the physical addresses to create a report comprising a connectivity map; and
the customer management server sending the report comprising the connectivity map to an installer of the modems.
14. The aggregation system of claim 13 , wherein the building management control panels include fire alarm control panels that report fire alarm information to the monitoring stations.
15. The aggregation system of claim 13 , wherein the building management control panels include security control panels that report the alarm information to the monitoring stations.
16. The aggregation system of claim 13 , wherein the customer management server stores the network connectivity information for each of the building management control panels.
17. The aggregation system of claim 13 , wherein the customer management server includes an analytics module that analyzes the network connectivity information to identify issues in service provider networks that provide connections between the modems of the building management control panels and the service provider networks.
18. The aggregation system of claim 13 , wherein the modems comprise cellular modems, wherein the network connectivity information includes cellular modem data that concerns aspects of the cellular modems of the building management control panels and that concerns aspects of the building management control panels.
19. The aggregation system of claim 18 , wherein the customer management server collects the network connectivity information and correlates the network connectivity information to the physical addresses associated with each of the building management control panels to create cellular coverage maps.
20. The aggregation system of claim 19 , wherein the customer management server creates the cellular coverage maps for different cellular service providers.
21. The aggregation system of claim 19 , wherein the customer management server compares the cellular coverage maps to existing coverage maps to guide equipment decisions for the installer of the cellular modems and to identify potential network outages in cellular service provider networks.
22. The aggregation system of claim 13 , wherein the modems comprise cellular modems, wherein the network connectivity information includes cellular network data concerning cellular connections between the cellular modems of the building management control panels and corresponding radio base stations of cellular service provider networks.
23. The aggregation system of claim 13 , wherein the modems comprise cellular modems, wherein the customer management server includes an analytics module that analyzes the network connectivity information to identify possible connectivity issues and equipment failures in cellular service provider networks that provide cellular connections between the cellular modems of the building management control panels and the cellular service provider networks, and to identify trends in the cellular service provider networks.