Practical issues in modelling the temperature for the control of smart buildings

In this paper we propose a technique for modelling the temperature of the rooms of a smart building for control purposes. The approach consists in determining an (black-box) ARMAX model based on the first-principle thermodynamics equations of the system. Then, the model parameters are estimated by initially employing an ad hoc procedure and then by using a self-calibration method when the performance deteriorates. The selection of the user defined parameters in the overall procedure is thoroughly discussed by means of simulation results in order to highlight the practical effectiveness of the methodology.