LQR Temperature Control in smart building via real-time weather forecasting

In this work we consider the problem of climate control within a smart building instrumented with multiple temperature sensors and controllable HVACs. The main contri-bution is to use real-time weather forecasting readily available via internet connection to obtain real-time information about external temperature and solar insulation to reject external disturbances and anticipate temperature changes. The control system is based on MIMO LQR control with a reduced order observer and integral control applied to a model of the building dynamics obtained from construction data. The proposed architecture shows substantial improvements in numerical simu-lations as compared to PID-based standard controllers in terms of improved comfort, while being computationally simpler than more advanced solutions such as MPC or AI-based control.