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The Smart Buildings Academy Podcast | Teaching You Building Automation, Systems Integration, and Information Technology

The weekly podcast where Phil Zito discusses topics related to building automation and provides useful tips and action packed examples to help you better understand building automation.
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The Smart Buildings Academy Podcast | Teaching You Building Automation, Systems Integration, and Information Technology
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Archives
Now displaying: 2016
Dec 19, 2016

Hey folks, Phil Zito here, and we are one podcast away from closing up the year with a bang! In this week's podcast I discuss the topic of Direct Digital Controls (DDC). 

In today's episode I will cover:

  • What direct digital controls are
  • How Direct Digital Controls revolutionized how we control our equipment
  • Why DDC systems were such a mind shift for folks
  • The next great mind shift that is coming with IP-based controls!
Dec 12, 2016

In Episode 41 of the Building Automation Monthly Podcast, I discuss electromechanical controls. This podcast is going to teach you a ton about electromechanical controls and the important role the serve in the modern Building Automation System.

In today's episode I will cover:

  • What electromechanical controls are
  • The three kinds of electromechanical controls
  • Why electromechanical controls are still VERY relevant!
Dec 5, 2016

In Episode 40 of the Building Automation Monthly Podcast, I handle a much-requested topic and that is the topic of pneumatics. I also dive into my book launch strategy and walk you through everything I did and why.

In today's episode I will cover:

  • What pneumatics are, how they work, and how to upgrade them
  • My entire book launch strategy (from how I created the book, marketed the book, and sold the book) 
  • My lessons learned from my first ever product launch
Nov 28, 2016

In Episode 39 of the Building Automation Monthly Podcast, I am doing something I've never done before. I am giving you access to the best recording from my new book. This recording is amazing and I encourage you to take advantage of it.

In today's episode I will cover:

  • How to know if you need to upgrade your BAS ( if you don't ask yourself these four questions you could be upgrading a perfectly good system)
  • Why so many upgrade projects fail (and the five planning steps you can take to make sure yours doesn't)
  • Twelve steps that every upgrade project should include ( step number seven, writing out your upgrade plan and how to roll back the upgrade will keep your building running in case something goes wrong)
Nov 11, 2016

Episode 38 of the building automation Monthly Podcast is packed with information! 

In today's episode I will cover:

  • My recent visit to Creston and my thoughts on A/V
  • My latest article  The Ultimate Tridium Guide
  • How smart building systems are being ignored in favor of talking about IoT
  • Wide Area Networks and what they mean to your BAS
  • The difference between MS/TP and Ethernet MAC addresses and why you should care
Nov 4, 2016

In Episode 37 of the Building Automation Monthly Podcast, I begin my three-part series on what a network is.

In today's episode I will cover:

  • The pieces of a network
  • How local area networks work
  • How IP addresses are assigned
  • How switches communicate
Nov 2, 2016

In Episode 36 of the Building Automation Monthly Podcast I discuss the age old question.

What is a BAS?

In today's episode I will cover:

  • What is a BAS
  • BAS vs Control Systems
  • Control System types
  • Common functions of BAS
  • Control Processes
  • Control Devices
Oct 29, 2016

In Episode 35 of the Building Automation Monthly podcast I provide my thoughts on episode 201 of the Control Talk Now Podcast.

In today's episode I will cover:

  • Can we have BAS as a service?
  • What is the future of controls?
  • What is CANDI?
  • How can we continue to develop controls folks
Oct 28, 2016

In Episode 34 of the Building Automation Monthly podcast I discuss the fundamentals of IT architecture. I unpack how computers work, what client machines are, and how servers and virtual machines work as well!

In today's episode I will cover:

  • What is IT Architecture
  • How do computers work
  • What is a client?
  • What is a server?
  • What are virtual machines
  • What are containers
Oct 24, 2016

In Episode 33 of the Building Automation Monthly podcast I discuss the topic of IT basics and the recent IoT based DDos that took down access to Netflix and Twitter. 

In today's episode I will cover:

  • What is information technology and why does it matter for BAS
  • The impact of storage and applications shifting to the cloud
  • Why database knowledge is becoming important
  • What you need to know about API's
Oct 17, 2016

When it comes to working in the building automation space no skill stands out more than HVAC. Having a solid understanding of HVAC fundamentals will get you far in the building automation space.

But, what do you need to know?

And how do you learn it?

 In today's episode I will cover:

  • What are HVAC systems?
  • How air side and water side systems work?
Oct 12, 2016

I discuss my thoughts on the 200th episode of ControlTalk Now.

Awesome job Eric and Kenny!

 In today's episode I will cover:

  • My thoughts on the 200th episode of ControlTalk Now
Oct 10, 2016

In episode 30 of the building automation Monthly podcast I will be talking you through how to create a sequence of operations for your systems integration projects. You don't want to miss this one!

In today's episode I will cover:

  • What is a sequence of operations
  • How to create a sequence of operations
  • How to implement the sequence of operations on your systems integration project
Oct 7, 2016
Data models and system requirements. Two of the most commonly misunderstood steps of the systems integration process. In this episode I am going to be teaching you my step-by-step processes for creating data models and system requirements.
 
If you have zero knowledge of data don't worry by the end of this podcast you will have a solid understanding of what data is.

In today's episode we will cover:

  • What is data?
  • What is data normalization?
  • What is a data model and how do you create one?
  • What are system requirements and how do you define them?
Oct 5, 2016

Systems integration can be crazy. One moment you've got all your systems talking and next thing you know the whole building is shut down. There's a sort of voodoo magic to the systems integration process. Or at least that is what you've been lead to believe.

I know from experience that the systems integration process can be executed again and again with predictable results if you have a good process. In this episode I take you through my step-by-step process for performing complex systems integration.

In today's episode we will cover:

  • What is integration map?
  • What is an integration map used for?
  • When and when not to use an integration map?
  • How do you create an integration map?
  • My six step process for creating an integration map
Sep 19, 2016

Systems integration can be crazy. One moment you've got all your systems talking and next thing you know the whole building is shut down. There's a sort of voodoo magic to the systems integration process. Or at least that is what you've been lead to believe.

I know from experience that the systems integration process can be executed again and again with predictable results if you have a good process. In this episode I take you through my step-by-step process for performing complex systems integration.

In today's episode we will cover:

  • What are physical integration points?
  • What are logical integration points?
  • My three step process for laying out these integration points
Sep 16, 2016

Hey BAM Nation! I am so freakin excited about today's episode. Why you ask?

Because in today's episode I move into the second module of the learn series! The feedback I have gotten is amazing and I look forward to continuing to help you advance your career in the building automation space!

In today's episode I will be kicking off the BAS hardware module of the learn series and we will be discussing physical controller inputs!

In today's episode we will cover:

  • Technical Tip of the Week
  • The 4 types of inputs you absolutely need to know!
  • Career Tip of the Week
Sep 12, 2016

Hey BAM Nation! Another day, another podcast episode!

In this episode I continue my teaching on systems integration. The process I teach you today massively important and will save you hundreds of thousands of dollars if you implement it

In today's episode I will be teaching you how to perform a gap analysis as part of your systems integration process!

In today's episode we will cover:

  • What is a gap analysis
  • Why it is critical to perform the gap analysis on any of your integrations prior to purchasing any products or executing any work
  • How to perform a gap analysis
    • Step 1: Identify your use case requirements
    • Step 2: Identify your current capabilities
    • Step 3: Map out the present and missing requirements
    • Step 4: Identify a solution to close the gap
Sep 9, 2016

Hey BAM Nation! In today's episode I will be wrapping up the first module of the learn series, control modes! In this episode I will be discussing the fourth and final control mode, binary control.

On/off, open/shut, binary control is everywhere and in this episode we will discuss this critically important control mode!

In today's episode we will cover:

  • Technical Tip of the Week
  • What Binary Control is and How it works
  • Career Tip of the Week
Sep 5, 2016

Hey BAM Nation! In this episode I am going to be continuing my systems integration 101 series and will be taking you through my 3rd article in the series titled, "How to Identify your AS-IS systems".

In today's episode we will cover:

  • What are AS-IS systems
  • Why identifying your AS-IS systems is critically important
  • What the BDAT domains are and why you should care
  • The top questions you should ask for each domain
Sep 2, 2016

In this episode, I will be talking about the 3rd control mode in the learn series, Floating Control, in this episode you will learn what floating control is and why it is important to you.

In today's episode we will cover:

  • Technical Tip of the Week
  • Wrap up on how to Setup Sequencers
  • What Floating Control is and How it Works
  • Career Tip of the Week
Aug 29, 2016

In this episode, I will be taking you through the topic of use cases. Use cases are critical to executing a great systems integration project. The problem is most use cases are from useful and quite honestly a lot of them suck. That's why I recorded this episode for you.

In today's episode we will cover:

  • What is a use case?
  • How can you identify the systems and people involved? 
  • My 3 step framework for developing useful use cases 100% of the time.
Aug 26, 2016

In this episode, I will be continuing the learn series and unpacking our next control mode, sequencers. Sequencers allow you to "stage" devices on and off.

In today's episode we will cover:

  • My technical tip of the week
  • How both physical and logical sequencers work
  • My career tip of the week
Aug 22, 2016

In this episode I discuss my new series systems integration 101 and I talk through what you can expect as part of the series. Over the next 8 weeks I will cover 8 lessons that discuss systems integration.

Also in this episode I will cover lesson #1 Systems Interfacing vs Systems Integration. In this lesson I will discuss the differences and what each approach is.

Aug 19, 2016

In this episode, I continue the discussion around PID loops and will be covering everyone's favorite task, tuning PID loops! Sooner or later in your BAS career you are going to have to learn how to tune PID loops.

In today's episode we will cover:

  • My weekly Technical Tip
  • How to tune your PID Loops (Deep Dive)
  • My weekly Career Tip
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