BACnet International recently honored members whose contributions over the past year led to increased awareness and improvement of the association and the BACnet standard.

The award ceremony took place during the 2017 ControlTrends Awards in Las Vegas, January 29, 2017. BACnet International Managing Director and President Andy McMillan, Marketing Committee Chair Rocky Moore, and Education Committee Co-Chairs Steve Karg and Scott Ziegenfus were on hand to present the awards.

There were two new awards presented this year — the Rising Star Award and the BACnet Hall of Fame. The Rising Star Award is presented to an individual fairly new to the industry who has already contributed to the betterment of the BACnet International association and showed a commitment to the BACnet community. Inductees into the BACnet Hall of Fame are individuals with at least a decade of meaningful contributions to the BACnet community, who have played a unique and valuable role in the ongoing development of the BACnet standard or the community, championed open dialog and a collaborative approach to resolving issues, and demonstrated a global perspective with respect for regional and cultural differences.

“The BACnet International Annual Awards provide an opportunity to recognize individuals who through their hard work and dedication continually enrich the BACnet community," McMillan said. "There are members who consistently go above and beyond to make BACnet an effective and successful building automation standard and we are proud to acknowledge them.”

The Rising Star Award went to Natsuko Takahashi of Delta Controls. Officials said Takahashi is an energetic member of the BACnet Testing Laboratories (BTL) Working Group and, according to other members, has an infectious, can-do attitude, and is a significant asset in the development and updating of BTL tests. She is always striving to do more with the BTL Working Group and over the past year has regularly participated in meetings and helped update BTL documentation. She also presented an educational session at the BACnet PlugFest Interoperability event.

The Volunteer of the Year was Steve Jones of The S4 Group. Jones is an active participant of the BACnet International community. His contributions have become a prominent voice within the BACnet community. He writes about BACnet for various publications, participates in the BACnet Marketing Committee, and contributes success stories to the BACnet International website regularly. Jones also actively participates in the annual PlugFest Interoperability event and provides relevant input for improvement, strengthening the event for all who attend. He has even dedicated his time to setting up an in-house interoperability testing lab to test several vendors’ equipment.      

Tim Skell of ABB was named Member of the Year. Skell is an active member of the BACnet International Marketing Committee, attending all meetings, providing multiple articles to both the Journal and Foundations publications, and helping out in BACnet International’s AHR Expo booth. The association said Jones is always willing to volunteer to speak during BACnet educational sessions, including a 100+ audience with standing room only at NFMT Vegas last fall. Jones also participates in the PlugFest Interoperability event and in the BTL Working Group. He is a strong supporter of BACnet and has been known as the “go-to guy” for anything involving applying and troubleshooting BACnet in an installation, testing new implementations of BACnet on various products, and educating customers, consulting engineers, and owners on the advantages of the BACnet protocol.

The Project of the Year Award went to the Air Mobility Training Centre in Trenton, ON, by Reliable Controls. The Air Mobility Training Centre is a complex facility built to house the equipment and personnel required to train pilots and maintenance crews for the new CC-320J Hercules aircraft purchased by the Canadian Forces. It also provides support to Canadian troops serving in combat, as well as for peacekeeping and humanitarian missions around the world.

Equivalent to two football fields, it provides crews with a state-of-the-art environment in which to train. The LEED® silver certified facility consists of a combination of two- and three-story educational and office spaces, designed and built to accommodate the latest in aircrew and technician simulation, making it one of the most advanced flight training facilities in the world.

The facility now benefits from remote access, integration to a large WAN for multiple buildings, and creative programming encompassing energy saving modes within the building. The DDC professionals involved brought the project almost $20 million under budget.

The BACnet Hall of Fame Inductee was Steve Bushby of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Bushby has had leadership roles spanning decades in developing the BACnet standard, as well as ensuring its adoption as an American national standard, an ISO standard, a European Community standard, and a national standard in over 30 countries. He is a member of a rather small community known as former chairmen of ASHRAE SSPC 135.

Bushby also created and managed the BACnet Interoperability Testing Consortium, a cooperative research and development agreement between NIST and 22 private sector partners. That consortium was the seed that grew into today’s global BACnet Product Testing and Certification program administered by BACnet International.

Through his work with BACnet, and the extensive network of trusted relationships he forged in the controls industry, officials said Bushby helped to change user and supplier expectations of control systems from unique and proprietary to Open and Interoperable.