A recent report by Drexel University [Eisenstein et al., 2003b] addresses the complex issue of life safety systems tied into the BCS—a scenario that does not fit well with the scenarios presented above. Presently all life safety systems (fire) are in parallel to the HVAC and other elements of the BCS, with separate wiring and only connections at the highest controller level to allow the BCS to get status information. Can this parallel network be integrated with the non-life safety BCS? It may not be possible due to code requirements that the life safety system be always available and have.
