Fire Alarm BACnet Integration — Austin Government Building

The Challenge

A City of Austin government building required lighting controls that integrated with the building's fire alarm system via BACnet. When a fire alarm triggered, all lighting had to go to 100% immediately. The building management system (BMS) needed real-time status of the lighting system. Standard lighting controls don't natively interface with BACnet fire alarm systems — there's usually a gap between the fire alarm panel and the lighting controller.

The Solution

Nuvospec designed and built a custom solution featuring:

• Received BACnet alarm signals from the fire alarm panel
• Translated them to relay contact closures for the lighting controllers
• Provided BACnet status feedback to the BMS (lighting zone states, alarm acknowledgment)
• Included manual override switches for facilities maintenance
• Met government procurement requirements (BAA compliant where applicable)

The Result

• Code compliance: Met all NFPA and local fire code requirements for emergency lighting integration
• Single interface: BMS operator sees lighting status alongside all other building systems
• Maintenance: Facilities team can override individual zones without calling the controls contractor
• Specification: The specifying engineer has since included this integration approach on two additional municipal projects