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A Sequence of Operations Gets Translated at Least Three Times Before It Runs. Normal Software Took an LBNL Grant to Generate It From Simulation Instead
A sequence of operations gets written once and translated at least three more times before it controls anything. The mechanical design engineer starts by copying the specification from the last project into a fresh document, tweaking it as needed. The building tech carries that document to the job site and retypes it as line code, pulling from their own last job wherever the spec is vague. The commissioning agent reads both and enters it a third time into a spreadsheet, with green and red boxes tracking what has been verified.
That's how Stephen Dawson-Haggerty of Normal Software described the standard delivery chain at NexusCon 2025.
This chain of translations causes problems at delivery. Sequences built this way are static and opaque. "You come back to the building, and you don't really know why the sequences are the way they are," Dawson-Haggerty said. Is a setpoint deliberate, or did somebody inherit it from a project three buildings ago? Nobody wrote it down, so the revision turns into guesswork that a client pays for.
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab has built ASHRAE Guideline 36 sequences into a simulation package that can be tested inside a full building physics model. LBNL granted Normal funding to build the step that comes after, generating controller code from a sequence already validated in simulation.
Most of the physics models live in Modelica software, which owners do not use to model their real-world buildings, so Normal built validated sequences as their own controls library, bound to equipment through Haystack, Brick, or manual mapping. They refer to implementing these proven sequences into your devices as a "lightweight digital retrofit".
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A sequence of operations gets written once and translated at least three more times before it controls anything. The mechanical design engineer starts by copying the specification from the last project into a fresh document, tweaking it as needed. The building tech carries that document to the job site and retypes it as line code, pulling from their own last job wherever the spec is vague. The commissioning agent reads both and enters it a third time into a spreadsheet, with green and red boxes tracking what has been verified.
That's how Stephen Dawson-Haggerty of Normal Software described the standard delivery chain at NexusCon 2025.
This chain of translations causes problems at delivery. Sequences built this way are static and opaque. "You come back to the building, and you don't really know why the sequences are the way they are," Dawson-Haggerty said. Is a setpoint deliberate, or did somebody inherit it from a project three buildings ago? Nobody wrote it down, so the revision turns into guesswork that a client pays for.
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab has built ASHRAE Guideline 36 sequences into a simulation package that can be tested inside a full building physics model. LBNL granted Normal funding to build the step that comes after, generating controller code from a sequence already validated in simulation.
Most of the physics models live in Modelica software, which owners do not use to model their real-world buildings, so Normal built validated sequences as their own controls library, bound to equipment through Haystack, Brick, or manual mapping. They refer to implementing these proven sequences into your devices as a "lightweight digital retrofit".
Register for the next Nexus Labs event.
Sign up for the newsletter to get 5 stories like this per week:
This is a great piece!
I agree.