Utilizing IoT Solutions to Boost Operations and Energy Efficiency in Smart Buildings and Smart Cities Across Industries in Spain
As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to redefine the way we interact with our surroundings, LoRaWAN? technology is making significant strides in the realm of smart buildings and smart cities. By leveraging this advanced technology, we can create healthier, more comfortable indoor environments that promote well-being and productivity.?
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Monolitic is our experienced partner who has successfully grounded educational and practical projects for customers from different industries in Spain. So, in this article, we have Carlos Roman, IoT Product Manager at Monolitic, and Daniel Cascante, IoT Business Manager at Monolitic, to share with us more on their experiences in numerous projects in Spain.
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?Energy efficiency is a major concern for all industries today. From your perspective and experience, how can IoT solutions help?
A: Indeed. Energy efficiency has become a priority for many sectors, including the entertainment and shows sector, where electricity consumption represents one of the main operating expenditure items. Concert halls in particular face the challenge of having to optimize their energy consumption to reduce costs without compromising the quality of their services.
For the RocknRolla Producciones project, our client Secmotic was looking to implement solutions that would facilitate the comprehensive management of its concert hall, optimizing both resource consumption and the experience in the venue.
The initiative's priority was to monitor electricity consumption in real time, as well as to have a people counting system that would allow managing the density and flow of attendees, facilitating the planning of resources and services. The project also required the installation of devices to measure both noise level and air quality, thus ensuring a healthy environment for attendees and guaranteeing the sustainability of the operation of the venue.
So here a comprehensive smart building solution is an ideal match. For starter, the Milesight CT10x Smart Current Transformer accurately estimates energy consumption with a sampling rate up to 3.3kHz and calculates cumulative ampere-hours every second, helping identify energy usage patterns for effective savings. With non-intrusive product design, quick installation could be done without complex and expensive changes to existing wires. Based on reliable and real-time people traffic data collected by Milesight VS133 AI ToF People Counting Sensor, facility managers can have a bird-view on the hall situation. VS133 is a next-generation people counting sensor with an embedded AI algorithm that allows to filter unnecessary counts and distinguish different crowds, greatly improving accuracy and scenario adaptation for optimal performance.
Towards a healthy and comfortable space, indoor air quality and noisy level monitoring are helpful ways to improve user-experiences effectively. The Milesight AM103 3-iin-1 IAQ Sensor, detecting temperature, humidity and CO2 concentrations, tracks the invisible elements of the air to ensure comfort at every moment. To better monitoring and managing the noise level, Milesight WS302 Sound Level Sensor was adopted. WS302 is an advanced LoRaWAN? Sensor for monitoring noise/sound level in decibels (dB) with ease. And it supports reporting of three sound level values (maximum sound level, sound pressure level, and equivalent continuous sound level) based on different weighting methods.
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*Welcome to check the use cases at Monolitic: https://www.monolitic.com/solucion-iot-eficiencia-energetica-para-sala-de-conciertos/
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?Environmental data is critical to create comfortable spaces and effective space management. What operational improvements are of interest to facility managers?
?A: Changes on every sensing people felt would bring real difference for occupants and facility managers. One of our smart hospital projects could be a good reference. Hospitals require precise and personalized management to optimize resources and improve the quality of service due to their complexity. In hospitals, operational efficiency and patient experience are key priorities. Effective management of resources and spaces represents a significant challenge. The ability to monitor real-time occupancy of areas, ensure cleanliness of facilities and optimize accessibility for medical staff is essential to improve the quality of healthcare services.
Our client was facing challenges related to space occupancy management, cleaning and staff accessibility, so flexible and scalable solutions were needed. After discussing and analyzing the overall environment, we provided an IoT solution tailored to their needs. Thanks to Milesight's diverse product line, which covers almost every aspect of their concerns, it was not that difficult to build a successful and practical solution.
Various LoRaWAN? devices were installed in hospital waiting rooms and restrooms to monitor occupancy and air quality to optimize cleaning and patient care. Monitoring indoor air quality is important to ensure occupant comfort. This is where the Milesight AM103 3-in-1 IAQ sensor comes in. With this compact sensor, humidity, temperature and CO2 concentration data are displayed as a reference for staff to make timely ventilation adjustments. When patients have an emergency, they don't have to panic and search without direction. They can now simply press the Milesight WS101 smart button and staff will immediately be aware and provide prompt assistance.
Occupancy data is important and helpful in many ways. With the Milesight WS202 PIR&Light sensor, staff have a real-time view of occupancy. This keeps patients from being left waiting in the waiting room for long periods of time without the staff knowing about it. With occupancy data in restrooms, it is more convenient for all to find out the available ones. In addition, with overall historical data, cleaning schedules can be arranged based on restroom usage. Overall, service efficiency is expected to improve.?
When it comes to the restrooms, feedback from all users helps the hospital to get a clear picture of the situation in a straightforward way. the Milesight WS156 Scene Panel is a good choice. By installing this smart panel on the wall with customized icons displaying different scoring scales, customers can rate the cleanliness and usability of items (paper, hand sanitizer, etc.) by pressing customized WS156 buttons so that managers can get feedback and adjust accordingly.
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*Welcome to check the use cases at Monolitic: https://www.monolitic.com/eficiencia-hospitalaria-impulsada-con-soluciones-iot/
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?When it comes to smart building solutions, indoor air quality is often mentioned, also in the projects you shared. Can you give us an example to briefly explain the beauty of IoT and IAQ solutions?
?A: With years of development and mature of technology, smart buildings nowadays are not just about building automation. It evolves into a smarter space where all environmental data could be a driven to better protect and improve overall operation.?
I would like to share that one of our clients, a renowned museum in Barcelona, required a solution to preserve works of art by monitoring humidity, temperature and lighting. The thickness of the walls and the arrangement of columns limited the installation of a sensor network and the transmission of data in a continuous and accurate manner. In addition, it was necessary to be able to maintain control of the environmental conditions of the works of art, so the combination of these factors highlighted the need to develop a technological solution that could collect accurate data on air quality variables, transmit it wirelessly and integrate this data using the BACnet? protocol into the museum's software platform (Niagara Honeywell BMS).
The Milesight AM319 9-in-1 Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Sensor stands out as a comprehensive tool for this purpose. With one sensor, all factors can be measured and transmitted to centralized platform. From the platform, data about temperature, humidity, light, CO2 concentration, HCHO/O3 level, TVOC, barometric pressure, PM2.5, PM10 and motion are shown. Besides, the data will be shown on the E-ink screen in real-time, which helps to measure the indoor environment and comfort.?
But museum buildings are complex. Its architecture makes data transmission difficult, so to improve coverage, our Bnergy.on solution was chosen, configuring it with Master-Slave through the BACnet protocol for integration into its Niagara software.
*Welcome to check the use cases at Monolitic:?https://www.monolitic.com/solucion-iot-calidad-ambiental-iaq-en-museos/
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?So the LoRaWAN solution can actually work well with existing BMS systems. But many people will find this difficult. Can you share more about this with us?
?A: No problem. Metro Bilbao is a familiar space for many people I believe so I would start from here. As you may know, that Metro Bilbao is a benchmark in metropolitan transport in Bizkaia, serving 14 municipalities and positioning itself as the third metro network in Spain in number of users, with more than 92 million passengers transported in 2023. The Bilbao Metro railway fleet, which has been in operation for over 28 years, faced the challenge of having communication systems isolated from the general network, which limited its ability to monitor the equipment.
With our experiences, we proposed IoT solutions consisted of Milesight AM319 9-in-1 Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Sensor with our Bnergy.on solution to help Metro Bilbao transform into a modern and user-friendly public transportation.?
Now, facility managers have access to real-time data on a centralized platform that helps them get a more comprehensive view of overall operations. For example, when temperature, humidity or CO2 levels are reported to be above thresholds, they can adjust the HVAC system accordingly to provide a more comfortable space for all visitors. In addition, with real-time data, potential HVAC system malfunctions can be promptly detected based on unusual environmental data. Based on historical data, comprehensive analyses and reports on HVAC systems and environmental data can also be generated. This allows facility managers to organize the HVAC system more efficiently without compromising the user experience. In the long run, unnecessary costs and potential maintenance of HVAC systems can be reduced.
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*Welcome to check the use cases at Monolitic:?https://www.monolitic.com/solucion-iot-sensorizacion-lorawan-en-metro-bilbao/
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?It can take a while for some customers in traditional industries to be willing to experiment with IoT and LoRaWAN solutions. Can you share with us how you are helping them get started????
?A: Certainly, I think connectivity would be a good place to start as it is easy to understand and get feedback in a relatively short period of time. Our client, a company specializing in systems integration, was faced with major challenges in ensuring the continuous operation of automated machinery and processes at its customers' facilities. To solve problems and respond to incidents, technicians had to physically travel to the site of the breakdown, which required a considerable investment of time and resources, especially in remote locations or urgent situations.
Real-time access to industrial systems became a challenge when the connectivity infrastructure was not sufficient to allow remote intervention. Furthermore, ensuring the security and stability of the systems during such interventions represented another difficulty, since any remote access had to protect data privacy and maintain the correct operation of the equipment.
Milesight's UR75 5G Router is an advanced solution that offers remote access in industrial environments. Compatible with OpenVPN, it offers fast and secure connections without subscription costs, eliminating dependency on paid services. Together with DeviceHub, it enables simple and efficient deployment in multiple spaces, reducing complexity and increasing productivity, while ensuring the privacy and integrity of transmitted data.
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*Welcome to check the use cases at Monolitic: https://www.monolitic.com/solucion-hardware-conectividad-industrial-5g/
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About Monolitic
Monolitic is a company with 40 years of experience in the Spanish industrial market, manufacturer and supplier of hardware solutions, electronic components and IoT solutions.
Our value proposition is based on quality, specialized technical support and the selection of leading partners in the sector. We accompany companies in their digital transformation, providing reliable and scalable solutions that boost their competitiveness.
Thank you for sharing these success stories ??