SYNERGIA Smart Building Use Case and Prototype

By Joshua Acanthe

SYNERGIA is creating a secure platform for the next generation of resource-constrained IoT devices and in order to demonstrate that, we have been developing one example of such a device.

Future Space is a dedicated facility for over 40 start-up businesses requiring work and lab space in Bristol. This presents an interesting challenge of how to manage IoT data within a multi-tenancy system. We need to make sure only those with authorisation can access the data. What is this data? How can it be used? In this post, we will find out.

Three important pieces of data for a smart building would be;

• Energy usage
• Space usage
• Environmental Monitoring

Energy Usage monitors the Lights, Heating and Ventilation to provide insight into the building’s carbon footprint. Data on energy usage can drive down operational costs for the building but can also help combat global warming through reduced carbon emissions.

Space Usage takes data from motion sensing technology or other means to detect presence and uses that data to find how the building space is used. For example it would be able to flag wasted and unused space as well as space that is always in use throughout the day. This is important and could lead to repurposing this wasted space to become more useful.

Environmental Monitoring collects data such as temperature, humidity and sometimes gas to make sure that these environmental factors are suitable for work. They can also be used to control heating, air conditioning and ventilation.

A prototype has been developed to collect and send this data to the backend, where the data analytics can take place. Devices like these will be connected to the SYNERGIA network to provide data and to help demonstrate the innovative security features that SYNERGIA provides.