Dutch construction firm deploys 20k LORAWAN-enabled smart IoT sensors

Dutch construction company Heijman has through its subsidiary Beyond Eyes deployed some 20,000 LORAWAN smart buildings IoT sensors for its customers.

The aim is to enhance the management of buildings by leveraging real-time insights regarding energy and water usage, light intensity, humidity levels, carbon emissions levels and noise levels whilst providing occupants with smart home functionalities.

Beyond Eyes partnered with IoT connectivity solution firm Actility and IoT senor company Clickey to implement its smart building concept across the Netherlands.

Clickey smart IoT sensors communicate data regarding a building’s occupation, usage and indoor environment via Actility’s LORWAN-based communications network. The communicated data is then sent to the Microsoft Azure IoT hub for processing.

The processed data can be used by facility managers to optimise a building’s management and maintenance. For instance, the system can be used to track the energy consumption of the building and where that energy is mainly used. The data could be useful in planning energy efficiency upgrades and reducing energy costs.

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The data can be used to measure a building’s occupation by counting the number of people entering and leaving.

Jeroen Groenen, Manager of Beyond Eyes, said:  “…we managed to build efficient IoT solutions with a seamless integration of thousands of connected devices over a large mission-critical LoRaWAN network, and our application fully leverages the scalability and analytics performance of Azure IoT. With our solutions, we make buildings management more sustainable and people happier.”

With the pandemic having disrupted progress within industries that require face-to-face interactions, such as the hospitality sector, Tony Shakib, Partner General Manager, Azure IoT Business Acceleration at Microsoft, said the solution is designed “to help workers get back to the office safely and at the same time, help those who are providing workspaces more efficiently manage their properties”.

“By using Digital Twins and Dynamics, Beyond Eyes can digitally model the structure of a building with all its properties. Using sensor data, they can visualize in real-time how the building is performing, how it is being used, and how to optimize it across multiple use cases,” concluded Groenen.

LoRA Alliance will be exhibiting its LORAWAN technology at Enlit Europe in Milan.