Internet of Things (IoT) is a term that is increasingly used today. In fact, IoT is nothing but a network where all kinds of objects are connected to each other via the Internet. This allows these objects to exchange data and automatically react to situations. IoT is commonly associated with devices and sensors that transmit information, making it easier to remotely read data, monitor a situation or make devices smart.
current data
through better data provision
all in one place
The IoT project of VVA and Yarado first and foremost allows Trivire to get all data conveniently in one place, and then read it out. They can communicate this data towards customers, and offer it as additional insight to implement policies. In the future, they can use Yarado's software with the help of VVA at homes to provide data insight in the social rental sector, which could eventually save energy and gas consumption.
For commercial properties, deploying Yarado's software can provide insight into what actions need to be taken to make conditions inside the property as pleasant as possible for visitors. For residential properties, the software can be used to get data from apartments, for example, in one place and then look at the properties of the apartments. In this way, Trivire helps the tenants, by detecting any energy wastage or poor air quality in a timely manner.
Within the housing association industry, this technology is being closely watched. After all, this sector often works with large real estate portfolios and this data can be used to respond well to, for example, the indoor climate of business premises or the (prevention of) maintenance of homes. Housing corporation Trivire also sees these opportunities. Their ambition is to use sensors in their homes and commercial properties in the future. As an experiment, they have started a pilot with VVA computerization to assess how they can optimally read out and use sensor data.
Currently, Trivire has sensors hanging in their own office building to test its capabilities. Among other things, these sensors measure the indoor climate and the amount of energy generated by the solar panels on the roof. To read this information, Trivire depended on the standard dashboards made available by the suppliers of the sensors. Before this experiment, this involved three different suppliers. Obviously, this number of suppliers is many times higher when sensors are incorporated into every home or office building. Ideally, this information would be available in a single source so that the information could be linked together.
So a pilot arose in which implementation partner VVA deployed Yarado software to retrieve sensor data from the suppliers. This data was stored at a central location at Trivire so that it could be linked together. Through a simple Power BI dashboard, all this data could then be displayed in a well-organized way.
This project provided a nice first step to show office employees that it was possible to read that data. The ultimate goal is to see if homes and office buildings can be equipped with these types of sensors. This will allow Trivire to remotely monitor various variables of office properties, and which homes require maintenance.
What does the IoT project of Trivire, VVA and Yarado look like in practice? First, the robot reads out indoor climate information. The humidity, CO2 value, temperature and light quantity of the welcome hall and the different floors are retrieved from the suppliers' dashboards and saved as a .csv file. The facilities officer within the organization can then decide to take action if these variables do not have the desired value. In the summer, is the office warmer than outside or is the CO2 level inside higher than outside? Then, for example, windows can simply be opened. At the same time, the information from the sensors provides interesting environmental insights. For example, we noticed that CO2 levels were relatively high in the morning. This was related to the location of the office. The building is next to a busy road where a lot of particulate matter from cars lingers during rush hour. Turning off the air conditioning around rush hour could significantly improve the air quality in the office.
Yarado's RPA solution ensures that the data from the sensors gets to the right place. In addition, the solution also normalizes the retrieved data and cleans it up so that it can then be displayed correctly in Power BI.
The world today revolves around data. This data must be relevant, but also current. Therefore, the software robot retrieves values from all four sensors every half hour. Technically, this could also be done more frequently, but that does not add value for this application. The information retrieved already provides interesting insights, but the possibilities of IoT extend much further than just this case.
With Internet of Things, for example, sustainability initiatives can also be communicated to the outside world. For example, Trivire has solar panels on its office building. Connected to these solar panels are sensors that display the energy yield. This yield can then be translated into tangible CO2 savings.
So while IoT itself is not so much sustainable, it is eminently useful for providing insight into sustainability initiatives and communicating relevant information to customers and consumers. For example, within the project we looked at how the energy yield from the solar panels could be made visible through the dashboard and shared with tenants in the welcome hall via narrowcasting.
