Dutch construction company Heijmans has deployed 20,000 smart-building IoT sensors using Actility’s LoRaWan technology and seamless integration with Microsoft’s IoT hub.

Beyond Eyes, a brand initiated by Heijmans, deployed IoT sensors for Heijmans’ clients in the Netherlands, as part of its smart-building concept. Beyond Eyes uses wireless sensors from Clickey to collect anonymous data on a building’s occupation, usage and indoor environment.

The smart-building sensors are then connected through the private LoRaWan IoT network managed on Actility’s ThingPark Enterprise IoT platform, where data are aggregated and then forwarded to Microsoft Azure IoT Hub using the ThingPark Enterprise Azure connector.

Heijmans is an innovative player in the construction industry. In 2017, together with CSU Facility Management, the company initiated Beyond Eyes, a smart data-driven service that collects data in buildings, then combines those data with smart technology to achieve the business objectives of building owners and property managers.

Beyond Eyes says it is committed to sustainable, smart, safe and healthy work environments, and provides smart building technology throughout the Netherlands, with a plan to expand its offering, which focuses on health, welfare and productivity of end-users, worldwide.

Clickey, a Dutch IoT product and ecosystem development company founded in 2013, is an early adopter of LoRa radio technology. For smart buildings, it provides a suite of plug-and-play sensors that can be integrated into existing building-management systems. These include desk occupation sensors, room occupancy sensors, people counters, energy sensors, comfort sensors and environmental sensors.

“With our partners Clickey and Actility, we managed to build efficient IoT with a seamless integration of thousands of connected devices over a large mission critical LoRaWan, and our application fully leverages the scalability and analytics performance of Azure IoT,” said Jeroen Groenen, manager of Beyond Eyes. “We make buildings management more sustainable and people happier.”

Each sensor, which can be mounted under desks, walls and ceilings, has a unique ID number and is wirelessly connected to a software system using LoRaWan. The collected anonymous data are then sent to the cloud where they can be analysed and visualised via an online platform. This gives access and insights from the data through a variety of front-end applications.

The sensors constantly measure activities and circumstances important for office locations, such as space occupation, traffic to and from the building, comfort, and air quality, including temperature, CO₂ levels, light intensity, humidity and noise level.

Information from various building environments and locations is sent to French firm Actility’s LoRaWan server, where it comes together on the Microsoft Azure platform in the cloud. This is where data security and management occur, after which the aggregated data are made accessible on a dedicated application.

Actility enables a seamless, industrial grade integration between ThingPark Enterprise LoRaWans and Azure IoT as well as IoT Central, allowing large scale IoT projects deployment quickly.

“Beyond Eyes is designed to enable organisations to bring employees back to physical workplaces safely,” said Olivier Hersent, CEO at Actility. “Actility looks forward to capitalising on this collaboration with Beyond Eyes, Clickey and Microsoft to jointly develop scalable IoT that is seamlessly integrated and designed for fast deployment and industrial grade stability.”

ThingPark Enterprise is a LoRaWan IoT connectivity management platform that helps users build network infrastructure by managing LoRaWan gateways, add new LoRaWan devices, monitor network operations, and control the flow of data to application servers.

Beyond Eyes infrastructure is developed on Azure. The IoT hub ingests data which are then processed in Azure Digital Twins v2. Dynamics 365 is used as an implementation tool and to record the building structure. Various other Microsoft Azure functions are used, for example Azure app plans.

“At its heart, Beyond Eyes utilises Azure digital twins and Microsoft Dynamics 365 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,” said Tony Shakib, partner general manager for Azure IoT business acceleration at Microsoft. “It has been great working with Actility to make sure that the power of LoRa technology can be utilised by Azure solution builders. 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 visualise in real time how the building is performing, how it is being used, and how to optimise it across multiple use cases.”

The smart building technology provides insight into the performance and use of a building to improve process, staffing and building efficiency. It suits a wide variety of building types, including offices, museums, universities, hospitals and stadiums.

Employees are provided with immediate insight into workplace availability and occupancy rates in particular departments. Upon arrival, employees can quickly see what spaces are open to them. They can also reserve workplaces or spaces, make notifications, book transport, and register visitors.

Cleaners receive precise real-time information about which areas need immediate attention and can modify their duties, planning and routes accordingly They can also submit specific notifications through the app to speed maintenance or repairs, for instance, providing a notification when a light bulb needs replacing.

Facility managers gain visibility through the app, so they can optimise their building management, maintenance and hospitality accordingly.

Ongoing monitoring and data collection also provide insights that can be useful when it comes to refurbishment or new construction. Retail owners and other building tenants gain more insight into usage and traffic patterns with the ability to monitor different areas, measure occupation by counting the number of people entering and leaving, and monitor indoor climate and comfort.

The technology also tracks energy consumption of the building and where that energy is mainly used, providing the mechanism to manage buildings that currently remain heated or lit when not in use.

CEOs gain visibility into the actual occupancy and use of office premises, allowing them to make smarter, fact-based decisions about their housing and real estate strategy to save them money.

“Together with Actility and Beyond Eyes, we have been able to take bigger steps into the world of smart buildings,” said Pedro de Smit, CEO of Clickey. “Our goal is that the solutions created can make work life easier, more comfortable and safer.”