CSIRO research supported by IoT

IoT technology from field service management software company simPRO is being used as part of CSIRO’s innovative research into energy-efficient living in apartments.

The remote monitoring solution provides CSIRO with data about energy efficiency and power usage in high-rise residential buildings by tracking assets such as lifts, chillers, air conditioning, lights and power in the Victoria Point complex in Docklands, Melbourne. This information will form baseline data to run energy-efficient residential high-rise projects in the future, similar to the star ratings used in the design of Australian residential homes today.

The implementation was made possible through a joint venture with IoT installer O’Brien Electrical Wantirna.

“We’ve got a really good understanding of energy efficiency in detached homes,” said CSIRO senior experimental scientist Michael Ambrose. “However, we have very little information about how units and apartments perform. And with the rise in apartment living, that’s really how this project came about.”

The research is being conducted on four buildings in the Docklands to ensure a range of data is collected in buildings within the same climate area. As these buildings are already standing, however, gathering data would have been difficult without the use of software.

“Structural wiring would have had to be done between floors of buildings; we would have been there for a good while just doing the structured cabling,” said David Tripp, O’Brien Electrical Wantirna Director. “But using simPRO IoT, we could do this wirelessly and simply retrofit sensors. It was such an advantage.”

Peter Darley, simPRO Regional Director (Asia Pacific), said this set-up and data collection is made possible by the technology used by simPRO IoT.

“simPRO IoT uses a low-powered wide-area network standard called LoRaWAN. This enables the remote monitoring solution to be retrofitted to assets already installed in a building,” he said. “It is also perfect for commercial applications like this because it is low frequency and has a long range and is able to penetrate buildings and other obstructions.”

Once collected from assets, data can be viewed and interpreted in simPRO’s customisable dashboard.

“We’re really excited to have been able to work with O’Brien and CSIRO on this fantastic project,” Darley said. “It shows that IoT can be used for an incredibly broad range of use cases. IoT has an exciting future for many industries throughout Australia and overseas.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Mark