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Building-in-Briefcase: A Rapidly-Deployable Environmental Sensor Suite for the Smart Building
Kevin Weekly1, Ming Jin2, Han Zou3
1Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. kweekly@eecs.berkeley.edu.
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
|May 2, 2018
Summary
Building-in-Briefcase (BiB) offers an easy-to-deploy sensor network for monitoring indoor environments. This system provides real-time building data for improved occupant health and energy efficiency.
Area of Science:
- Building Science
- Environmental Monitoring
- Sensor Networks
Background:
- Building environment significantly impacts occupant health and comfort.
- Continuous monitoring is crucial for building management systems, fault detection, and energy efficiency.
- Existing wireless sensor networks often require technical expertise, limiting accessibility for homeowners and building owners.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce the Building-in-Briefcase (BiB) portable sensor network platform.
- To demonstrate a user-friendly solution for accessible building environmental monitoring.
- To highlight the BiB system's capabilities in data collection, real-time visualization, and long battery life.
Main Methods:
- Deployment of a portable, easy-to-set-up wireless sensor network (BiB).
- Data transmission via Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and WiFi to a central router.
- Secure data forwarding to a cloud database over 3G for real-time web portal access.
- Optimization for multi-year battery lifespan through component selection and efficient protocols.
Main Results:
- Successful large-scale deployment of the BiB system across Singapore.
- Demonstration of multi-year battery life for BiB sensors.
- Capability to collect diverse environmental parameters, including occupancy and activity recognition, with potential for expansion (e.g., CO2).
Conclusions:
- The BiB platform provides an accessible and efficient solution for continuous building environmental monitoring.
- Long battery life and ease of deployment are key factors for widespread adoption.
- Large-scale BiB deployments can facilitate research into improving building environments and energy efficiency.
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