OFFICE SPACE MONITORING AND AUTOMATION USING IOT
IoT based office automation is an emerging technology by which we can monitor Air quality, Temperature, human action and many more things in office. Using IoT based workplace monitoring technology, we can save energy and use office space effectively. IoT empowers office appliances, like Coffee machines, Air conditioners and Lights, to act smartly and respond to the needs of employees.
For example, consider a scenario where, when an employee enters his cubicle, the lights, air conditioner, and other devices start functioning automatically, for his use. Or he can operate these devices even before coming to the office or after leaving the office.
Modern day employees require smart infrastructure. By electronic embedded sensor devices integrated with IoT technology, we can achieve smart office automation.
WHAT IS IOT MONITORING?
IoT gives power to physical things to sense and collect information from their environment. And allows users to monitor and control those variables remotely and wirelessly.
It is a technology that is dependent on various other technologies like 1. Physical things or sensors, 2. Wireless sensor networks (sensor nodes), 3. Internet Gateway, 4. Cloud Computing, 5. Big Data Analytics, 6. IoT Data connectivity and Data network, 7. User Interface (Mobile or IoT Web App).
IoT for smart offices changes the experiences of the people working there. Let’s find out how?
SMART OFFICE AUTOMATION AND OFFICE SPACE MONITORING USE CASES
The Internet of Things (IoT) is penetrating every aspect of human life. Smart workplace automation makes the life of employees and employers easier. It is about Smartly taking attendance, saving energy, workplace monitoring, security solutions and smart furniture.
SMART OFFICE SYSTEM USING IOT SAVES ENERGY
Reducing the high bills of electricity consumption of Air conditioners (ACs) and lights is very effective in offices. Also, Electricity bills of offices or industrial spaces are usually very high because of high tariffs. By monitoring the motion in the office as well as other environmental aspects, we can effectively reduce energy consumption of these appliances. And therefore, reduce electricity consumption using IoT.
Smart office sensors make IoT devices more intelligent. PIR Motion Sensor detects human motion and is generally used to monitor whether a person has moved in or out of the sensor range. However, this sensor is not able to detect the identity of the person.
Use of the PIR sensor allows Air conditioners, Fans, lights, and other appliances to respond based on the human presence. As and when a person leaves his seat in the office, the sensor senses it and automatically turns off all lights and devices which he is using, just like our laptops go on sleep mode when not in use.
OPTIMIZING LIGHT INTENSITY WITH OFFICE AUTOMATION
By using Light Intensity Detecting sensors, windows of the office becomes smart. Suppose a person is sitting next to the window, so when the sun shines onto their face, the sensor automatically detects heat and shuts off the window.
Also, it can modulate the light of the office according to the requirement of the employee i.e., low, medium or high.
See also: Widely used sensors in IoT
INDOOR AIR QUALITY MONITORING
The good health of employees is an asset for the company. Working in good air is the right of employees. Sensors detect PM 2.5 and PM 10 in the air and monitor air quality. Sometimes offices are situated near Industrial facilities or Warehouses or in Inventory managemen. In these conditions, monitoring air quality becomes crucial.
IoT-based air quality monitoring system detects air quality on a real-time basis and the employee on its mobile can see the quality of air he is breathing.
See Also: Air Quality monitoring using IoT
USING OFFICE INFRASTRUCTURE EFFECTIVELY
Office infrastructure like conference rooms, equipment, and parking space can be used effectively. When the real-time availability is known to the employee. There is a lot of hustle and bustle about booking conference rooms and finding parking space on company office premises. Which affects the mood and productivity of employees.
IoT-based workplace monitoring systems can detect, on a real-time basis, the occupancy of the Conference room. And other requirements like the availability of participants and equipment for the meeting.
See also: Smart Parking system using IoT
FACIAL MONITORING USING IOT SMART ATTENDANCE TAKER
The workplace is a secure area, where a traditional camera-based monitoring system is not sufficient. And IoT Technology is not restricted to controlling cameras remotely. It is more about processing the information which a camera captures. It has the potential to lower the burden on security guard-based monitoring systems.
Facial recognition effectively recognizes the identity of the person whenever he enters the office. Also, the system checks all places he visited, and how much time he spent on the seat. Nowadays, many companies have already started using Facial recognition systems for attendance monitoring.
WASHROOM OCCUPANCY INDICATION
To avoid long queues outside the washroom, occupancy-based Light indications visible from distance can be implemented in Offices.
It is possible to use anonymous footfall data to establish a consistent level of hygiene and cleanliness. When washroom cleaning is demand-based, it becomes easier to optimize the use of existing resources to ensure that the janitorial team cleans when needed. As an example, an alert system can be created to inform washroom cleaning staff to initiate washroom cleaning after ten people have used the facility.
IOT BASED SMART SECURITY SOLUTIONS FOR WOMEN SAFETY
Women safety at the workplace and while commuting is a critical issue everywhere in the world. Evidently, Womens in office are mistreated and harassed in many ways. Twitter hashtags ”metoo” and “timesup” are evidence of such a phenomenon. In contrast, false accusation complaints against men are also on the rise.
In such a scenario, an Intelligent evidence gathering system is required. IoT based workplace monitoring systems will not only detect such distressing moments but will take prompt action too. Also by using smart IoT based wearable devices, the real time location and panic call can be initiated by the women.
SMART FURNITURE IN OFFICE:
According to Grand View Research, The global smart furniture market size was valued at USD 143.6 million in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.4% from 2021 to 2028.
Smart furniture is the class of furniture that uses technology like IoT and WSN to cater the needs of users. Some examples of smart furniture are Smart screen, Smart sofa, Smart table and Smart chair.
With the app , employees can customize their Smart tables, chairs and sofas . Through which they can adjust furniture’s height, charge their phones, optimise their working environment (like temperature of AC and light). Or they can connect to other office devices like printers and projector, where everything is customizable according to the need. Also, Managers, on the other hand, can intelligently monitor the working ethics of the employees. As these devices constantly gather data of their usage, type of use. Also in case of any repair and maintenance, they themselves can connect to the service provider.
Secondly, the Smart Screen looks like a slim whiteboard but can store notes, play videos and presentations. Smart screens are particularly suitable for conference rooms, where they can also monitor the availability of conference rooms and can save Minutes of Meeting on demand.
FOOTFALL COUNTER IN BUSINESS PARKS
Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and Business Parks are the high security places and center of economic growth. Where people visit for various business purposes, the data generated by counting footfall in such zones can be of great utility for measuring sales conversion, pin-point busy hours, staff scheduling and show real-time occupancy.
By using Sensors and WSN technology combinedly, we can effectively detect human presence when the person enters any enterprise in Business Park. Through this data, the individual company in a business park can perform Data Analytics to calculate various Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relevant to their company. For security purposes this data is also useful as it will tell about occupancy of space in the entire business park, like unutilized parking space, infrastructure availability etc.
HOW CAN WE AUTOMATE OUR OFFICES?
WSN is a network of a wide number of sensors to monitor environmental conditions like, Intensity of light, Temperature, Humidity, Sound and Pollution. By processing the data received from these sensors we can control the Appliance (like, Coffee machine and Air conditioners), on a real time basis or on the basis of set parameters.
SMART OFFICE AUTOMATION SYSTEM IS USEFUL IN
- Corporate offices: They are typical to every business which controls and monitors most important business activities. They are lavishly designed and have high end infrastructure. Cost of using such a space is very high due to high power tariffs.
- Industrial Facility: This is a place where production (Example: Automobile and chemical factory) takes place. Large number of workers work here. Workers safety is crucial in these production facilities. And monitoring these workers is a tedious task.
Internet of Things (IoT) based Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for workplace monitoring allows employers to provide smart amenities to their employees, in the Office. IoT enabled Office resource management will ensure a good working environment and effectively reduce energy consumption. It will ensure good health and well being of employees. Using Smart technology like IoT for Workplace monitoring will ensure greater efficiency and productivity of employees.
We at PsiBorg, an IoT product development company and an IoT consultant, use state-of-the-art technology integration that provides a complete IoT-WSN based services for Office/Workplace Monitoring system, on a case-to-case basis.
