Success Stories

Internet of Things Success Stories Series #3
Open IoT Smart Campus
1. Introduction
One of the most widely used definitions for a Smart City is outlined by Bakici et al. (2013), who defines
smart cities as “cities that utilize information and communications technologies with the aim to increase
the life quality of their inhabitants while providing sustainable development”. This definition
shows that ICT plays a key role in adapting a city to the contemporary needs of its citizens. Many ICTbased
systems have been proposed and tested in order to solve a wide variety of issues and problems
within cities, such as traffic management, air quality improvement, public illumination optimization,
efficient infrastructures, energy use, etc. (Domingo et al. 2013). However, the conception and implementation
of most of those systems have been primarily focused in the use of high-innovative technical
solutions rather than in solving a real problem demanded by the citizenship (Skouby & Lynggaard 2014).
In this paper, we present the CEI Montegancedo Open IoT Smart Campus project, which has been conceived as a holistic solution
to improve the quality of life and comfort of the campus staff, i.e. satisfying their different needs and demands. The project
is divided in four different solutions. The first one has been driven by the insecurity and accident prone situations caused by
the low luminosity on sidewalks: an outdoor smart lighting system which controls illumination in function of luminosity level
and motion detection. Secondly, motivated by the huge amount of energy consumed at the Centre for Plant Biotechnology
and Genomics, an energy monitoring and management system has been developed, which includes a full equipped growing
module. Thirdly, in order to reduce energy consumption and discrepancies surged around rooms temperature, a building energy
management system to control HVAC (Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning) and set temperature in function of indoor
temperature, humidity, luminosity and presence sensing (among others) has been deployed. Finally, trying to increase users’
awareness and encourage the introduction of smart metering and control technologies into the residential market, a home
energy management system has been developed and tested. The four systems have been successfully implemented, achieving
high energy consumption reductions, satisfying as well problems and needs demanded by the campus users. All the pilots are
technologically based on the BatNet solution, a 6loWPAN (IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks) based sensor
and actuator network designed and developed by CeDInt-UPM researchers that provides wireless connectivity between physical
systems and the internet (Caffarel et al. 2013).
2. Open IoT Solution
CeDInt solution for Open IoT comprises a sensor
network (BatNet) and a management platform in
Cloud (BatMP).
BatNet
BatNet connectivity is based on a network of nodes
with mesh topology that communicate through a Std.
IEEE802.15.4 Physical Layer under a 6LowPAN over
IPv6 to implement Link and Network Layers. The Transport
Layer is UDP and the Application Layer is based
on CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol). Information
encryption is done accordingly with AES-128.
The mesh topology has auto-configurable and autorouting
capabilities. Connection to Internet is done
through a border router that can group up to 200
nodes. The implementation has been done using Open
Hardware, resulting in a modular and inexpensive design.
The devices firmware is Contiki OS.
BATLink
BATDimmer
BATHop
BATMeter
Figure 1. BatNet network and devices
BATPlug
BATSense
BATStreetLighting
Internet of Things • Success Stories 52 SERIES #3 - November 2015