IOT Library based Data Analytics Platform

There is a need for measuring data of any given system whether its industrial or commercial. By measuring data its possible to know more about the system.

Today the unavailability may be making the system inefficient. IOT solves this problem by enabling measurement of any type of data from a physical system. e.g. http://www.sensorsmag.com/ has info about available sensors. Adding a sensor defines an IOT device because it enables data. This data can help in measuring its performance and also identifying inefficiency in the existing systems.

 e.g. consider consumers  :

• Transportation
• Home and Apartments
• Office Buildings
• Industrial Manufacturing facility

for above example and for a generic system the first step is to identify and measure the energy producers and consumers with "Internet of Things" (IOT).  

By Definition Internet of Things is development of devices that only enables network connectivity but also to send, receive and process data.

In this proposed solution an library API is developed that can for a generic IOT device and its data - implement functions that associate, create and measure its sensor data (or USB interface from other equipment). This data is accessible using a web service from a web application and mobile app. The App provide generic interface and enable data monitoring of supported sensor types. e.g integer data sensors such as temperature, meter readers etc.. For the users these web of devices and the sensors when connected provide valuable real time data so as to help in identifying its trends graphs etc..

Further algorithms can be applied to find its efficiency, usage and benefits. The metering feature simply apply a cost to the data and provide the data in dashboard. Advanced features can also be applied for predictive analytics and other techniques such as identifying anomaly and performance improvements.

IOT Library Application Platform

For evaluating and processing further a custom solution can be developed by an Application Platform depending on the IOT data type. The Library architecture enables development of functions for IOT data useful for operational management.  This common server can be called as - Library of Things.

IOT device collect and publish its data based on MQTT protocol.   The platform will allow to store such collection centers and prepare the database for managing the inventory of things that can be used for maintenance applications. 

All data parameters values are available in real time and provide a unified view for advanced analytic purpose. There are many use cases e.g. building or an industrial unit where the concept can be used for continual improvements.  e.g. For a home "Zero Energy" could be achieved. For Industrial units and buildings "carbon footprint" targets could be set and achieved.

The block diagram is as shown below:

The overall architecture of the system highlights that with this method its possible to extend and develop a comprehensive system that can also be used for decision making not just data collection.

Mobile Apps

Mobile apps further provided with a unified view of energy consumption. 

Most common use  can be though of as a "metering" as discussed earlier but more custom apps are possible that show the data that is measured real-time.

Conclusion

With the library technique though it may not be possible to get a 100% data footprint for a unit it should be possible to build upon and get closer. The technical design is simple and extensible. More need to be done to see if these can be applied to Industry 4.0 as set by the standards body.