Digital

Role of IoT Sensors, Data and Insights in Optimising Learning Environment
Shrikant Sharma, CEO, SmartViz; Magnus Inglis, Principal Officer, Workforce, Policy, and Pupil Placements, Midlothian Council & Paul Dodd, Head of Infrastructure Technology, Scottish Futures Trust

Buildings are inefficient. School and university buildings even more so.

Buildings are responsible for 40% of all global emissions. Yet they consume 3.5 times more energy than they are designed for. The bigger problem, however, is with the building environment which impacts on student health, wellbeing, cognitive ability, and learning itself.

The reason behind this major gap is our limited understanding of how people use buildings. The rapid rise of billions of IoT (Internet of Things) sensors and devices is set to change that.

This presentation will cover innovations in the use of IoT sensors, data analytics and digital twins to monitor and optimise teaching and social spaces in schools and universities. This includes simple ‘peel-and-stick’ sensors that monitor occupancy, movements, indoor air quality and energy use in real time. These also include high resolution lidar sensors that anonymously monitor movements in large spaces such as lobbies and dining halls.

Connecting the data from these sensors together with timetables and building management systems into a digital twin of the building and estates provides a comprehensive picture of how the spaces are being used. It also provides realtime and historic insights on space utilisation, environmental comfort and energy usage.

The presentation will cover a range of technologies in action, with live demonstrations and outcomes in the context of a primary school, a secondary school, and a university building. It will also show how an innovative integration of timetable data with sensors is providing unprecedented insights into space utilisation and student wellbeing. The results of this work are being fed into guidance on smart infrastructure, methodology for measurement of space utilisation and performance profile for teaching spaces – the presentation will also provide an overview on that.