IoT Cleaning

IoT Cleaning, which has been in the cleaning industry for many years, has already established a solid database with their own behavior-based rules and infrastructure. It was therefore crucial that the solution took this into consideration, as the database already played a central role in IoT Cleaning's business. To meet this requirement, Iterator IT had a task of finding IoT devices that can be integrated into their system and can enforce the rules introduced by IoT Cleaning's system.

The choice of sensors was based on a range of PIR LoRaWAN sensors from companies such as Elsys, which can deliver the desired outcome by monitoring the use of premises through motion detection and monitoring door opening/closing.

The platform

Fordi  IoT Cleaning allerede har en solid database opbygget, har opgaven for Iterator IT primært ligget i at få udviklet en platform der kan integrere forskellige IoT enheder med databasen. Iterator IT har udviklet hvad vi kalder “IoT Platform Foundations” der er et fundament for arbejdet med solide IoT produkter. Platformen er bygget til at være et stærkt fundament for de fleste nye IoT projekter – hvor I som kunde får fordelen ved en afprøvet løsning, samtidig med at I selv ejer infrastruktur, data og kode. 

Platformen er skalérbar til mange 1000 enheder og bygget til at opfylde de sikkerhedskrav, der er nødvendige i en moderne IoT løsning – og generelt i et moderne databaseret projekt. Det betyder at vi bruger moderne, krypterede, kommunikationsprotokoller mellem backenden og enheden, sikker opbevaring af data i skyen og generel sikring af det kun er vores enheder der kan kommunikere med vores backend. Løsningen bygger på Microsofts IoT Hub teknologi og vi lægger os generelt tæt op af anbefalingerne fra Microsofts sikkerhedseksperter.

Wireless infrastructure

The project uses LoRaWAN based sensors. IoT Cleaning wanted to set up its own infrastructure to avoid subscription costs to an external provider and to not tie their business to a single vendor. As the task involves many IoT devices in the form of sensors from Elsys, we have set up a production environment that can handle communication and handling of a large number of LoRaWAN devices.

We have built it on Chirpstack, an Open Source LoRaWAN infrastructure. With Chirpstack, IoT cleaning has their own LoRaWAN network that they have full control over. The solution is set up on Microsoft Azure, which from here sends it on into IoT cleaning's web platform.

Integration with web portal for device management

To handle secure and simple device creation, an API was developed for the purpose. IoT Cleaning's platform integrates with the API, which in turn integrates with their Web portal, so that devices are automatically forwarded to the portal when they are created. This is of great importance when creating 1000 devices at a time.

All in all, a complex system made simple for IoT cleaning that has innovated the industry and is helping to future-proof IoT Cleaning and its position as the market leader in dynamic cleaning schedules.

The IoT platform is based on Microsoft Azure and are build upon Iterators IoT Foundations.

The sensors for monitoring individual rooms come mainly from Elsys. Chirpstack is used to handle communication and management between LoRaWAN devices. Chirpstack is an open-source LoRaWAN infrastructure that works well for companies like IoT Cleaning who want their own LoRaWAN infrastructure without building it from scratch. 

The platform is built around Azure IoT Hub, Azure Functions, Stream Analytics and Cosmos DB. The platform can receive data from all types of devices and systems, e.g.: LoRaWAN, Sigfox, NB-IoT, 5G etc.

The user interface to control the platform is a website, developed in ReactJS with integration to both the major authentication providers (Azure AD, Microsoft, Google, Auth0) and to custom authentication flows. The web portal handles device management, setting up notifications and can be extended to also present data to the end user in a form expected of a modern platform.

Using IoT data, IoT Cleaning can offer:

• More sustainable cleaning assistance: Cleaning is only done where and when it's actually needed. 
• Charging per room cleaned - instead of a fixed price. 
• Cost savings of up to 20% for their customers. 
• Resource and time optimization for cleaning staff. 
• Higher level of cleaning exactly where needed.