Page 28 - Climate Control News July 2019
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Building Automation
10 smart building technologies for facilities automation
NANALYZE, A COMPANY which provides information about disruptive technologies for investors, identifies 10 smart building technolo- 1gies for facilities automation.
Since it was founded in 2014, Robin has raised $29.1 million. The company's focus is on maximising office meeting room
space by offering a search engine style platform to help employees find the perfect place to meet. The platform also provides insights on confer- ence room usage and an interactive office map to optimize layout. Customers claim it has cut no- show meetings by as much as 25% and Robin of- 2fers plans starting as low as $20 a month.
A startup in Berlin called Basking, founded in 2017, uses WiFi signals to monitor build- ing occupancy. After applying a series of
algorithms to filter the WiFi data and assess the positioning of devices using location triangula- tion, its software accurately determines the num- ber of people and their location within the space 3in near-real time.
PointGrab has raised $12 million since it was founded more than a decade ago in 2008. The company produces the Cog-
niPoint sensing platform, an IoT device a little bigger than a fire alarm that also mounts on the ceiling. CogniPoint uses machine learning and computer vision to spy on employees and detect the ebb and flow of office workers in order to maximize office space, though other uses range from controlling office access to improving en- ergy efficiency. The analytics actually happen on the device, with the data then streamed to the cloud for further processing before passing the results onto the customer. It can track foot traffic, for example, to manage maintenance by
sending a cleaning crew to heavily trafficked areas. The data it collects about the occupants r4emains anonymous.
Founded in 2012, Aquicore has raised $11.7 million to build out a platform to auto- mate energy and utility usage in buildings.
Aquicore uses machine learning to help auto- mate utilities for real estate rentals, from tweak- ing operations to managing tenant billing. For example, in one case, it saved a client an immedi- ate $30,000 when the system detected a meter- ing error in the water utility.
“A RANGE OF SENSORS AND CONTROL DEVICES ARE USED TO MANAGE AND MONITOR EVERYTHING FROM TEMPERATURE AND LIGHTS TO OCCUPANCY AND NOISE.”
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infrastructure to the sensors that collect data and send it to the cloud for processing to the apps that access the information. It has dozens of different sensors for a wide variety of applica- tions, such as monitoring and adjusting temper- 6ature or lighting.
Founded in 2017, VergeSense is another startup using AI to track people through a facility. It has raised $1.6 million. Its ceil-
ing-based sensors monitor foot traffic through-
out a facility, delivering “actionable insights” on where employees are spending the most time. VergeSense says its platform is used by 15 For- tune 500 companies and monitors more than
Bractlet has raised $5.2 million claiming o7
time energy consumption data that it feeds into its Intelligence Engine, while also ac- counting for everything from building design and occupancy to heating, cooling, lighting and plug loads to HVAC system performance to real- 8time weather.
Senseware has raised $3.2 million. Data is collected from a building’s existing mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and
environmental systems, as well as augmented by Senseware’s own wireless hardware. It of- fers specific packages for applications like re- al-time energy management or indoor air quality monitoring.
Founded in 2012, 75F has raised $2.9 million for its smart building technologies, which
includes a range of sensors and control de-
Enertiv has raised $4.3 million. Its platform creates a digital twin of eve-
ry machine or piece of equipment in-
ne million square feet of office space.
its proprietary power meters collect real-
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CLIMATECONTROLNEWS.COM.AU
Founded in 2009, French startup Qowisio has raised $11 million to develop its own
IoT ecosystem, from the communications
vices to manage and monitor everything from temperature and lights to occupancy and noise. Customers include Shell and Mercedes-Benz.
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volved in maintaining a building’s environ- ment. The system has been trained on three billion machine hours to not only identify op- erational efficiencies for saving energy but also to predict when things might break down or to alert custodians in real-time to a problem. Vis- it: www.nanalyze.com ✺
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