Towards a smart campus: supporting campus decisions with Internet of Things applications

Abstract

At universities worldwide, creating a 'smart campus' is gaining significance. This is a response to the increasingly dynamic use of the campus and the pressure on resources: energy, financial and human resources. The university community has become more mobile, student numbers more unpredictable and funding more uncertain. Consequently, campus strategies focus on resource efficiency and sharing space, requiring investment in management information to improve decision making. The Internet of Things (IoT) can help to provide big data about use patterns: by collecting real-time data on space utilization, users can make better use of current spaces and real estate managers can make better decisions about long-term demand. Furthermore, space utilisation data can be complemented with user feedback data and environmental variables, e.g. noise levels, luminance. In this research we identify the capabilities of existing IoT applications through a literature study. Literature also suggests that information from IoT applications is not utilized in organisational decision-making processes. Through four case studies we analyse these decision-making processes and identify the process-level requirements to make strategic decisions in campus management. Then we show how information from the IoT can be directly connected to these processes, thus providing a valuable addition of real-time data as input.

A multi-stakeholder perspective on opportunities and challenges for energy efficiency improvement in university buildings

“…With the increasing availability and cost-effectivity of sensor and communication technologies, IoT tools can provide information to facilitate the decision-making process for adopting various sustainability interventions. The challenge is to understand how IoT tools can be effectively adapted in organizational and operational processes, as sometimes such knowledge may be missing even after their adoption [2]. Promotion of such tools requires bridging the technical and management aspects on collecting various in-situ data and their visualization [7,10].…”

“…Academic buildings are relatively energy-intensive, and energy use in nonresidential buildings, such as academic buildings, is expected to increase by 57% worldwide from 2018 to 2050 [1]. Universities are generally facing increasing financial pressure, which drives them to seek strategies for more efficient campus management, such as using smart tools as means of information to achieve their increasingly ambitious goals [2].…”

“…There is a large number of stakeholders involved and affected by such decisions. Such challenges vary in different universities as the management structures can influence the decision-making processes [2]. In the Swedish model, a public agency (Akademiska Hus) owns the majority of academic buildings, and the universities are the tenants paying rent for the buildings they use [4].…”

Hybrid Auto-Scaled Service-Cloud-Based Predictive Workload Modeling and Analysis for Smart Campus System

“…The educational campuses are smart using IoT to collect real-time data for decision making to accommodate increasing needs [3].The smart campus results from the rapid growth of computer networks, IoT, and servers' advancement. It has three main features: customized services, information services, and platforms for the workplace.…”

“…Creating a smart campus is gaining popularity at universities worldwide due to the consequences of diverse use of the campus and load on resources like power, human and financial resources. The IoT will help to provide big data on patterns of use to guide users to take better decisions [3]. The smart campus is an evolving notion that enables educational institutes to upgrade their physical architecture with intelligent technology for better facilities, campus durability, and decision-making.…”