Offices, campuses and workspaces run their heating, cooling and lighting to a timetable set when the building opened. Occupancy, air quality and energy measured per zone replace that timetable with demand — and in most estates the largest single saving is not lighting or plant efficiency, it is conditioning space that nobody is using.
A building-level average conceals exactly the variation that makes savings available.
| Signal | How | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Occupancy and desk utilisation | Passive infrared, or desk-mounted presence sensing | Conditioning and cleaning follow use; unused space becomes visible in a lease review |
| Carbon dioxide | NDIR sensor per zone | A direct comfort measure and a reliable occupancy proxy in enclosed rooms |
| Temperature and humidity | Per zone rather than per floor | Comfort complaints become a measurement rather than an argument |
| HVAC state and setpoint | BACnet or Modbus to the building management system | Demand-led setpoints instead of a fixed schedule |
| Split-unit control | Retrofit infrared control of existing air conditioners | Scheduling and setpoint limits on units with no network interface at all |
| Energy submetering | Pulse or CT metering per circuit or per floor | Consumption attributed to a zone, so a saving can be proven rather than claimed |
The sensing is the solved part. These are what determine whether the deployment is still running in year three.
Most estates run a BMS installed years ago speaking BACnet or Modbus, sometimes a proprietary protocol with no documentation. Integrating with it — rather than replacing it, which nobody has budgeted for — is the work.
Retrofit infrared control sends a command and cannot confirm what the unit did. Closing that loop needs a temperature sensor and current sensing on the unit to infer actual state, because a command that was not received looks identical to one that was.
A handful of occupants generate most complaints, frequently from one poorly served zone. Per-zone measurement converts that from a personality dispute into a commissioning fault with a location.
Ceiling voids and meeting rooms rarely have a convenient supply, so battery life and mounting drive the sensing choice more than accuracy does.
Presence data at individual desks is read by staff as surveillance whether or not it is used that way. Aggregating to zone level, agreeing the policy before deployment and never using cameras is what makes it acceptable.
Same sensing, different economics in each.
Desk and room utilisation, demand-led conditioning, and the occupancy evidence that supports a lease or fit-out decision.
Scheduling, setpoint limits and out-of-hours lockout on existing split units, without replacing hardware that works.
Connectivity, provisioning, over-the-air update and cloud for appliance makers adding connected capability to a product line.
Submetering and consumption attribution across a portfolio, so a saving is proven per site rather than inferred from a total.
Principally by conditioning space in proportion to occupancy rather than to a fixed schedule. In most estates the largest single saving is heating or cooling space nobody is using, which a building-level average conceals.
Yes. Retrofit infrared control gives scheduling, setpoint limits and out-of-hours lockout on split units with no network interface. The engineering subtlety is that infrared is one-way, so actual state is inferred from temperature and current sensing rather than read back.
That is the normal case. Integration is over BACnet, Modbus or the vendor's interface, working with the system already installed rather than replacing it.
It can be, and it is treated as one. Data is aggregated to zone level, no cameras are used, and the policy is agreed before deployment rather than after the first objection.
Demand-led facility cleaning.
SOLUTIONEstates, utilities and cities.
PRODUCTProtocol translation to the BMS.
PLATFORMSensing, gateways and device cloud.
PRODUCTReporting that gets acted on.
KNOWLEDGEWhy BLE or LoRaWAN here.
Tell us the specification, the constraint and the deadline. Programmes that cross silicon, radio, embedded and AI are where Faststream is strongest.