1) IoTs provide an opportunity for Pakistan to automate the collection of sensor data from buildings and homes to improve energy efficiency and reduce the impact of power outages. 2) A proposed system called SoftUPS would emulate an uninterruptible power supply without batteries by enforcing homes to operate at lower power states directly from the grid during power outages to reduce energy consumption. 3) RetroHVAC uses sensors and centralized control of existing HVAC systems in older buildings to reduce energy waste from misuse and improve temperature control and energy savings by over 30% compared to no control.

1. IoTs for Smart-Buildings: An opportunity for Pakistan
Affan A. Syed
Director Engineering,
PLUMgrid Inc.
Acknowledgements: Zohaib Sharani, Noman Bashir, Khusboo Qayyum, Naveed Bhatti, and Aftab Rashid and
the SysNet lab for their work and Microsoft Research for their funding

2. 2
Do you know what I did (last summer!) …
WUWNet 2012, ADHOC 2014

3. 3
Do you know what I did (last summer!) …
Energy Plane
LAMP Master
Laser
Tilt
Pan Power
Socket
LAMP Leaves
Sensing Plane
Dual-axis, pan-tilt
mechanism using
servo motors
LASER Module
TelosB mote
Capacitor used as
buffer
TelosB mote
(Without Battery)
Monocrystalline solar
panel
IPSN 2014

4. Talk outline

5. What I plan to do today
5
This talk was originally given to a primarily “western” audience, at the
Microsoft Research Faculty Summit

6. 6
IoT: What’s the buzz
Src: Goldman Sachs
Disaster recovery
Wildlife monitoring

7. Computer: automating repetitive number crunching
Sensor Networks: automating collection of sensory data
IoT: Connectivity of sensory data from/to anywhere
7
IoTs: Connectivity Overlay

8. Thinking differently!

9. First World Problems: Loss of connectivity
9
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2011/04/08/strover_sharon_yonder/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cp-Gurnani/the-role-of-connectivity-in-reshaping-the-world_b_4665180.html
http://google.com/loon.

10. Another loss of (power) connectivity
10
www.thenewstrack.com
http://www.outlookindia.com/news/article/Load-Shedding-to-
Continue-Across-Maharashtra/842950

11. Summer 2013 it got really bad in Pakistan!
11
Src: POWER SYSTEM STATISTICS, NTDC 2012
Domestic/Residential sector largest consumer

12. Agenda
12
Both using an IoT inspired, LoT enabled instrumented home

13. Walking-the-walk!
SoftUPS and SmartHomes

14. Local energy backups: managing load-shedding
14
UPSLoad shedding
In effect we voluntarily move our
homes to a low power state

15. Problems of a UPS+battery backup
15
Cost (initial $300, recurring $100*)
Limited capacity
Rigid selection of appliances (hard-wired)
Increased total load on grid (inefficient)
“Hidden Costs of Power Cuts and Battery
Backups” in e-Energy’13, May 21–24, 2013
ConsumerGrid/Govt
Src: askmohsin.com
Increased
demand

16. UPS
Key Idea for SoftUPS
16
When demands need to be shed, why not emulate low
power mode of a UPS-based soln?
Something enforces homes to operate at a lower power state
But operate directly off the grid!
Load Shedding
Zohaib Sharani, Khushboo Qayyum, Noman Bashir, Affan A. Syed. "SoftUPS: Eliminating the need and
cost of battery backups in the developing world", ACM e-Energy conference, 2014, Cambridge, UK

17. SoftUPS: Architectural Overview using HomeOS/LoT
17
Consumption< 2 Kw Load Shedding signal
or simply schedule based
15
3 Off
2 Soft signal to Front-
end
Smart
Meter
SoftUPS application
3 Off
3 off
Power Controller

18. Benefits of SoftUPS
18
One time cost
No efficiency losses
No resource exhaustion
Dynamic reallocation of power budget

19. Challenges
Deployment and practical concerns
Worrying about power dissipation and consumption
Device and system cost
Keep the cost of entire solution under $300
Power theft and accidental misuse
Detection and response
Application interface for usability
Motivation and incentives for its usability
19

20. 20
Total Cost = $18.07
Power = 2.5W
Total Cost = $ 28.07
Power = 3.5W

21. Research Enabled: Intelligent Demand Response (Aashiyana)
Power “congestion control” algorithms with an
automated demand control implemented at home
Fully distributed
centralized
21
Noman Bashir, Zohaib Sharani, Khushboo Qayyum, Affan A. Syed. "Delivering Smart Load-shedding for Highly-stressed Grids", IEEE SmartGridComm 2015

22. Some results astonishing results (for the same demand-supply gap)
22
Homes with zero-power
Homes with full-power

23. RetroHVAC: HVAC for old
buildings

24. Old buildings have distributed HVAC elements
24
http://hvacmariettaco.com/ductless-mini-split-air-
conditioning-systems.html/
http://www.wahid-industries.com/
A Khan, S Arif, M Mushtaq, et al. Electricity consumption for energy conservation in
office buildings in Lahore-Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Science, 65(2), 2013

25. Scenarios of misuse/waste
25
Load Shedding
Leaving AC on,
inadvertently or
laziness

26. Scenarios of misuse/waste
26
Temp set
point = 18°C
Setting very low
threshold;
Lack of concern

27. Why not use HVAC to solve these problems?
27
http://www.homeadvisor.com/rated.Mo
rehouseImprovements.13337746.html
http://yashenterprises.apnaghar.c
o.in/services.aspx
http://hvacmariettaco.com/duc
tless-mini-split-air-
conditioning-systems.html/
http://www.wahid-industries.com/

28. Retrofit elements for centralized control
28Aftab Rashid, Affan A. Syed. "Low Cost HVAC Systems for Energy Management in Developing Countries", ACM BuildSys, Nov 2014

29. Three components of RetroHVAC
Control nodes
Base station
Application
29
Architecture and Implementation Overview
PIR, light, ultrasound,
and temp sensors
Interface with
remote
cc2500

30. Three policies
Static time based
Temp Control (+Static)
Occupancy based (+Temp+static)
Base day consumption for a faculty office
Comparison with savings for different policies under
real evaluation
30
Evaluation of savings

31. Energy Savings
31
Base Day
67.1% savings from base (AC on) day, 33.7% for a normal day

32. Connected buildings are an alternate (shorter?) path
to improve living standards in developing economies
Maturing technologies and bleed back
32
IoT can add smartness to any thing!
Note from Experience:
IoT frameworks are essential to allow focus on
impactful applications

33. Questions
For more information
http://sysnet.org.pk/w/Publications
33
Thinking smartly, “Smart”-ness can be much more
than convenience!