A Distributed IoT Software Infrastructure for Multi-Purpose Services in Multi-Energy Systems

The Internet of Things (IoT) is fundamental in advancing towards Multi-Energy Systems. Ubiquitous devices have the potential to generate considerable data that can enable, for example, real-time monitoring of countless applications. The requirements and context of different services and applications, such as renewable power generation and smart building monitoring, may differ considerably in a cross-context scenario like Multi-Energy Systems. Nonetheless, collecting and managing this heterogeneous cross-context data can unlock the development of new analytics that can link this information and provide valuable insights for decision-making processes. However, the collection, storage and management of the vast amount of heterogeneous data generated in this variety of applications poses a significant challenge in developing a unique IoT software infrastructure that ensures interoperability and reliability among the different devices and services. This paper presents a vendor-agnostic multi-purpose platform to collect, store, manage and analyse heterogeneous data in Multi-Energy systems. Furthermore, the platform enables the management of heterogeneous devices that implement different communication protocols. To test the proposed platform, we showcase its implementation in two use cases with different requirements due to their diverse contexts. On one hand, the monitoring of Indoor Enviromental Quality (IEQ), a critical parameter that asses the internal comfort of buildings. On the other hand, the real-time monitoring and forecasting of the wave power delivered to the grid of the Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter- the ISWEC, a device that converts waves motion into electrical power through the inertial effect of a gyroscope.