USER STORY
Graph Databases in Building Automation: How Smart Buildings Uses Memgraph for Real-Time Insights and Monitoring
User
Smart-Buildings.io
Industry
Building Management Systems
Profile
Digital Twin
Challenge
Smart-Buildings.io faced the challenge of managing and consolidating numerous alarms from disparate building automation systems across thousands of facilities, which led to inefficiencies and confusion in alarm management.
Solution
Smart Buildings addressed their challenge by using Memgraph to create an efficient facility index and digital twin. It replaced the complex relational database structure, managing the relationships between thousands of facilities and devices more effectively.
Reading time: 5min
About Smart-Buildings.io
Smart Buildings.io, founded in 2021 by Michael Marganelli and Gord Ericsson, specializes in building automation systems (BAS) security and integration. The company provides innovative solutions for auditing, securing, and optimizing BAS for various clients, including real estate management firms, federal governments, and heavy industries. Their core areas of expertise include:
- BAS Security Management. Providing auditing services and secure remote access solutions for building control systems.
- Integration and Software Development. Developing custom software to facilitate integration between different building systems.
- Air and Water Intelligence. Deploying and monitoring environmental sensors to detect risks such as flooding and poor indoor air quality.
Impact highlights
Enhanced data processing
Memgraph significantly reduced message processing times and the need for complex lookup tables.
API call reduction
Using Memgraph, Smart-Buildings.io cut down their API calls by two-thirds, reducing network traffic and processing time.
Scalable facility index
Created a robust and scalable facility index to efficiently manage complex relationships between facilities and devices.
Real-time monitoring
Integrated real-time telemetry data to provide dynamic and accurate digital twins, enhancing monitoring and management capabilities.
“Memgraph was the perfect solution for building up our digital twin. It had an extremely low barrier to entry and was very easy to get off the ground and running, whether using Memgraph Cloud or on-premises deployment.”
Michael Marganelli, CTO and Co-founder of Smart-Buildings.io
Key Memgraph Features for Smart‑Buildings.io
- In-memory processingMemgraph, a memory resident graph database, provided very fast response times, significantly faster than an SQL database. This feature was crucial for handling large volumes of data and real-time updates required for the digital twin.
- Graph data modelMemgraph enabled Smart Buildings to efficiently represent complex relationships between facilities, devices, and parameters in a graph database. This was essential for building the facility index and extending it into a digital twin.
- Schema-less flexibilityThe schema-less nature of Memgraph allowed Smart Buildings to integrate various pieces of equipment and data without worrying about rigid structures. This made it easier to mix different types of equipment that may not have a lot in common on the surface.
- Data durabilityMemgraph's ability to store asset information and relationships within a single database eliminated the need for complex lookup tables and due to in-memory nature allowed for quick checks and real-time updates.
- ScalabilityMemgraph supported the scalable storage of approximately 2800 facilities, 3700 pieces of equipment, and 4000 BACnet objects, with the ability to grow in the future. This flexibility allows Smart Buildings to expand their digital twin model as needed.
Backstory
Before using Memgraph, Smart Buildings used traditional relational databases. They attempted to manage their data and build their facility index using linked tables in these relational databases. However, this approach proved inefficient and slow, especially when dealing with thousands of facilities, each with numerous devices and complex relationships. The need to maintain complex lookup tables also created maintenance headaches and processing delays, which led them to seek a more efficient solution like Memgraph.
Challenge:
Smart-Buildings.io struggled to efficiently manage and consolidate alarms from diverse building automation systems across thousands of facilities.
Smart-Buildings.io had a client, an enterprise-level property management firm in Canada that managed thousands of buildings across North America. Each building had a building automation system (BAS), ranging from complex systems with servers and workstations to simpler setups with just a few smart thermostats.
Here's where they were at:
Okay, so how did Smart-Buildings.io use Memgraph to help with these challenges?
Here's where they were at:
- Diverse alarm notification methods. Different vendors used various methods to notify alarms, leading to inconsistency.
- which significantly outpaces alternatives.
- High volume of alarms. Numerous alarms from each building created a complex management scenario.
- Lack of unified view. Difficulty in obtaining a real-time, comprehensive picture of all facilities.
- Complex data management: Inefficiency of traditional relational databases in handling complex data relationships.
- Redundant API calls. Multiple API calls per alarm increased network traffic and processing time.
- Need for real-time insights. Requirement for real-time data to enhance monitoring, maintenance, and operational efficiency.
Okay, so how did Smart-Buildings.io use Memgraph to help with these challenges?
Why Memgraph?
Traditional relational databases with linked tables could have been more efficient and faster.
Smart Buildings chose Memgraph for its ability to store and process complex relationships efficiently. Memgraph became a facility index used to store facility and device information as soon as it was fetched. Consequently, this reduced the amount of API calls in any following event, leading to faster processing times. Memgraph, as a graph-based facility index, provided the foundation for the digital twin, allowing Smart Buildings to map out all facilities and their components.
Smart Buildings chose Memgraph for its ability to store and process complex relationships efficiently. Memgraph became a facility index used to store facility and device information as soon as it was fetched. Consequently, this reduced the amount of API calls in any following event, leading to faster processing times. Memgraph, as a graph-based facility index, provided the foundation for the digital twin, allowing Smart Buildings to map out all facilities and their components.
- Suitability of a graph database. A digital twin inherently involves a series of nodes and relationships, making a graph database the natural choice for representing these connections visually and logically.
- Schema flexibility. The schema-less nature of graph databases like Memgraph made it easier to integrate diverse types of equipment and data without rigid structures.
- Performance and efficiency. Memgraph provided very fast response times as an in-memory graph database, significantly outperforming traditional SQL databases.
How did Memgraph help?
- Reduced complexity - Memgraph eliminated the need for complex lookup tables, reducing maintenance headaches.
- Efficient data integration - Enabled the creation of a detailed graph database of facilities and components, facilitating better monitoring and management.
- Improved alarm management - By creating a facility index with Memgraph, Smart Buildings reduced their API calls and consolidated alarms into a single, unified platform.
“By building up a facility index using Memgraph, we were able to cut the API calls by two-thirds without having to go back to the vendor. This reduced the amount of processing time and network traffic, which is not required.”
Michael Marganelli, CTO and Co-founder of Smart-Buildings.io
Results
Reduced the number of API calls by two-thirds by building a facility index with Memgraph and thus decreased network traffic processing transactions and processing time.
Improved processing time because Memgraph is an in-memory graph database and provides very fast response times, significantly outperforming SQL databases.
The graph database currently includes about 2800 facilities, 3700 pieces of equipment, and approximately 4000 BACnet objects (parameters). The project is ongoing, with continuous expansion and improvements, demonstrating Memgraph's ability to handle growing data and increasing complexity.
The integration of live telemetry data provided real-time updates on building operations, allowing for dynamic and accurate digital twins.
Improved processing time because Memgraph is an in-memory graph database and provides very fast response times, significantly outperforming SQL databases.
The graph database currently includes about 2800 facilities, 3700 pieces of equipment, and approximately 4000 BACnet objects (parameters). The project is ongoing, with continuous expansion and improvements, demonstrating Memgraph's ability to handle growing data and increasing complexity.
The integration of live telemetry data provided real-time updates on building operations, allowing for dynamic and accurate digital twins.
“When we envisioned what a digital twin should look like, it's really about connecting disparate pieces of equipment or parameters in such a way that they make sense in how the whole is functioning. That kind of made a lot of sense in a graph database, because a graph database, very visually, you can see how the whole is functioning based on its parameters.”
Michael Marganelli, CTO and Co-founder of Smart-Buildings.io
Convinced Memgraph can help?
Let's talk!
