Smart Lighting in Sweden

Metergram collaborated with BRIKKS, a Swedish property management platform, to integrate device-level programming into their digital infrastructure. This solution allows tenants and owners to remotely monitor and control various property settings through a centralized dashboard. By connecting physical hardware to an accessible online portal, the platform provides a streamlined way to manage real estate assets. This project demonstrates our ability to bridge the gap between complex software and building automation.

Sweden is at the forefront of energy-efficient and sustainable living, and smart lighting solutions are no exception. With the country’s long dark winters, lighting plays a crucial role in energy consumption and building aesthetics. Smart lighting solutions that can be remotely controlled and automated offer a great opportunity to reduce energy consumption while enhancing the user experience.

Challenge

We were asked to design a module through which users would be allowed dynamic control of lighting and heating elements in their apartments. The products we worked with on this project were from Shelly.

Solution

Through APIs we could use the devices installed in the apartments as individual data sources, and communicate with them. These devices are IoT nodes that connect to the Internet via WiFi. Each of the devices has a set of configuration parameters in common. Each device also extends the common HTTP endpoints with a set of device-specific settings and behavior. The device reports its settings and state to an Internet connected cloud service, where the device’s settings can be changed. All the communication happens via SSL.

Our team got the BRIKKS portal to communicate with the cloud service and built a user-friendly interface that allows users to group devices together, schedule timers and manipulate individual settings for each device.

We created this using infrastructure as code and made use of Typescript, DynamoDB, Terraform and a range of AWS solutions. On the frontend React, Amplify, Redux and TeamUI are some of the tools we worked with.

How we did it?

Evaluation
For evaluation, we used APIs to gather data from IoT devices in the apartments.

Creation
We created a user-friendly interface through infrastructure as code using a range of AWS solutions, Typescript, and React.

Testing
We tested the system thoroughly, making sure it could group devices together, schedule timers, and manipulate individual settings for each device.

Outcome

Thanks to the new module, users can now conveniently access their lights and central heating remotely. The versatility of this application creates endless possibilities. A user can now switch the lights on in certain rooms before they get home, set a schedule for the lights to dim or change the hue of the light at night to support a healthier circadian rhythm. It is also possible to change the temperature settings of the central heating for certain rooms at certain times of the day. The devices can be manipulated individually, or grouped together for convenience.

As this forms part of the BRIKK portal that comes with powerful smart building integrations for the entire space, users no longer need to install separate applications for lights and other devices.