Project
The goal of this project is to develop a universal EMS (Energy Management System) gateway, including an associated back office, for monitoring and controlling various energy devices. This gateway is designed to bring a wide range of offline devices online at a very low product price and to connect them to the cloud. This offers possibilities for remote monitoring and controlling of these devices, which can make a significant contribution to the energy transition.
Challenge
The biggest challenge in this project was to minimize the total cost of ownership (TCO). This includes not only the production costs of the gateway, but also the operational costs, such as affordable telecom subscriptions. The business case focused on connecting residential energy devices. Because these installations are often relatively small, it was essential that the costs for connecting a device remained extremely low. By critically evaluating each design choice and incorporating costs into the design phase from day one, we ensured that the final solution is both economically and functionally feasible.
Solution
Our approach was focused on delivering maximum value at minimum cost. We achieved this by:
- Minimum viable product
The product was developed with only the necessary functionalities, without unnecessary additions. This helped to minimize the product costs. - Strategic component selection
The selected components perfectly match the cost picture within the Wefabricate business model. - Low bandwidth
To reduce operational costs, we used Thingsboard for the backoffice. The bandwidth was kept extremely low by using efficient transmission channels with minimal data overhead.
With this solution we have not only minimized the TCO, but also created a scalable and future-proof foundation for further developments.
