Accessing and integrating your sensor data

Access sensor data in a spreadsheet

Our sensor data to spreadsheet functionality offers a simple way of viewing data from Pressac sensors without the complications of setting up a real IoT solution. Ideal for testing validation of sensor data, proof of concepts (POCs) or small sensing projects*.

Our smart gateway can receive live sensor data from multiple sensors (within 30 metres line of sight), and send it directly into your chosen Google Sheet. You’ll have the ability for multiple gateways to write to a single sheet if required.

Gathering translated data this way makes it simple to inform the way you manage your building, guiding your decision making with real-time statistics.

*Note: Google free accounts have some limitations, so we recommend you add billing information and adjust API requests to suit your requirements/budget.
There is also a 5 million cell limit per sheet which, when taking data from some Pressac sensors could be consumed quickly.

Integrating sensor data with existing software or platform

If you want to gather and analyse sensor data to manage your whole building, this is your best option. It is also the most suitable choice if you want to introduce a smart system, such as workspace occupancy monitoring.

Our smart gateway receives real-time data wirelessly from all sensors within range (30 metres line of sight), converts the raw data into an easy-to-use JSON format, time-stamps it, then publishes it using MQTT protocol.

Data can be sent locally or to the cloud – via Ethernet, LTE (4G) or WiFi – to any MQTT broker, or securely (TLS) to IBM Watson, Microsoft Azure or AWS loT platforms.

Our online gateway interface lets you quickly and easily connect directly with your chosen MQTT broker for seamless integration, or one of the leading IoT platforms for further data processing, analysis and storage before integrating with your application.

Visualise sensor data using Node-RED

Our smart gateway gives you the option of creating a local dashboard using Node-RED. This allows you to create your own simple dashboard to visualise the data in real time.

Node-RED is a browser-based programming tool that can be run on our gateway. It can also run on your computer, on a device like a Raspberry Pi, or even in the cloud. It uses ‘nodes’ and ‘flows’ to create simple code. Nodes are predefined blocks of code and flows connect these code blocks together to perform tasks. By selecting the relevant nodes and flows on the Node-RED user interface, you can create a simple dashboard to display the data in real time, as it’s received by the gateway.

To make it even easier to visualise your data, we’ve created three pre-made Node-RED flows that create dashboards to display energy, environment or occupancy data. Take a look at our Node-RED set-up guide to read more.

Integrating data into an existing building management system (BMS)

This is similar to the second option (automating control) but allows you to operate across the whole building, rather than in localised areas. The sensors send data to your existing system with protocols such as Modbus, so you can control and monitor conditions across your whole building without any manual intervention.

Connect sensors directly to EnOcean controllers

This simple method gives you automated control without collecting or storing unnecessary data. Here, the sensors send the data to a smart actuator, which in turn controls aspects of your building such as heating, lighting and machinery. For example, if it receives data that a window has been opened, the air conditioning will be switched off. You’re still using real-time data, but it won’t be stored for analysis.

Not sure whether you can integrate with your system?
Speak to our technical experts to learn more