Hardware and software solutions

LoRaWAN - a low-power, wide-area networking protocol - is the primary wireless connectivity used for the internet of things (IoT) sensors. EnOcean was considered but LoRaWAN was preferred for its superior range. See An introduction to Internet of Things in health - Appendix A: IoT connectivity considerations for more on these connectivity technologies.

A Trend TON controller was used to integrate the data from the IoT sensors with the building management system (BMS). Data is sent via LoRaWAN to an MQTT server, where the TON  controller picks it up for control purposes.

During the pilot phase, smart sockets were used to monitor power usage at the socket level. While all the necessary hardware was procured for the wider rollout, the implementation has yet to take place. The delay stems from concerns raised by the electrical engineering manager, who identified that installing these sockets could be considered a circuit modification under BS 7671 standards.

As part of the compliance process, the team engaged with the Electrical Safety Group to seek a derogation. This is particularly critical as much of the existing electrical infrastructure lacks Residual Current Breaker with Overcurrent (RCBO) protection, a requirement for any circuit alterations. Addressing these challenges is essential to ensure compliance and maintain the integrity of the electrical system while enabling the planned enhancements.

Environmental sensors: Enhanced theatre monitoring with sensors for CO₂, particulate matter (PM1.0, PM2.5, PM10), temperature, humidity, and TVOCs, ensuring precise environmental monitoring. 

Door contact sensors, people counters and passive infrared (PIR) sensors are deployed to better track occupancy trends and ensure optimised air exchange by monitoring activity within the theatre.

7-inch touchscreen displays installed in older operating theatres lacking surgeon panels to provide clinicians with simplified displays:

• a green outline indicates the theatre is fit for use
• a red outline signals threshold breaches, requiring immediate attention

Clinicians follow standard operating procedures, such as bleeping estates team to address failures. 

52-inch touch screen TVs are installed in each theatre suite to display an overview of all theatres in that location.

Two primary software platforms were deployed to provide connectivity, control, and visualisation.

At the data capture and aggregation layer, MobiusFlow was used. This platform enables decoding and aggregation of data from LoRaWAN wireless devices while also integrating data from the Honeywell/Trend BMS and third-party monitoring systems. MobiusFlow aggregates and normalises data and provides control capability. This allows system integrators to establish virtual connections between traditionally disconnected protocols and make control and optimisation decisions directly at the edge, securely feeding these decisions back into the BMS.

The aggregated data is then visualised using the IA-See platform, built on Datacake resources. IA-See uses time-series databases (TSDBs) to store data, supporting both live and retrospective analysis. Moreover, the platform ensures all data is accessible to the NHS and its approved data analysis partner networks, enhancing transparency and collaboration for optimised healthcare operations.