Smartenic
Sensors connected, readings transmitted in real time, network and backend, central management of the displays.
- A direct line to your engineer
- Operation including hardware replacement
- Planned and built for your business
What is the Smartenic platform, and who developed it?
The Smartenic platform collects sensor data from building systems and centrally controls digital displays, aimed at smarter building management. NDVDL developed the sensor connectivity that feeds data into the platform, the real-time data transmission over the MQTT protocol, a Python backend that processes and prepares the incoming sensor data, and the digital signage management system that centrally controls the displays. The design is publish/subscribe: many sensors can send data at once without the platform having to actively poll each one individually. Sensor data and display control therefore run on one shared platform rather than as separate systems.
Our role at Smartenic
Smartenic brings building services and digital displays together: sensors deliver readings from the building, digital displays show content, and both are meant to run on a shared platform instead of separate islands.
NDVDL supports this on three levels: IoT — connecting the sensors and transmitting their readings in real time —, the network over which sensors, displays and backend talk to each other in the first place, and the digital signage management used to control the displays centrally. The cooperation is ongoing, not limited to a one-off project.
Starting point
Smartenic needed a platform that captures sensor data from building services and controls digital displays centrally — for smarter building management. NDVDL supports this across IoT, networking and digital signage.
What we did
IoT sensor integration
Connecting sensors from the building systems to the platform.
Data transfer via MQTT
Real-time transfer of sensor data over the MQTT protocol.
Backend in Python
Processing and preparing the sensor data in the Python backend.
Digital signage management
Central system for controlling digital displays throughout the building.
Networking & connectivity
Network-side connection of sensors, displays and backend so readings and content reliably arrive.
The technical details are project-specific — we're happy to walk through the exact implementation in person.
From analysis to day-to-day operation
No off-the-shelf project — a clear path to IT you can rely on.
- 01
Initial Consultation & Analysis
We take a look at your IT — free of charge and with no obligation. You get an honest assessment: what's good, what's missing, what's risky.
- 02
Concept & Offer
You receive a concept tailored precisely to your business — explained in plain language, without jargon and without hidden line items.
- 03
Implementation
We build your infrastructure — cleanly documented and with minimal disruption to your day-to-day operations.
- 04
Operation & Full Service
After installation is when we really get started: monitoring, maintenance, optimization — and hardware replacement when something fails, if you want it.
The technical stack
IoT sensor connectivity
Connects sensors from the building's technical systems to the platform.
Building sensor hardware is rarely a single uniform system — sensors come from different manufacturers and speak different protocols. The connectivity layer has to map that variety onto one common interface so downstream systems can work with a consistent data format.
MQTT
Transmits sensor data to the backend in real time.
MQTT is a publish/subscribe protocol built for many devices sending data at once over limited bandwidth — unlike HTTP polling, it doesn't require continuously asking whether new data is available. That reduces network load and holds up better against short connection drops, since MQTT brokers can queue messages until a device reconnects.
Python
Processes and prepares the incoming sensor data in the backend.
Python offers a wide ecosystem of libraries for handling time-series data and adapts quickly to new sensor types or data formats. For a backend that continuously processes data from heterogeneous sources, that flexibility matters more than raw execution speed.
Digital signage management
Centrally controls the building's digital displays.
Signage devices in a building run without continuous on-site supervision and need to receive and display content reliably, even when individual devices are temporarily unreachable. A central management system lets content and device status be controlled and monitored from one place instead of maintaining each display individually.
Networking
Connects sensors, displays and backend with each other.
IoT rarely fails at the sensor and often at the network behind it: devices have to be reachable, their data has to find its way to the backend, and displays have to fetch their content reliably. A properly planned and segmented network is therefore not a side issue but the precondition for the platform running stably inside the building.
What makes an IoT sensor platform for building systems technically demanding
Building sensor hardware continuously produces data from potentially many devices at once — and those devices aren't always reachable. Transmission over HTTP polling would mean actively querying every sensor at fixed intervals regardless of whether anything changed, which creates unnecessary network and server load. MQTT solves this with a publish/subscribe model: sensors send values as they occur, and the backend subscribes to the relevant topics without having to ask. During the brief connection drops that happen on building networks, MQTT brokers can hold messages rather than lose them.
The second requirement concerns display control: digital signage devices run unattended in the building and need to receive content reliably even when a device is briefly offline or restarting. That calls for a control layer that tracks the status of every device and redelivers content rather than silently assuming a display is current. Combined with the sensor-data processing in the backend, the result is a platform that has to serve two different real-time demands — incoming sensor data and outgoing display content — on one shared foundation.
Technical questions about this project
Question not covered here?
Call us or send an email. You speak directly to an engineer — even if it never turns into a project.
Services this project demonstrates
For your business too: infrastructure that just works
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