Smart Energy Heating and Monitoring solution

Overview

RDS partnered with an innovative heating system provider to develop a smart energy monitoring and control solution. The system was designed to sense, collect, report and control multiple heating parameters through a compact touchscreen interface, while minimising installation complexity. RDS delivered an end-to-end solution encompassing hardware, communications and a bespoke cloud platform to enable real-time monitoring and control. Custom electronics were developed for both control and heating systems for intergrated system management.

Challenge & Objectives

The customer required a control and monitoring system that could:

• Control multiple heaters from a single, compact touchscreen device
• Sense and collect detailed performance and usage data.
• Report system data in real time for monitoring and analysis
• Minimise installation impact within residential and commercial properties
• Avoid additional wiring or disruptive infrastructure changes
• Scale across different installation environments and system sizes

The solution needed to be flexible, cost-effective and easy to deploy, while supporting long-term data collection and system optimisation.

Design & Development

RDS Engineered a modular suite of products to capture and manage heater system data. To reduce installation complexity, RDS developed a bespoke data-over-mains communication protocol, enabling reliable communication using existing ring mains wiring and eliminating the need for additional cabling.

Key aspects of the design included:

• Compact touchscreen control device for intuitive user interaction
• Distributed sending modules to capture heater system parameters
• Data-over-mains communications to leverage existing electrical infrastructure
• Modular system architecture adaptable to different installation requirements
• Bespoke cloud platform built on RDS's SensConnect framework
• Secure data collection, reporting and remote control capabilities

The modular approach allowed the system to be tailored to the specific needs of each deployment, while the SensConnect-based cloud platform enabled rapid development of a full IoT ecosystem.

Production & Deployment

Over the product lifecycle, RDS developed multiple communication variants to ensure flexibility across different environments. These included sub-GHz radio, WiFi and 4G-enabled versions, allowing the system to be deployed reliably in a wide range of residential and commercial settings.

By leveraging SensConnect as a foundation, RDS significantly reduced development time for the cloud and IoT components, accelerating time to market.

Outcome & Impact

The high accuracy of the collected data, combined with real-time backend analysis, enabled the energy provider to optimise system performance and significantly reduce operational overheads. The solution delivered a competitive smart heating product that has since been adopted across numerous housing developments and commercial installations.

Key Takeaways

• Compact touchscreen controller for multi-heater systems
• Data-over-mains communications to minimise installation impact
• Modular hardware architecture for flexible deployments
• Multi-connectivity options including sub-GHz, WiFi and 4G
• Bespoke cloud platform built on SensConnect for real-time analytics

RDS delivers fully integrated smart energy solutions, combining hardware, communications and cloud platforms to support scalable, data-driven energy management systems.