How to use IoT technology to build a smarter university campus?

2024-01-18

Modern universities require cutting-edge digital tools to promote better data availability, information transmission, and connectivity among students and teachers on campus. Therefore, in recent years, the concept of smart campuses has emerged to meet these needs. The application of the Internet of Things in university education is one of the main driving forces behind this emergence.

In the past few decades, there have been significant changes in the methods of learning and teaching. Like most other places, classrooms are no longer just about whiteboards and some markers. Over the years, more and more digital technologies have flooded in to help learners and teachers. The emergence of smart classrooms in several schools and colleges around the world is the climax of this influx. In the future, the smart classroom market is expected to further grow.

However, as we know, learning is not limited to the classroom of students. Therefore, the concept of smart campuses has recently received attention. The Internet of Things plays an important role in creating and coordinating smart classrooms, campuses, and many other educational applications. A smart campus uses a connected network infrastructure that supports the Internet of Things to synchronize all data transmission and processing devices within the university campus. The following are some ways in which the participation of the Internet of Things in university use can help students learn and other campus related priorities.

Research based on intelligent laboratories

Electronic controlled laboratory equipment such as electron microscopes, variable isolation transformers, multimeters, and oscilloscopes can be connected to public networks through the Internet of Things. This connectivity enables researchers to accurately conduct potentially dangerous experiments remotely. In addition, intelligent laboratories allow students and laboratory teachers to generate and record experimental data in the shortest possible time. Incorporating the Internet of Things into university funded research projects is also crucial for new discoveries and theoretical development. In addition, using technologies such as artificial intelligence can enable researchers to predict experimental results and make hypotheses based on such predictions.

Parking lot management

It is necessary to manage the parking lots of educational institutions in a reasonable manner during pre - or post class chaos. Campus users may bring their vehicles into parking lots and find it challenging to simply find a parking spot. Therefore, interconnected IoT cameras, radar services, and other systems are crucial for the designated management team of the parking lot to monitor and guide traffic entering and exiting the university parking lot. More importantly, parking lots in universities that support the Internet of Things allow users to access available spaces for vehicles through self-service kiosks. These functions of a smart campus not only enable management to control parking space occupancy and prevent chaos, but also increase revenue by tracking vehicle parking time and imposing fines when exceeding certain limits.

In addition to these two, many other IoT based applications offer unlimited possibilities for campus stakeholders in universities and educational institutions. Although the research institute must pay a large amount of funds to install and implement such systems on its campus, the positive attributes of their application far exceed the cost.

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