Near-Time IoT Data Integration for Adra Housing
Monitoring the home environment through data-driven insights
Adra, North Wales' largest housing association, is part of a study focused on accelerating the transition to low-carbon, net-zero housing design. As part of this initiative, Adra developed and piloted a project to monitor environmental changes in homes. They deployed LoRaWAN sensors in test houses, collecting data on temperature, humidity, illumination, CO₂ levels, movement, and the status of external doors.
The Butterfly Challenge
Historically, Adra had been using a legacy AWS and InfluxDB solution to collect and showcase this data. However, they needed technical support to convert and enhance this system, transitioning it to an Azure environment that better aligned with their current infrastructure.
The challenge was to create an interface that seamlessly connects The Things Network (TTN) with Adra’s infrastructure, hosting the system on Microsoft Azure. This solution needed to ensure smooth data transfer to an SQL database, providing near real-time data streaming for immediate insights. The system also had to be scalable, allowing for future integration of additional sensor types.
Delivering a Seamless and Scalable Azure Solution
Butterfly Data developed and deployed a fully integrated data pipeline within Adra’s environment, ensuring a smooth transition and allowing Adra’s team to manage the system independently after implementation.
We set up a secure Azure infrastructure with a dedicated SQL database to store the data. The pipeline was connected to TTN to pull data from the IoT sensors. TTN decodes the payloads from the sensors, supplementing them with additional information, such as sensor attributes. The data is then securely transmitted to an Azure IoT Hub via an encrypted connection, while extra attributes are retrieved through API calls to improve context and usability. Data is transferred from TTN to Azure in near real-time, enabling near-instant access.
To enhance data accessibility, we designed custom data views that offered deeper insights, such as average variable readings, device last uploads, and device locations. These features reduced the burden on dashboard developers, making it easier to analyse trends and monitor conditions. The database architecture was also built with future scalability in mind, ensuring it could accommodate additional sensors as needed.
The project was successfully delivered within the established timeline, without disrupting Adra’s operations. The Azure SQL database became fully operational, providing near real-time data access and improving overall usability compared to the previous solution. The introduction of metadata enrichment and structured data views streamlined processing, enabling faster and more efficient decision-making.
Through knowledge transfer sessions and detailed documentation, Adra’s team was fully equipped to manage and maintain the system independently. This new infrastructure has provided them with the tools to proactively monitor environmental conditions, as part of the wider initiative.
The Butterfly Effect
Richard Nightingale, Delivery Lead
“Butterfly successfully delivered our project to integrate The Things Network (TTN) with our Azure infrastructure, ensuring seamless real-time data transfer and secure storage to a SQL back end. They met all our technical and security requirements, followed best development practices, and provided comprehensive documentation. Their professionalism and expertise made the process smooth, and we are very pleased with the outcome.”
Geraint Jones, Product Owner
“Full marks to Buttefly Data for quickly understanding what we needed and delivering in a focused and timely way. To be honest, I was concerned that what we needed wasn't possible and they surpassed my expectations. Well done to all the team!”
