Towards a Smarter Tomorrow: A Design Science Perspective on Building a Smart Campus IoT Data Platform

In the area of Internet of Things (IoT) data storage, the integration of Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) and Time Series Database (TSD) approaches represents a promising reliable, and scalable solution. This paper aims to design and instantiate a reference architecture for an IoT data platform tailored for a smart campus or University of Things (UoT) environment. The approach includes combining RDBMS and TSD technologies within a single, unified data platform. This integration combines relational data, which is commonly used in Information Systems (IS), with time-stamped information from various IoT sensors deployed across the university campus. The collected sensor data comprises millions of data points over time, which are effectively integrated into the IoT data platform, facilitating quick and dependable access to time series data, and eliminating the need for complex preprocessing or indexing. By applying the Action Design Research (ADR) method, requirements for the data platform derived from the existing smart campus infrastructure are gathered before designing the platform. The findings reveal that combining RDBMS and TSDs concepts represents an easy-to-implement and scalable solution for IoT infrastructures.