Automate your AC operations across multiple branches with smart scheduling, remote control, and energy optimization — all from one app.
The Smart AC Operation platform is an IoT-powered solution for centralized air conditioning management across multiple branches and locations. It enables businesses to remotely monitor, control, and schedule their AC units — reducing energy waste, extending equipment lifespan, and ensuring optimal comfort. With a centralized dashboard, branch-level insights, and intelligent scheduling, facility managers can operate hundreds of AC units efficiently from anywhere.
Multi-branch retail, banking, and healthcare chains in Bangladesh collectively spend a significant portion of their operating cost on cooling. Air conditioning is typically the single largest controllable line item on the electricity bill, and the single one most often left running after-hours — not because anyone wants to, but because nobody can see it from head office and nobody local is incentivised to check.
The conventional fixes each have a hard ceiling. BMS (building management systems) are designed for single large buildings, not distributed branch networks, and the cost of retrofitting one into a 14-branch chain is usually prohibitive. Wall-mounted timers work until the first time a branch manager overrides them and forgets to restore the schedule. 'Just train the staff' is not a strategy.
The Smart AC platform treats the distributed branch network as the primary unit of management and the individual AC as a controllable leaf node — inverting the architecture of a traditional BMS. Facility managers operate at the chain level; branch managers retain local override authority under audit.
Centralized dashboard for monitoring all branches, ACs, and their status
Remote AC control — turn on/off, set temperature, switch modes from anywhere
Smart scheduling with Regular, Special, and Break modes per AC unit
Branch-level management with total AC, on/off counts, and global operating hours
Manual override toggle for individual AC units when needed
Priority-based scheduling — temperature vs. schedule priority settings
Real branches have a mix of AC brands, firmware generations, and communication protocols. Instead of limiting deployments to a single supplier, we built a thin adapter layer that normalises on/off, mode, and setpoint semantics across the common protocols (infrared, Wi-Fi proprietary, and Modbus RTU on chiller lines). New branches onboard without any changes in the central platform — only a new adapter profile.
A single 'weekly schedule' field is not how a multi-branch chain actually operates. Our schedule model is three layered tracks: a Regular baseline (normal operating hours per branch), Special overrides for events and promotions, and a Break mode for planned closures and holidays. Conflicts are resolved with explicit precedence rules that are visible in the UI, so there is no mystery about which rule is currently in force.
Some branches want 'run the AC on schedule no matter what'; others want 'never let the store rise above 26°C regardless of schedule'. We exposed that trade-off as a first-class setting per AC unit rather than hard-coding one policy. The feature sounds minor but drove most of the later-stage energy savings — branches could turn off schedules in off-peak seasons without losing the temperature safety net.
Branch managers retain override authority — we learned early that removing it broke operational trust. What we added was audit: every manual override is logged with the operator, the duration, and the reason, and rolls back automatically to the scheduled policy when the override window expires. Head office gets visibility without having to take the lever away.
Managing 300+ AC units across geographically distributed branches
Built a hierarchical branch → AC management architecture for scalable control
Ensuring reliable remote control with minimal latency
Implemented MQTT-based real-time communication with offline queue support
Balancing automated schedules with manual override requirements
Designed a priority system allowing schedule vs. temperature-based automation
Reducing energy costs without compromising occupant comfort
Developed smart scheduling with operating hour optimization algorithms
Handling diverse AC brands and communication protocols
Created a universal adapter layer supporting multiple AC protocols
30% reduction in energy costs
300+ ACs managed remotely
14 branches centrally controlled
Zero manual intervention needed
Extended AC equipment lifespan
The savings come from behaviour, not automation. The first 15% of energy reduction was just visibility — head office could see that five branches were running AC through the night and simply told them to stop.
Taking control away from branch managers broke trust faster than we could rebuild it. Local override with audit is the correct design, not head-office-only.
IR-blaster-based control is convenient but flaky in practice — line-of-sight obstructions and remote-specific codebases caused more false 'offline' alerts than any other source. Wi-Fi or Modbus-capable units are a meaningfully more reliable substrate when available.
Reporting is the product. Customers renewed on the strength of monthly 'what did I save' reports far more than on any individual feature.
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