ENG233 Internet of Things (IoT) Solution Design for Sustainability ECA Paper Questions July 2025, Singapore

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Appendix: Project and Required Specifications

Design and Conceptualize an IoT Solution to Address the Following Case:

Case Workflow: Sustainability

Sustainability is one of the topmost agendas among government agencies as well as private organizations. The manufacturing sector can contribute significantly to achieving sustainability goals in the entire value chain, such as supply chain production, waste management, energy efficiency and more. A global Singaporean Semiconductor Manufacturing (SSM) firm has recently initiated sustainability efforts and looking to identify the potential areas where AI and IoT (AIoT) and other emerging technologies could help in achieving sustainability development goals (SDGs).

Challenge: Production Team

The production team at the manufacturing plant has identified energy efficiency and management as the key focus areas for the manufacturing plant to help achieving sustainability goals in 2025. A typical manufacturing plant has various industrial equipment and infrastructure such as HVAC systems, air compressors, furnaces, and lighting systems that consume most energy.

The Digitalization team is looking to implement an AIoT based Energy Management Solution (EMS) to identify areas of energy wastage, to help optimize the production flow and reduce energy consumption by $25\%$.

Solution Requirements: The Digitalization team is looking for an AIoT solution which should be able to:

1. Identify areas in the production system and facility responsible for energy wastage.
2. Recommend the optimized production flow to switch on/off a system to save energy.
3. Able to interface with facility management systems (FMS) and building management system (BMS) to improve the work environment for the production floor team.
4. Notify the relevant stakeholders to respond to the critical situation and take decisions.
5. Minimize human intervention once the solution is deployed.
6. Minimize maintenance and operational cost of the solution.
7. Reduce CAPEX investment in the solution.
8. Assure end to end security of the solution.

ECA Questions

Problem Definition (15 marks)

Question 1 Define at least FOUR (4) operational challenges that the SSM might be facing in the manufacturing plant in absence of AIoT EMS. Estimate the impact of those problems on sustainability goals (SDGs). Plan a prioritization matrix/rubric to rank identified problems from high to low in priority of importance. (Provide a table with quantitative and qualitative reasons, a prioritization rubric, and description).

(15 marks)

Improved Workflow Design (15 marks)

Question 2 Design the improved operational workflow to reduce the highlighted operational challenges in Question 1. Propose which SDGs can be achieved by addressing those challenges and map them against SDG# (Provide an improved workflow diagram, map SDGs on workflow, and describe in words briefly).

(15 marks)

AIoT EMS Solution Design (40 marks)

Question 3 Recommend the potential technologies for each of the 4 stages of the AIoT EMS based on your prioritization matrix formulated for Question 1 and improved workflow obtained for Question 2. Your solution has to address at least ONE (1) challenge identified. Provide a table with 1.) contextual description and justification and 2.) data-driven reasons for selection against each technical layer.

• I. Relevant data to be sensed at the deployment site, and how the data will be sensed.
• II. Connectivity infrastructure to transfer the data from devices/sensors to the next stages.
• III. Computing infrastructure, data analytics layer to manage and analyse the data.
• IV. Applications to analyse and visualise the data.

(15 marks)

Question 4 Design the integrated FOUR (4) stages end to end solution using technologies you recommended in Question 3 to address the problems you identified in Question 1 and improved workflow in Question 2. Appraise a scalable solution across to address the multiple plants globally. (Provide a solution diagram and a description).

(15 marks)

Question 5 Appraise at least TWO (2) cyber vulnerabilities in your proposed solution. Appraise the cyber risks and recommend the risk mitigation in the proposed solution. (Provide a table and a description).

(10 marks)

Business Model Re-Design (30 marks)

Question 6 Propose how SSM’s digital and operations team can leverage the data and insights generated by your solution to improve their operations in new ways and create value for customers. (Provide a a description).

(10 marks)

Question 7 Propose “cost-based” benefit matrix for your solution. Provide a table with relevant data-driven justification and a description. List TWO (2) criteria. (Provide a table with quantitative reasons).

(10 marks)

Question 8 Propose “value-based” benefit matrix for your solution. Provide a table with relevant data-driven justification and a description. List TWO (2) criteria. (Provide a table with quantitative reasons).

(10 marks)