Quickstart: From Empty Building to Optimized in 5 Steps
Map your building hierarchy, auto-discover IoT devices, wire up room booking and automation rules, and switch on the AI Energy Optimization engine — start to finish.
Before You Begin
You don't need specialized edge hardware or a professional integrator to get started — the setup below runs from the admin UI. It helps to have three things ready:
- A floor plan (optional, but recommended). A 2D SVG or an AutoCAD DWG file. Aeion extracts door positions, wall geometry, and zone labels automatically, which is what powers both the digital twin and A\* indoor wayfinding. You can start without one and add it later; you just won't have the twin or turn-by-turn navigation until you do.
- A network-reachable IoT gateway. Auto-discovery works over your existing network — a standard commercial BACnet router or a Raspberry Pi running an MQTT bridge is enough to relay telemetry into the Aeion cloud. No proprietary appliance required.
- A calendar you want to sync (optional). A Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account, if you plan to turn on room and desk booking with bidirectional calendar sync in Step 3.
5-Step BMS Deployment
Define Your Physical Hierarchy
Navigate to Admin > Smart Spaces > Buildings. Add your primary facility. Create Floors, and then map out your functional Zones (e.g., Lobby, Executive Wing, Server Room). Upload a 2D SVG blueprint or a 3D BIM model for the Digital Twin viewer.
Discover IoT Devices
Go to Devices and click "Auto-Discovery." The system will ping the network to surface compatible BACnet controllers, Matter smart plugs, and active MQTT publishers. Assign each discovered device to its corresponding Zone to link telemetry to a physical location.
Configure Space Booking
Head to Resources. Flag specific desks and meeting rooms as "Bookable." Navigate to Settings and securely authenticate your Google Calendar or Microsoft 365 integration. Employees can now book rooms in Aeion or Outlook, and the systems will stay perfectly in sync.
Deploy Automation Rules
Open the Automation Builder. Drag and drop logic blocks to set standard policies. Create a rule: *If Occupancy in Conference Room A is 0 for 15 minutes, Then set HVAC target to 78°F and turn off Lighting.*
Activate the Optimization AI
Allow the system to collect telemetry for 7 days. Then, visit the Energy Dashboard and click "AI Insights." The engine will cross-reference your historical energy burn against actual foot traffic, surfacing hidden waste and predicting your upcoming ESG carbon scores.
typescript
// Everything above is also scriptable through the Smart Spaces REST API.
// Create a buildingconst building = await aeion.api.post("/smart-spaces/buildings", {name: "Atlas HQ",buildingType: "commercial",timezone: "America/New_York",});
// Auto-discover IoT devices (BACnet, Modbus, MQTT, and more — 15+ protocol// adapters sit behind a single unified command interface)const discovered = await aeion.api.post("/smart-spaces/bridge/discover", {protocols: ["bacnet", "modbus-tcp", "mqtt"],});
// Connect a calendar provider (Google or Microsoft) for bidirectional syncawait aeion.api.post("/smart-spaces/calendar/connect", {provider: "google",accessToken: "...",refreshToken: "...",expiresAt: "2026-06-01T00:00:00Z",});
// Create a booking — the resource's availability is checked automatically// and the booking is rejected if it double-books the resourceconst booking = await aeion.api.post("/smart-spaces/bookings", {resource: "conf-room-b",startTime: "2026-05-12T10:00:00Z",endTime: "2026-05-12T11:00:00Z",title: "Q2 Planning Sync",attendees: ["alice@company.com", "bob@company.com"],});
// Create an automation rule (occupancy → HVAC setback + lighting off).// triggerType is one of: schedule, threshold, occupancy, event, time_of_day, weatherconst rule = await aeion.api.post("/smart-spaces/automation/rules", {name: "Zone Vacancy Lights + HVAC",triggerType: "occupancy",conditions: [{ zone: "zone-3", occupancy: 0, forMinutes: 15 }],actions: [{ type: "lighting", zone: "zone-3", state: "off" },{ type: "hvac_setpoint", zone: "zone-3", targetF: 65 },],});
// Generate an energy/efficiency report — cross-references occupancy against// HVAC and lighting runtime to surface waste like ghost heatingconst report = await aeion.api.post("/smart-spaces/energy/reports/generate", {building: "bld_hq_01",period: "30d",sections: ["energy"],});
// Wayfinding — shortest path between two points on a floor planconst route = await aeion.api.post("/smart-spaces/wayfinding/route", {floorId: "floor-3",fromX: 0,fromY: 0,toX: 40,toY: 12,accessible: false,});Yes. Unlike startups that only support Wi-Fi widgets, Aeion Smart Spaces natively supports industrial protocols like BACnet (IP/MSTP) and Modbus, allowing you to ingest data from 20-year-old chillers and modern Zigbee sensors seamlessly.
If you also have the Aeion Sentinel module enabled, the systems merge dynamically. You can link a Smart Spaces "Zone" to a Sentinel "Security Zone". If a fire alarm triggers in Smart Spaces, Sentinel can automatically unlock the exit mantrap doors.
No. You connect to our cloud ecosystem using standard commercial IoT gateways (like a Raspberry Pi running an MQTT bridge or a standard BACnet router) that securely pass your telemetry to the Aeion Cloud architecture.
The Energy Optimization engine works by cross-referencing your historical energy burn against actual occupancy and foot traffic. It needs a baseline of real telemetry to tell the difference between "this room is warm because people are in it" and ghost heating — HVAC running full blast in an empty space. About a week of readings gives it enough signal to grade the building A–F and rank fixes by savings-to-effort, rather than guessing from a cold start.
Aeion tells you clearly instead of pretending the command went through. Write commands (HVAC setpoints, lighting scenes, shade positions) flow back through the same protocol adapters that carry telemetry in; if the target device is unreachable, the action is flagged as not delivered rather than silently reported as successful — so an automation rule never leaves you believing a room was set back when it wasn't.
Two flat per-workspace tiers. Standard is $129/mo for the building foundation — hierarchy, IoT device registry, real-time telemetry, zones, floor plans, the 3D/WebXR digital twin, and all 15+ protocol adapters — with unlimited buildings, unlimited IoT sensors, and unlimited users (no per-sensor fees or seat limits). Pro is $299/mo and adds the energy dashboards + optimization, IAQ monitoring, occupancy analytics, automation rule builder, ESG/carbon reporting, predictive maintenance, and AI ghost-heating detection. There's a 14-day free trial to run the full setup end to end before you commit, plus 20% off on annual.