Streamlining Smart Apartment Rental Management with Smart Lock Gateways

Smart door lock gateways in apartments not only enhance the overall resident experience but also alleviate the workload for administrators. The installation of smart lock gateways allows essential data to be seamlessly integrated into a centralized management interface. This approach is greatly appreciated by property administrators because it enables administrators to efficiently oversee and control access, monitor security, and streamline daily operations.

With a centralized management interface, tasks such as granting or revoking access, monitoring entry logs, and ensuring the safety and security of residents become more straightforward. This not only enhances the overall efficiency of property management but also contributes to a safer and more convenient living environment for residents.

Dusun IoT offers comprehensive one-stop solutions, encompassing hardware device and cloud platform integration. These solutions assist in the creation of a robust and sustainable smart apartment ecosystem, enhancing apartment management systems, and ultimately boosting the company’s competitiveness in the market.

Background and Requirement

• Customer: An Apartment Property Management Company
• Country/Region: China
• Application: Smart Apartment Automation
• Project Requirement: one-stop solution for smart lock and gateway integration, as well as the assistance in PAAS building
• Products: DSGW-030 MTK7688 IoT gateway

The customer of this case is a subsidiary of top-brand real estate companies in China. It has ventured into an innovative business segment, and its mission is to establish a rental life service platform and asset management system catering to millions of users. They have successfully expanded their presence to over 20 major cities across China, currently overseeing the management of 70,040 housing units nationwide.

Nevertheless, the customer encounters several management challenges, including inefficiencies, lack of transparency in information, and difficulties in meeting the individual needs of tenants. These issues have impeded the healthy and sustainable growth of the customer’s apartment business.

Challenges

The customer’s apartment business faces several significant operational challenges, primarily in the following four areas:

• Rent Collection Complexity: Timely rent collection proves challenging, necessitating substantial human and material resources for collection efforts.
• Centralized Management Hurdles: The apartments employ traditional mechanical key systems. When tenants request a unit, caretakers must frequently visit the management office to obtain keys. This process increases workload and time expenses, potentially leading to operational inefficiency, order missing and a diminished customer experience.
• Security Concerns: Traditional mechanical locks are susceptible to theft threats, as keys can be easily duplicated. Furthermore, door access records cannot be tracked, posing potential security risks to the apartment complex.
• Limited PAAS Platform Expertise: While the customer’s apartment business team has extensive experience in leasing operations and a deep understanding of SAAS logic, they lack the necessary expertise in building PAAS platforms and managing associated equipment.

Solutions

Dusun IoT places a strong emphasis on addressing customer needs and resolving pain points as fundamental principles for establishing cooperation. Following extensive discussions with the customer, we delivered a comprehensive one-stop solution. This solution encompassed the supply of IoT hardware devices, including smart locks and smart IoT gateways, in addition to direct-connect PAAS platform services. This integrated IoT gateway device solution combines both software and hardware components, aiming to fulfill the apartment’s demands for refined management, enhanced safety, and overall operational efficiency.

Overview of Smart Lock and Gateway Integrated Solution

Door locks of smart apartment are linked to the smart gateway via the Zigbee protocol, while the Zigbee hub gateway establishes a direct connection to the customer’s apartment’s PAAS platform through MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) for remote door lock management. The SAAS platform connects seamlessly with the PAAS platform through APIs, enabling consolidated equipment management. This integration enhances operational efficiency, reduces costs, and elevates the overall living experience for users.

Benefits of Using Smart Lock and Gateway in Apartment

Enhanced Data Security Through Direct Connection to Customer PAAS Platform

In this setup, the gateway establishes a direct connection to the customer’s PAAS platform using MQTT. All data is securely stored on the customer’s platform, effectively minimizing the risk of data loss or unauthorized access stemming from potential third-party platform vulnerabilities.

A Turnkey IoT Integration Service to Eases R&D Challenges

Our comprehensive one-stop solution offers end-to-end support, encompassing hardware equipment (door locks and gateway integration) and software (PAAS services). Beyond guiding the customer in constructing a functional PAAS platform for seamless online integration, we extend our services to gateway firmware customization and packaging. This approach alleviates the burden of research and development for our customers, ensuring a streamlined and efficient process.

Simplified Installation to Lower the Cost

The door lock and gateway establish a wireless connection, eliminating the need for complex wiring. Each gateway has the capability to manage up to 8 door locks simultaneously, resulting in a streamlined construction process that significantly reduces costs.

Versatile Door Access Options to Improve the Experience

Smart door locks used by Dusun IoT offers multiple door opening methods, including dynamic passwords, long-term passwords, and one-click door opening. When integrated with the customer’s apartment SAAS system, these features enhance convenience and enable centralized daily management and improved operational efficiency.

Gateway for Smart Lock in the Solution

DSGW-030 gateway adopts MediaTek’s MT7688 WiFi platform to build IoT gateways for smart home and apartment. DSGW-030 have rich connectivity models (BLE 5 / Zigbee 3.0 / Z-Wave / WiFi 2.4G / 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, up to three options simultaneously) for customers to tailor your smart home setup to perfection. You can use Bluetooth 5.2, Zigbee 3.0 or Z-Wave to connect smart home devices while using Wi-Fi 2.4G and Ethernet as backhaul options.

Meanwhile, DSGW-030 is a small-size indoor gateway with a compact design (70mm x 70mm x 25mm), fitting any spaces, widely used and proven success in the smart apartment automation field to collect data from different sensors (e.g. temperature and humidity).

Read care study: ODM a multiple Zigbee gateway based on DSGW-030 to implement IoT-based home energy management solution

The most important feature of this smart home hub gateway is its programmability and easy integration with any public (AWS IoT Core / Microsoft Azure / Aliyun) or private cloud platforms. We offer various API interfaces for customers to invoke and SDK quick guide, development tool chain, Luci config manual to help you easily develop your own home automation applications, firmware porting supported.Key Parameter of DSGW-030 IoT Gateway

Result

Dusun IoT’s smart apartment solutions have brought about substantial enhancements in the customer’s apartment managment operations:

• Enhanced Security: Through door opening recording and alarm functions, residents’ sense of security has significantly improved.
• Streamlined Operations: The solution has simplified the traditionally complex physical key management, reducing associated management costs. This has also led to increased resident satisfaction, tenant attraction, and heightened competitiveness.
• Enhanced Data Analysis: This solution has effectively bolstered the customer’s apartment data analysis capabilities, enabling a deeper understanding of tenant needs and the optimization of operational strategies.

Other Similar Cases

The success of the customer’s apartment solution has been extensively replicated throughout mainland China, attesting to its scalability and reliability. Allow us to provide brief introductions to two additional similar cases for your reference. If you are considering the development of comparable IoT smart apartment solutions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us!

CJIA Apartment

CJIA Apartment is a subsidiary of the Huazhu Group and specializes in apartment rentals. It is faced management challenges due to the lack of uniformity in door lock brands and systems across its properties. To establish consistent management practices nationwide and address rent arrear issues, CJIA Apartment opted for a smart lock solution.

Dusun IoT’s Smart Lock Gateway Solution for CJIA Apartment:

Given CJIA Apartment’s absence of a PAAS platform, Dusun IoT bridges the gap between the PAAS layer and the customer’s SAAS layer. CJIA Apartment generates apartment rental information and subsequently forwards door lock and Zigbee IoT gateway installation work orders to Dusun IoT’s PAAS platform. Dusun IoT then dispatches these installation orders to the designated installation expert via their mobile app to complete the installation, facilitating a streamlined and efficient installation process.

Ziroom Rentals

Ziroom is a prominent rental housing platform in China, catering primarily to young urban professionals and tenants seeking high-quality long-term apartments and houses. Ziroom distinguishes itself through standardized apartment design and decor, an array of community services, and user-friendly online booking and payment systems. The platform is committed to offering tenants a seamless rental experience while assisting landlords in effectively managing their properties.

Challenges Faced by Ziroom Rentals

• Additional Costs: Each rental unit necessitates the installation of a router for Wi-Fi signal provision, as well as a Zigbee gateway to connect door locks and other indoor devices. This may result in increased operational expenses. How can these costs be minimized?
• Enhanced Door Lock Functionality: There is a need for door locks capable of detecting how tenants access the property, distinguishing between entries from inside and outside the room.
• Geographical Dispersion: All rental properties are spread across various locations throughout cities like Shanghai and Beijing. This distribution necessitates prompt on-site installations once orders are received. Currently, an installation team capable of timely deployment is being sought to meet this demand.

Dusun IoT’s Solution for Ziroom Rentals: Redeveloped Locks and Router Gateway

• Develop and manufacture smart door locks with gyroscopes for monitoring user door access;
• Research and develop router gateway devices with both Wi-Fi router function and the support for Zigbee 3.0;
• Establish a dedicated door lock installation team in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou to ensure timely completion of all installation orders.

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