CS Majors Launch Platform to Protect Vacant Properties

Unoccupied buildings often carry risks that go unnoticed. A small leak, an unexpected power outage or a sudden temperature shift can cause extensive damage before anyone is aware. As property managers, researchers and organizations seek more reliable ways to monitor these spaces, two University of Maryland computer science students are developing a system to meet that need.

SenseGuard, created by undergraduates Edward Marine and Viswanath Vasa, is a long-range, low-power platform that uses environmental sensors to monitor vacant buildings, research storage units and other locations without on-site staff. The system relies on LoRaWAN, a wireless protocol that transmits small amounts of data over long distances.

The project began when Marine was contacted by a connection at the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which manages several unused buildings that still require oversight.

“They have these vacant buildings due to economic concerns,” Marine said. “Temperatures were dropping in the winter, pipes were bursting, and they were incurring insurance losses. They needed an economical solution to monitor these buildings.”

Why LoRaWAN

Marine recognized early that LoRaWAN could support a network of buildings located near one another. Several of the Archdiocese’s properties were close enough to connect through a single gateway that spans several kilometers. That range enabled sensors measuring temperature, humidity, and water presence to communicate across multiple buildings without separate networks. 

As the team continued refining the system, they focused on environments where traditional Wi-Fi may not be dependable.

“It operates at a lower frequency than Wi-Fi, which gives us greater range and power savings,” Marine said. “These sensors run on batteries that might last between two and five years. Since we only need to send basic readings like temperature, the lower data rate works for us.”

Marine noted that LoRaWAN networks can continue transmitting during power failures, which is important when monitoring freezers, laboratories or remote buildings that may experience outages without immediate notice.

Building the System

What started as a single deployment has grown into a full platform with hardware, software and alerting capabilities. Marine manages hardware layout and network design, selecting and configuring sensors for each site.

“We design the networks, set them up and configure them for whatever the client needs,” he said. “We can adjust how often data is transmitted and set alerts for possible issues.”

Vasa develops the software that connects the sensors to a dashboard interface.

“We have a middleware that takes the data from the sensors and pipes it to a dashboard,” Vasa said. “Users can see real-time readings, analyze trends and get alerts by email or text if something goes wrong.”

The team is preparing to work with a research unit in the university’s biology department to monitor freezers used for temperature-sensitive materials. Marine said they hope to eventually analyze cooling patterns to identify equipment that may be nearing failure.

Support and Feedback

Marine and Vasa are part of the Mokhtarzada Hatchery, an entrepreneurship program in the Department of Computer Science that provides funding, mentorship and peer feedback.

Vasa described the Hatchery as a collaborative environment.

“All the teams come together during meetings and everyone gives advice,” he said. “The funding and mentorship help us improve because we hear from people who have built similar products and from peers who think like us.”

Marine said mentors encouraged them to share the product with customers earlier in the development process.

“We wanted to perfect the product first,” he said. “Our mentors told us we needed to get it out to customers and iterate with them.”

The team aims to onboard 15 customers by the end of the program and expand into additional commercial and research settings.

Guidance for Student Founders

As they continue developing SenseGuard, both students highlight the importance of gathering real-world input.

“Get your product out to as many customers as possible,” Vasa said. “Companies will be the ones using it, and they’ll tell you what needs to be added or changed. That feedback loop is what helps you understand what truly matters and how your project should evolve.”

—Story by Samuel Malede Zewdu, CS Communications