About GREATER Ecosystem

The GREATER Cloud Ecosystem connects multiple Living Labs to one shared, secure, containerised cloud platform. It enables remote monitoring and control of energy-aware IoT services (e.g., PV nanogrids, water/irrigation, cold-chain, environment sensing and campus facilities) while enforcing role-based access (RBAC) across sites.

Why choose the GREATER Ecosystem

GREATER is built for real deployments in rural and remote contexts: low connectivity, limited power, and multi-stakeholder environments. The ecosystem standardises how Living Labs publish services, how users access them, and how data is secured from device to dashboard.

🛡️

Secure by design (RBAC)

Access is controlled at every layer (web app, dashboards, API, and lab resources). Roles such as SuperAdmin, Lab Admin and User ensure each person only sees and controls what they are allowed to.

☁️

One cloud, many Living Labs

Multiple Living Labs run as isolated services on a single server using containers. This reduces cost, standardises deployment, and makes upgrades and maintenance predictable.

⚡

Energy-aware IoT services

Designed for PV-powered and off-grid settings: the ecosystem supports monitoring, logging, alerts and automation so systems remain reliable even with variable energy availability.

Our origins and story

GREATER grows from Living Lab practice: real communities, real infrastructure, and real challenges. Each Living Lab can host different IoT services (energy, agriculture, environment, security, and training), but all labs connect to the same cloud ecosystem for governance, data management, and user access.

The ecosystem approach makes it easier to replicate deployments, share lessons, and expand services across sites without rebuilding everything from scratch.

🔁 Replicable • Modular • Multi-tenant

How the GREATER Cloud Ecosystem works

Think of GREATER as a “cloud operating environment” for Living Labs: it standardises identity, permissions, services, dashboards and data flows so each lab can scale safely.

Core building blocks

Identity & Access: JWT-based authentication + role-based access control (RBAC).
Web Portal: account management, lab assignment, approvals, and links to services.
Dashboards: isolated per Living Lab (Node-RED + Dashboard) behind the same access rules.
Data Layer: cloud database for users, labs, permissions, dashboards, devices, and logs.
Messaging: MQTT for device-to-cloud telemetry and command/control.
Containerised Deployment: services packaged with Docker for reproducible setup and upgrades.

What this enables

Multi-tenant hosting: many labs on one server, each isolated but centrally governed.
Service onboarding: labs can add new services (flows, dashboards, APIs) without breaking others.
Consistent security: one policy model applied across portal + dashboards + APIs.
Traceability: auditable actions, logs and history for accountability and research.
Remote operations: monitor PV systems, sensors and actuators from anywhere.
Scalable replication: deploy a new Living Lab by cloning a standard container blueprint.

Networked Living Labs

Each Living Lab is a site where services are tested and used with local stakeholders. The GREATER ecosystem connects the labs to the cloud, enabling shared governance and consistent access for users.

Living Lab

INES (Ruhengeri)

Training, prototyping, campus monitoring and demonstration of IoT services.

Living Lab

UR

Research integration, data-driven experimentation, and academic collaboration.

Living Lab

RP

Applied innovation, skills development and community-facing deployments.

Living Lab

UTAB

Field contexts and rural/remote deployments to validate robustness and impact.