Platform to Estimate Building Occupancy

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Program:
SENSOR
Award:
$1,956,775
Location:
East Hartford, Connecticut
Status:
CANCELLED
Project Term:
05/11/2018 - 11/10/2020
Website:

Technology Description:

United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) will develop a low-cost occupancy solution that combines radar sensing technology with an infrared focal plane array (IR-FPA) to determine occupancy in buildings. The solution will also be deployed as a radar-only residential sensor for true human presence sensing. The radar will detect respiration or heartbeat of non-moving occupants by measuring the radar signal reflections caused by chest movement. The system’s machine learning algorithms will allow it to distinguish humans from pets in residential settings and to reduce under-counting errors in commercial deployments. The radar will enable through-wall presence sensing in multiple rooms by a single sensor, reducing the sensor hardware and installation cost on a per square foot basis. The solution aims to address the high cost and failure rate of current presence sensors that are preventing large-scale adoption of occupancy based control of HVAC, lighting, and plug loads.

Potential Impact:

If successful, SENSOR projects will dramatically reduce the amount of energy needed to effectively heat, cool, and ventilate buildings without sacrificing occupant comfort.

Security:

Lower electricity consumption by buildings eases strain on the grid, helping to improve resilience and reduce demand during peak hours, when the threat of blackouts is greatest.

Environment:

Using significantly less energy could help reduce emissions attributed to power generation. In addition, improved interior air quality could help prevent negative effects on human health.

Economy:

Buildings will require less energy to operate, reducing heating, cooling, and ventilation costs for businesses and families. In addition, better controlled ventilation may lead to improved indoor air quality (ensured by an accurate occupant count, and validated via widespread CO2 detection) may lead to improved worker productivity and academic performance.

Contact

ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Marina Sofos
Project Contact:
Piyush Agrawal
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
AGRAWAPI@utrc.utc.com

Partners

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Related Projects

• Boston University (BU) - Occupancy Sensing for Commercial Venues
• Cornell University - Indoor Occupant Counting Based on RF Backscattering
• Duke University - Dynamic Metasurface Antennas for Detecting Human Presence
• Endeveo - Hotspot Enabled Building Occupancy Sensor
• Iowa State University (ISU) - Simulation, Challenge Testing & Validation of CO2 Technologies
• Matrix Sensors - CO2 Sensor for Demand-controlled Ventilation
• Michigan State University (MSU) - Simulation, Challenge Testing & Validation of Occupancy Recognition & CO2 Technologies Cat A/B
• N5 Sensors - Digital System-on-chip CO2 Sensor
• Purdue University - Microscale Sensors for CO2 Level Monitoring
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) - Reflected Light Field Sensing for Occupancy Detection
• Scanalytics - Floor Sensors for Building Occupancy Counting
• Syracuse University - Multi-modal Sensor Platform for Occupancy Detection
• Texas A&M University - Quantification of HVAC Energy Savings for Occupancy Sensing in Buildings Through an Innovative Testing Methodology
• Texas A&M University - Low-energy PIR Sensor for Occupancy Detection
• United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) - Platform to Estimate Building Occupancy
• University of Alabama - Quantification of HVAC Energy Savings
• University of Colorado, Boulder (CU-Boulder) - RFID Sensor Network for Human Presence Sensing

Release Date:
01/18/2017