Preliminary Feasibility Study for an Occupancy Meter

Prepared by T N Arthur B.Sc.Engelec! tudor.arthur"gmail.com of Brea#through Technologies

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*ntroduction
A relati+ely in,pensi+e and inobtrusi+e system is re-uired to measure and record occupancy of
seats by people. sitting around a table.
Mechanical /onstruction
A daisy chain or multidrop connection is needed to connect the sensors together. This could be
pro+ided by t0o 0ires carrying po0er and t0o data 0ires for serial connection. For ease of use it
could be a reply on command system. *t means that a system controller. possibly connected to a
computer. puts an address on the bus and 0aits for the addressed sensor to reply. *n that 0ay a
large number of sensors can be connected together on one line say '$$ sensors! . 0ith them
only replying 0ith data 0hen they are addressed by the controller.
This immediately brings to mind the 1SB 1ni+ersal Serial Bus! concept. 0ith its readily a+ailable
cabling and connectors. Note that the 1SB soft0are protocol is not necessarily re-uired in this
application. 0ith its comple,ity and possible copyright restrictions. A custom protocol could easily
be implemented.
Sensor design
A sensor to measure body heat or 0eight could be incorporated into a seat. 2o0e+er. this 0ould
mean that a po0er supply such as a solar cell or battery 0ould be needed in e+ery seat and an
optical or radio trancei+er needed for signalling. Fortunately. the stated scenario pro+ides for a
table. so all acti+e components can be placed underneath the table. as pre+iously described.
There has been much discussion on the *nternet about reliable Presence 3etectors. using P*4
sensors.reed s0itches. ultrasound. laser beams.radar and 4F*3 tags.
See
http566forum.arduino.cc6inde,.php6topic.''787.$.html
and
http566000.paralla,.com
and
http566electronics.stac#e,change.com6-uestions679((960hat:sensor:to:choose:to:trac#:human:
presence:indoors
and
http566000.instructables.com6ans0ers6ho0:can:i:detect:the:presence:of:people:in:a:room6
/onclusion
By using +oting analysis on the e,ternal proposed solutions. it seems that P*4 is the 0inning
candidate.
*nno+ati+e and radical indicators could be considered such as changes in magnetic field or as#ing
-uestions such as ho0 a mos-uito detects a human presence.
2o0e+er. the situation is simplified 0ith the table and chair approach. so e+en ambient light
detection could be used for a +ery much cheaper solution.
A prototype system could be built and tested 0ith +arious sensors to find the optimum solution in
this specified case.
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