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Fusion-based occupancy sensing for building systems

Patent ·
OSTI ID:1860138

Sensing and control apparatus for a building HVAC system includes interior and boundary sensors, such as cameras and thermal sensors, generating sensor signals conveying occupancy-related features for an area. A controller uses the sensor signals to produce an occupancy estimate and to generate equipment-control signals to cause the HVAC system to supply conditioned air to the area based on the occupancy estimate. The controller includes fusion systems collectively generating the occupancy estimate by corresponding fusion calculations, the fusion systems producing a boundary occupancy-count change based on sensor signals from the boundary sensors, an interior occupancy count based on sensor signals from the interior sensors, and the overall occupancy estimate. Fusion may be of one or multiple types including cross-modality fusion across different sensor types, within-modality fusion across different instances of same-type sensors, and cross-algorithm fusion using different algorithms for the same sensor(s).

Research Organization:
Boston Univ., MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AR0000944
Assignee:
Trustees of Boston University (Boston, MA)
Patent Number(s):
11,193,688
Application Number:
16/420,797
OSTI ID:
1860138
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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