Wireless Occupancy Detection to Improve Building Energy Efficiency

1336824(Fu)。建筑是美国最大的能源消耗者，因此，创建绿色建筑可以大大帮助国家？S迫切需要提高能源效率和可持续性。该项目的目标是检测和估计建筑物内的居住者数量，以控制建筑物的耗能系统，从而提高能源效率。传统的居住传感器检测居住者的存在，在这种情况下，一个人被平等地视为一群人。对于照明等建筑控制，这些基于在线状态的方法就足够了。然而，通风、供暖和降温等控制措施可能会根据房间内居住者的数量而变化很大。调查人员不像传统的传感器那样，通过移动或体温来检测乘客的身体存在，而是提议通过监听现有的手机通讯来检测乘客的居住情况。最近发表的一项研究报告称，99%的人携带手机，即使是闲置的手机也会定期与手机发射塔进行通信。调查人员提出，通过在建筑物内感应手机信号，可以准确确定手机(及其人类携带者)的数量和位置。然后将入住率数据提供给建筑自动化系统，以通过调整不同的建筑系统(通风、供暖/制冷等)来提高能源效率。相应地。本文的研究内容包括三个方面：基于蜂窝通信的乘员跟踪、基于随机乘员的节能控制策略分析与预测、真实建筑原型测试。在第一个目标中，调查人员将使用多个手机控制通道交通传感器来识别每个乘客的位置。该项目的第二个目标侧重于蜂窝信号数据的数据融合和分析。调查人员将开发基于频谱感知网络确定乘客数量和位置的算法。利用入住率跟踪数据，调查人员将在测试建筑中建立入住率的随机模型。这些模型将用于预测本项目下一阶段的入住率。在最后一个目标中，调查人员的目标是实施新的控制策略，利用全面的入住率数据来提高建筑控制系统的效率。将在10栋校园建筑中进行实验，以配合大学建筑管理实施所提出的方法。拟议系统的成功将提高建筑的可持续性，并可能通过提供实时入住率数据改变建筑设计和运营领域。此外，拟议的非侵入性入住率检测系统可用于安全、救援工作(定位受害者)和老年人护理(养老院居民跟踪)等领域。PIS将把研究的不同方面纳入电气/计算机和土木工程课程(无线通信系统和绿色建筑设计)，以及联合国大学可持续发展双专业。来自不同背景的学生将作为一个团队工作，并接触到不同的、跨学科的研究主题。

1336824 (Fu). Buildings are the largest consumers of energy in the United States and, therefore, creating green buildings can significantly aid the country?s pressing need to enhance energy efficiency and sustainability. The objective of this project is to detect and estimate the number of occupants in buildings to control building energy-consuming systems and thereby increase energy efficiency. Conventional occupancy sensors detect the presence of occupants, where a single person is treated equally as a group of people. For building controls such as lighting, these presence-based methods are sufficient. However, controls, such as ventilation, heating and cooling, may fluctuate considerably depending on the number of occupants in a room. Instead of detecting the physical presence of occupants from movements or body heat as in conventional sensors, the investigators propose to detect occupancy by sensing existing cellphone communications. A recently published study reported that 99% of individuals carry cellphones and even idle cellphones communicate routinely with cell towers. By sensing cellphone signals inside buildings, the investigators propose that the number and locations of cellphones (and their human carriers) can be accurately determined. The occupancy data will then be provided to building automation systems to improve energy efficiency by adjusting different building systems (ventilation, heating/cooling, etc.) accordingly. This research includes three objectives: cellular communication-based occupant tracking, analysis and prediction of stochastic occupancy for energy efficient control strategies, and prototype testing in real buildings. In the first objective, the investigators will use multiple cellular phone control-channel traffic sensors to identify the position of each occupant. The second objective of the project focuses on data fusion and analysis of the cellular signal data. The investigators will develop algorithms that determine the number of occupants and position based upon the spectrum-sensing network. With occupancy tracking data, the investigators will develop stochastic models of occupancy in test buildings. Such models will be used to predicate occupancy levels for the following phase of this project. In the last objective, the investigators aim to implement new control strategies that leverage the comprehensive occupancy data to improve efficiency in building control systems. Experiments will be conducted in ten campus buildings to implement the proposed methods in collaboration with university building management. The success of the proposed system will improve building sustainability and potentially change the fields of building design and operations by providing real-time occupancy data. Moreover, the proposed non-intrusive occupancy detection system may find use in areas such as security, rescue efforts (locating victims) and elderly care (resident tracking in nursing homes). The PIs will incorporate different aspects of the research into Electrical/Computer and Civil Engineering courses (Wireless Communication System and Green Building Design) as well as the Dual Major in Sustainability at UNH. Students from different backgrounds will work as a team and be exposed to diverse, interdisciplinary research topics.