NeTS: Small: Fundamentals of Assessing Occupancy Dynamics with Ubiquitous Wireless Signals

稳健和准确的入住率评估是许多应用程序的关键。建筑物的供暖/制冷优化、智能照明、零售业务规划、智能家居应用、智能城市规划以及疏散/应急规划只是其中的几个例子。这项提议的总体目标是引入一种使用无处不在的无线信号进行入住率评估的新范例。如今，不仅通信设备无处不在，而且大多数主要目标不是通信的智能设备(例如智能扬声器或恒温器)现在都配备了使用Wi-Fi或蓝牙等廉价通信收发器的通信功能。这为使用RF(射频)信号感知和了解环境提供了可能。该项目建议以一种非传统的方式使用无线链路：作为一种感知机制，用于评估大区域的时空占用动态。时空占有率评估是指衡量人们如何移动和利用他们的空间的几个属性，例如一个地区的总居住者数量作为时间的函数，人们的平均速度和停留时间，以及几个地区之间的人流量等因素。更具体地说，该项目将开发利用无处不在的射频信号进行入住率评估的理论基础和设计工具，重点是了解基本能力和限制。该框架不依赖人携带任何设备，具有穿透墙壁的感知能力，并保护隐私。使用日常通信信号进行准确和稳健的入住率评估具有相当大的挑战性。拟议的努力有三项主要任务，以应对根本挑战。第一个主要目标是对如何将单个链路转变为占用评估传感器的基础理解，该传感器的能力和局限性都得到了很好的表征。更具体地说，它提出了一个数学概率模型，揭示了占用动态的关键属性和无线测量的关键属性之间的关系。然后，第二个主要任务建立在第一个任务的基础上，开发多个链路的最佳联合处理的基础，作为占有率评估传感器网络。第三个主要任务是开发数学工具，以便在由几个区域组成的只有少量无线链路的大区域内设计高效的入住率评估系统。最后，建议的理论基础和设计工具在不同领域的几个实验中进行了广泛的测试，包括当地的部门商店。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Robust and accurate occupancy assessment is key to many applications. Optimization of heating/cooling in buildings, smart lighting, retail business planning, smart home applications, smart city planning, and evacuation/emergency planning are just a few examples. The overall goal of this proposal is to introduce a new paradigm for occupancy assessment using ubiquitous wireless signals. Not only are communication devices ubiquitous these days, but most smart devices whose main goal is not communication (e.g., smart speakers or thermostats) are now equipped with communication capabilities using cheap communication transceivers such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. This opens the possibility of using RF (Radio Frequency) signals for sensing and learning about the environment. This project proposes to use wireless links in a non-traditional manner: as a sensing mechanism for assessing the spatio-temporal occupancy dynamics in a large region. Spatio-temporal occupancy assessment refers to measuring several attributes of how people move and utilize their spaces, such as the total number of occupants in an area as a function of time, the average speed and dwell time of people, and the flow rate of people in between several areas, among other factors. More specifically, the project will develop the theoretical foundation and design tools for occupancy assessment with ubiquitous RF signals, with an emphasis on understanding the fundamental capabilities and limitations. The proposed framework does not rely on people to carry any device, has through-wall sensing capabilities, and preserves the privacy.Accurate and robust occupancy assessment with everyday communication signals is considerably challenging. The proposed effort has three major tasks to address the underlying challenges. The first major goal brings a foundational understanding to how a single link can be turned into an occupancy assessment sensor whose capabilities and limitations are well characterized. More specifically, it proposes a mathematical probabilistic modeling that reveals the relationship between the key attributes of occupancy dynamics and the key attributes of the wireless measurements. The second major task then builds on the first one to develop the foundation of optimum joint processing of a number of links as an occupancy assessment sensor network. The third major task develops the mathematical tools for designing an efficient occupancy assessment system over a large region that consists of several areas, with only a small number of wireless links. Finally, the proposed theoretical foundation and design tools are extensively tested with several experiments in different areas, including local department stores.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.