STTR Phase I: ActiveLens: Enabling Stationary Occupancy Detection of Passive Infrared Motion Sensors

这项小型企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目的广泛影响在于开发创新技术，这些技术有可能显著改善室内占用传感设备。它将在以乘员为中心的照明、温度控制系统、监控等应用中实现新的功能和方法。为了解决与标准被动红外（PIR）传感器相关的挑战，该公司开发了ActiveLens，这是一种具有先进功能的镜头技术，克服了与机械快门相关的问题。ActiveLens传感器使用人工智能（AI）算法和处理来实现改进的检测能力。该项目将使刚毕业的学生，特别是女性、第一代大学生和其他未被充分代表的少数民族，接触到半导体芯片设计、数据处理和质量控制等领域的宝贵技能。这个项目促进了研究人员、商业领袖和其他组织之间的合作。该团队已经改进了原型，现在正在与商业用户讨论开发定制的解决方案。这项小型企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目将支持PIRvision Lens LLC的研究活动，通过克服优化红外能量透射率、区分人类信号与其他温暖物体、模块化人工智能算法等技术挑战，将专有的固态ActiveLens技术推向市场，以实现最小可行产品开发。如今，由于其低成本、低能耗、宽视野和高可靠性，建筑物都配备了PIR传感器用于占用检测。尽管有这些优点，PIR传感器只能检测运动，而不能检测静止的占用。这种长期存在的限制阻碍了需要高精度占用检测的应用。如果成功，所提出的半导体调制器将为标准PIR传感器提供新的功能，包括固定占用检测，人类红外信号区分，占用计数，活动识别和分类-代表了40多年来PIR传感领域的第一个真正的技术创新。它是一种颠覆性的、创新的、高效的、经济的解决方案，可以与任何标准的PIR组件传感器结合使用，以识别未充分利用的空间，并最大限度地降低运营成本。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is in developing innovative technologies that have the potential to improve indoor occupancy sensing devices significantly. It will enable new features and approaches in applications like occupancy-centered lighting, temperature control systems, surveillance, etc. To address challenges associated with standard passive infrared (PIR) sensors, the company has developed ActiveLens, a lens technology with advanced features overcoming issues related to mechanical shutters. ActiveLens sensors use artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and processing to achieve improved detection capabilities. This project will expose fresh graduating students, particularly women, first-generation college students, and other underrepresented minorities, to valuable skills in areas like semiconductor chip design, data processing, and quality control. This project fosters collaboration between researchers, business leaders, and other organizations. The team has already refined prototypes and is now discussing with commercial users to develop customized solutions. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will support research activities for PIRvision Lens LLC to bring the proprietary solid-state ActiveLens technology to the market by overcoming technical challenges in optimizing infrared energy transmittance, differentiating human signals from other warm objects, and modularizing AI algorithms to enable minimum viable product development. Today, buildings are equipped with PIR sensors for occupancy detection, owing to their low cost, low energy consumption, wide field of view, and high reliability. Despite these advantages, PIR sensors only detect motion, not stationary occupancy. This long-standing limitation has hindered applications that demand high-accuracy occupancy detection. If successful, the proposed semiconductor modulator will enable novel capabilities for standard PIR sensors, including stationary occupancy detection, human infrared signal differentiation, occupancy counting, activity identification, and classification - representing the first true technological innovation in PIR sensing in over 40 years. It is a disruptive, innovative, efficient, and cost-effective solution that can be combined with any standard PIR component sensor to identify underutilized spaces and minimize operating costs.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.