Re: HA Holy Grail #1: Occupancy Detection

[Chris Hunter <cjhunter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Frank -

thanks for posting that ... looks 'could be very useful ...

(David ... 'wonder how 'wouldbest  link into Idratek ?)


Chris




Frank Mc Alinden wrote:

>Hi Guys
>
>Thought some might be interested in this post Gerry made  to
Coccoontech
>regarding the Maxbotix sensor.............
>
>HTH
>Frank
>
>**************************************************************************
>A particularly cool use of these sensors has been for beam break
detectors
>in doorways.
>
>In particular, if you are interested in not only knowing if someone
came
>through a door, but which way they came through, in the past, you'd
need two
>beams and figure which got crossed first, etc.
>
>If you install a EZ1 at a high enough angle to the door, you can figure
the
>measurement when it first change and last changed to determine which
way the
>person went. The controller has a ranging mode where you can tell it
that
>you only want reports about changes in a certain range of measures.
This is
>important because if they beam is at a sufficiantly high enough angle,
it'll
>probably go further than the door and you really don't want to gets
reports
>when someone just walks by the door.
>
>The controller will report when the range is entered and exited and
from
>which direction the range was entered and which direction the range was
>exited, making it easy to track direction of passage.
>
>Actually, I've been impressed with the range of uses folks are putting
the
>EZ1's to (I'm talking to a number of folks who are ordering the
controller
>trying to see what sort of variety there is out there).
>
>Here are a couple of the things that folks have told me they are using
the
>EZ1 and the controller for (all of these could be done with just the
EZ1 and
>more processing on the client side -- the controller is doing nothing
magic
>to make any of these possible):
>
>Occupancy sensing
>Car placement in the garage (i.e. parking in the right spot
>door/beam break tracking
>The now classic salt-tank tracking
>The less classic oil tank measuring
>Bomb defusing robots (seriously -- very cool robot with 12 sensors)
>Sump pump measurement/tracking/alerting
>Rain barrel/cistern tracking
>
>The next version of the firmware has the ability to use an otherwise
unused
>sensor channel as a digital output. You can program a sensor so that
when
>something is in a given range (or not in that range), the digital
output
>goes high (or low). I'm adding this because there are a few places
where I
>just really need to light a light or sound a buzzer when things are in
a
>certain range or not and I don't need a whole computer. Since the
controller
>can control 12 sensors but I rarely use more than 2 per board, that is
up to
>10 digital IO pins available. It won't handle all uses, but there is a
range
>of small tracking uses that it will simplify (for me, if nothing else)
>
>Gerry
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Frank Mc Alinden" <frankmc@xxxxxxx>
>To: <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
>Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 5:48 AM
>Subject: Re: [ukha_d] HA Holy Grail #1: Occupancy Detection
>
>
>
>
>>Hi Guys
>>
>>Gerry Duprey has produced a pcb for the Maxbotix  sensor and also
has a
>>driver board for RGBLEDs .......
>>http://www.rgbled.org/store/index.html
>>
>>HTH
>>Frank
>>
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: <ian.bird@xxxxxxx>
>>To: <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
>>Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2006 9:38 PM
>>Subject: RE: [ukha_d] HA Holy Grail #1: Occupancy Detection
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>I did indeed. I was composing you a mail when I saw this. I
have one or
>>>two here for you, let me know your choice. I'll send the other
details
>>>off
>>>list.
>>>
>>>Thanks
>>>
>>>Ian
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>"Paul Gale" <groups@xxxxxxx>
>>>Sent by: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
>>>22/08/2006 10:48
>>>Please respond to ukha_d
>>>
>>>
>>>       To:     <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
>>>       cc:     (bcc: Ian Bird/CV/Novartis)
>>>       Subject:        RE: [ukha_d] HA Holy Grail #1: Occupancy
Detection
>>>
>>>
>>>Ian - did you not go ahead with a BB on the ultrasonic sensors?
I
>>>remember
>>>emailing but can't remember if anything happened from there???
>>>
>>>Cheers,
>>>
>>>Paul.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>>From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf
>>>>
>>>>
>>>Of
>>>
>>>
>>>>ian.bird@xxxxxxx
>>>>Sent: 22 August 2006 10:33
>>>>To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
>>>>Subject: Re: [ukha_d] HA Holy Grail #1: Occupancy Detection
>>>>
>>>>Hi Andy
>>>>
>>>>I use this in the kitchen and have two observations.
>>>>1) Ambient light in the room should be considered and
>>>>2) As Paul mentions PIR lag and subsequent X-10
transmission delays (if
>>>>you use X-10 that is) make the lights slow to _very_ slow
at times.
>>>>
>>>>As for my system - I have just had some ultrasonic range
sensors arrive
>>>>from the States and I hope to use these to cover the
kitchen area and
>>>>
>>>>
>>>then
>>>
>>>
>>>>with some wizardry I can note the 'normal' distance
returned and thereby
>>>>know when it varies. If it varies it must mean something is
in there,
>>>>hopefully a person. With some programming this could become
intelligent
>>>>too and adapt. This might be relevant in the winter for
example when we
>>>>hang washing from the ceiling dryer (there is an AGA in the
kitchen so
>>>>everything dries overnight). If all this works I will
retire the PIR
>>>>gladly as no movement switching off and long off times to
compensate are
>>>>
>>>>
>>>a
>>>
>>>
>>>>pain. This is probably a winter project though.
>>>>
>>>>Thanks
>>>>
>>>>Ian
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>"Andy Laurence" <andy@xxxxxxx>
>>>>Sent by: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
>>>>22/08/2006 09:49
>>>>Please respond to ukha_d
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>        To:     <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
>>>>        cc:     (bcc: Ian Bird/CV/Novartis)
>>>>        Subject:        [ukha_d] HA Holy Grail #1:
Occupancy Detection
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>I've finally puched down all the CAT5 in Node0, so it's
time to think
>>>>about lighting.  I've got the switches and lighting
controllers sorted,
>>>>but what I'd really like is automgic lights.  This leads me
in pursuit
>>>>
>>>>
>>>of
>>>
>>>
>>>>the holy grail.  Occupancy detection.  Has anyone got a
reasonably
>>>>reliable method of occupancy detection?  I'm thinking a
sensitive PIR,
>>>>which triggers a timer and turns the light on.  When the
timer reaches
>>>>zero the light goes off.  Whenever the PIR is triggered, it
resets the
>>>>timer.  I suspect I can do this with xAP Floorplan,
although I've not
>>>>checked yet.  Has anyone implemented this?  If so, any
recommendations
>>>>
>>>>
>>>for
>>>
>>>
>>>>PIRs?
>>>>
>>>>Cheers,
>>>>Andy
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Yahoo! Groups Links
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Yahoo! Groups Links
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Yahoo! Groups Links
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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