An Overview of Real-time Occupancy Information Acquisition Method for Demand-driven Building Energy Management

Abstract

Efficient building energy management needs to meet both energy savings and user comfort requirements, which relies on the accurate acquisition of occupancy information over time. In order to meet the data requirements of different building application environments, this paper reviews different sensor technologies based on the principle of obtaining occupancy information, and divides them into five categories, namely motion sensors, environmental sensors, radio frequency (RF) sensors, camera, and contextual sensors. A review of the fusion of multiple sensors that have been widely used for building occupancy detection in recent years has also been conducted. The pros and cons of the prior art are discussed in detail, thus future research can better fit the needs of different system control (such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and lighting systems) in different types of buildings.