By Leatherneck_Garage

There are many benefits to having a real-time occupancy count for a given room, building, or complex. A few of these are:

Fire code compliance

Attendance verification

Group accountability

Personnel management

Physical securtiy

Crowd control

My concept for the prototype is to add a networked Arduino board (the MKR1000 is an expensive, but viable, per-unit example), two infrared emitters, and two infrared receivers into industry standard door frames. Using basic timing differentials, a running count, and some low-level math, you would be able to monitor the real-time occupancy levels for any given room, building, or complex irregardless of the number of entry and exit points. The information gathered would be anonymous and in aggregate. There would be no concerns regarding data collection or security.

Designing a application-specific board with components would greatly reduce the per-unit cost in a market-ready product. The processing overhead and required hardware are extremely minimal.

This relatively simply yet very effective setup would have a wide array of positive impacts in the industrial, hospitality, and commercial markets. To include: