Human-Centric Smart Building Routing via Sensor Clusters
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional smart building technologies focus on facility management and building optimization, neglecting occupant-centric needs such as efficient routing to services, emergency response, and personal safety, despite growing demand for human-centric solutions.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing GPS-enabled sensor clusters with acoustic, optical, infrared, RFID, and radar sensors, combined with mobile device technology, to monitor and customize routing for occupants to services and emergency exits, detect medical distress, and manage mass emergencies like fires or active shooters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional smart building technologies are used for facility management and building optimization, then building operational expenses and risks decrease and occupancy utilization increases, but occupant-centric needs such as efficient routing to services, emergency response, and personal safety are neglected
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments building services into multiple instances (e.g., multiple restrooms, coffee stations, meeting rooms) and tracks each one's location and capacity independently. This allows the system to route occupants to specific service instances based on real-time status, resolving the contradiction between building efficiency and occupant routing convenience.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically determines optimal routing paths for occupants to services without manual intervention. It uses sensor data to dynamically calculate routes and notifies occupants via mobile devices, enabling self-service routing that improves both building operational efficiency and occupant convenience.
2Adaptability or versatility
If sensor clusters are deployed to monitor and track occupants for routing purposes, then customized routing and emergency response capabilities are enhanced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor clusters perform multiple functions: tracking occupant locations for routing, detecting building services positions, monitoring service capacity, and detecting emergency conditions. This multi-functionality enhances customized routing capability while managing device complexity by consolidating multiple functions into single sensor nodes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system merges data from multiple sensor types (acoustic, optical, infrared, RFID, radar) into unified sensor clusters that work together to provide comprehensive building awareness. This combining approach enables complex routing capabilities while managing overall system complexity through modular cluster design.
3Reliability
If real-time location tracking and sensor monitoring are implemented for emergency response, then occupant safety and emergency routing are improved, but loss of information about building service capacity and utilization increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors building service capacity and utilization through sensor data and provides real-time feedback to the routing system. This feedback loop ensures that emergency routing decisions are based on current service availability information, improving emergency response reliability while maintaining accurate building service capacity information.
Data Source
AI summary
The system and methods of the present invention use sensor hardware, software, and connectivity, both between sensors and with occupants of the commercial, private, or public building, for building service utilization and capacity optimization and for personal and mass safety. One or more clusters of different sensor types are deployed in an indoor setting and can be used to nurture, protect, and assist occupants of that indoor setting. The human-centric concepts herein are also shown to be applicable to both medical triage and transportation settings.