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Sensing and Data Acquisition

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Exploring Occupant Behavior in Buildings

Abstract

Occupant sensing and data acquisition are essential elements for occupant behavior research. A wide range of different types of sensors has been implemented to collect rich information on occupants and their interactions with the built environment, such as presence, actions, power consumption, etc. This information establishes a foundation to study the physiological, psychological, and social aspects of occupant behavior. This chapter summarizes existing occupancy and occupant behavior sensing and data acquisition technologies in terms of field applications, and develops nine performance metrics for their evaluation. The reviewed technologies focus on both occupants’ presence and interactions with the built environment, and are grouped into six major categories: image-based, threshold and mechanical, motion sensing, radio-based, human-in-the-loop, and consumption sensing. This chapter provides an overview and discussion of different current state-of-the-art and future sensing technologies for researchers.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, Engineering Building, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX, 78249-0670, USA

    Bing Dong

  2. Center for Energy Informatics, Mærsk McKinney Møller Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230, Odense M, Denmark

    Mikkel Baun Kjærgaard

  3. Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci 46/C, 87036, Rende CS, Italy

    Marilena De Simone

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carleton University, 3432 Mackenzie Building, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6, Canada

    H. Burak Gunay & William O’Brien

  5. Hydraulic and Hydrotechnical Research Center (CIHH), Technological University of Panama, Avenida Domingo Diaz, Panama City, Panama

    Dafni Mora

  6. Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491, Trondheim, Norway

    Jakub Dziedzic

  7. Delos Living LLC, 22 Little West 12th Street, NY 10014, New York, USA

    Jie Zhao

Authors
  1. Bing Dong
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  2. Mikkel Baun Kjærgaard
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  3. Marilena De Simone
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  4. H. Burak Gunay
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  5. William O’Brien
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  6. Dafni Mora
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  7. Jakub Dziedzic
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  8. Jie Zhao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bing Dong .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Building Science Group, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Andreas Wagner

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    William O’Brien

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA

    Bing Dong

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Dong, B. et al. (2018). Sensing and Data Acquisition. In: Wagner, A., O’Brien, W., Dong, B. (eds) Exploring Occupant Behavior in Buildings. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61464-9_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61464-9_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-61464-9

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