Anonymous footfall counting: a new era in managing university facilities

While footfall monitoring and people counting solutions have primarily been used in smart buildings to reduce costs and improve sustainability through optimised heating, air conditioning and ventilation (HVAC) systems and lighting in response to room or building occupancy, this technology is also ideally suited to universities. 

The non-camera based, anonymous data from Terabee people counting solutions give insights into footfall traffic, such as how students and staff move around university buildings and facilities. Are some lecture halls too full? What spaces are underutilized at present and could be maximized?

This technology helps university administration teams to quickly understand how to reshape spaces in a continuously changing environment. It provides them with objective data for informed decision making, building automation and user experience improvements.

Privacy of images and data relating to both staff, students and visitors is an absolute requirement, so people counting solutions that use Time-of-Flight technology guarantee privacy protection and GDPR compliance. The device emits a pulse of near infrared light and measures the time it takes for the pulse to reflect off the environment and back to the sensor.

Terabee people counters calculate depth information about their surroundings, with a low resolution “depth map” where each pixel corresponds to a distance measurement produced.

This provides highly accurate people counting data (typically 95% for People Counting M to 98% accuracy for People Counting L-XL) that does not capture any distinguishing features or personal identifiable information (PII). Read more about people counting devices GDPR compliance.

Efficient resource allocation is essential for universities and higher education facilities to operate smoothly. By employing people counting and footfall monitoring with Time-of-Flight technology, campuses gain valuable insights into how spaces are utilized throughout the campus.

This data can inform decisions related to resource allocation, such as optimizing classroom utilization, scheduling maintenance activities, and managing staff and security deployments.

Another practical example is automating HVAC and lighting in response to room occupancy data, and linking occupancy monitoring solutions to Building Management Systems.

With accurate occupancy data, institutions can identify underutilized spaces and make informed choices to maximize their efficiency, resulting in cost savings and improved productivity.

University facilities managers can benefit from accurate data on cafeteria occupancy levels to better manage canteen resources, such as food, seating, and staff. This can result in cost savings and improved sustainability though less food waste and more efficient operations.

With efficient sensors and no need for external data processing, Terabee footfall counters provide accurate room and building occupancy data at a fraction of the cost of other systems. The People Counting L-XL LoRa device utilises LoRaWAN, which eliminates the need to install PoE cables or connect to the main IT system. This makes it an ideal solution for the historic buildings found in some universities. The LoRa-enabled solution avoids the need to retrofit Ethernet cabling, which can be both expensive and time-consuming.

With its ability to aggregate data taken from up to five separate sensors, the Terabee People Counter L-XL device offers an easy-to-install and configure, highly accurate doorway counter for monitoring large doors, entrances and indoor gates, such as university auditoriums and large lecture theatres. On the other hand, the People Counting M, also available in PoE and LoRo-enabled models, is suitable for standard doors and narrow corridors, such as in meeting rooms and washrooms.