Real-Time Monitoring of People Flows and Indoor Temperature Distribution for Advanced Air-Conditioning Control

This paper proposes an advanced air-conditioning control system by using multiple laser range scanners and wireless sensor network technologies. In public space such as railway station or exhibition hall, more economical air-conditioning system has been desired because the population density changes continuously and the surrounding temperature is also not constant. Our proposed system aims to ventilate for only where and when the cool/warm wind is necessary, that is the pedestrians´ flows close up and the temperature is not sufficient. In order to track crowds flows, multiple laser range scanners are exploited, and networked temperature sensors are deployed in the target space for temperature monitoring. The obtained temperature distribution is integrated to the results of people tracking on the real-time basis, and we simulate the wind direction from air-conditioner. In order to verify our system´s effectivity, we conducted an experiment at Japan railway station. Finally, we conclude the number of pedestrians who receive the wind from the air-conditioner increases with 44% and the average time increases with 20%.