Occupancy and Motion

Detectors
Panca Mudji Rahardjo, ST.MT.
Electrical Engineering Department - UB

September 11, 2001 has changed the way people think about airport,
aviation, and security in general. The threat is expanding interest in more
reliable systems to detect the presence of people within the protected
perimeters.
The occupancy sensors detect the presence of people (and sometimes
animals) in a monitored area. Motion detectors respond only to moving
objects.
A distinction between the two is that the occupancy sensors produce
signals whenever an object is stationary or not, whereas the motion
detectors are selectively sensitive to moving objects.
The applications of these sensors include security, surveillance, energy
management, (electric lights control), personal safety, friendly home
appliances, interactive toys, novelty products, and so forth.

The following types of detector are presently used for the occupancy
and motion sensing of people:
1. Air pressure sensors: detects changes in air pressure resulted from
opening doors and windows
2. Capacitive: detectors of human body capacitance
3. Acoustic: detectors of sound produced by people
4. Photoelectric: interruption of light beams by moving objects
5. Optoelectric: detection of variations in illumination or optical
contrast in the
protected area
6. Pressure mat switches: pressure-sensitive long strips used on floors
beneath the carpets to detect weight of an intruder
7. Stress detectors: strain gauges imbedded into floor beams, staircases,
and other structural components
8. Switch sensors: electrical contacts connected to doors and windows
9. Magnetic switches: a noncontact version of switch sensors
10.Vibration detectors: react to the vibration of walls or other building
structures, also may be attached to doors or windows to detect
movements
11. Glass breakage detectors: sensors reacting to specific vibrations
produced by shattered glass

12. Infrared motion detectors: devices sensitive to heat waves

emanated from warm or cold moving objects
13. Microwave detectors: active sensors responsive to microwave
electromagnetic signals reflected from objects
14. Ultrasonic detectors: similar to microwaves except that instead of
electromagnetic radiation, ultrasonic waves are used
15.Video motion detectors: video equipment which compares a
stationary image stored in memory with the current image from the
protected area
16.Video face recognition system: image analyzers that compare facial
features with a database
17. Laser system detectors: similar to photoelectric detectors, except
that they use narrow light beams and combinations of reflectors
18. Triboelectric detectors: sensors capable of detecting static electric
charges carried by moving objects

Microwave Motion Detectors

The microwave detectors offer an attractive alternative to other
detectors when it is required to cover large areas and to operate over an
extended temperature range under the influence of strong interferences,
such as wind, acoustic noise, fog, dust, moisture, and so forth.

The target reflects some waves back toward the antenna, which directs
the received radiation toward the mixing diode whose current contains a
harmonic with a phase differential between the transmitted and reflected
waves.
The phase difference is in a direct relationship to the distance to the
target. The phase-sensitive detector is useful mostly for detecting the
distance to an object. However, movement, not distance, should be
detected.
Thus, for the occupancy and motion detector, the Doppler effect is the
basis for the operation of microwave and ultrasonic detectors. It should
be noted that the Dopplereffect device is a true motion detector because
it is responsive only to moving targets. Here is how it works.

When the target moves toward or away from the transmitting antenna,
the frequency of the reflected radiation will change. Thus, if the target is
moving away with velocity v, the reflected frequency will decrease and it
will increase for the approaching targets. This is called the Doppler effect,
after the Austrian scientist Christian Johann Doppler (18031853).
Although the effect first was discovered for sound, it is applicable to
electromagnetic radiation as well.
However, in contrast to sound waves that may propagate with velocities
dependent on the movement of the source of the sound, electromagnetic
waves propagate with the speed of light, which is an absolute constant.
The frequency of reflected electromagnetic waves can be predicted by
the theory of relativity as

f0 is radiated frequency ; fr is reflected frequency ; c0 is speed velocity;

v is moving velocity.

For practical purposes, however, the quantity (v/c0)2 is very small as

compared with unity; hence, it can be ignored.

The mixing diode combines the radiated (reference) and reflected

frequencies and, being a nonlinear device, produces a signal which contains
multiple harmonics of both frequencies. The electric current through the
diode may be represented by a polynomial:

where i0 is a dc component, ak are harmonic coefficients which depend on

a diode operating point, U1 and U2 are amplitudes of the reference and
received signals, respectively, and t is time.

The Doppler frequency in the mixer can be found from

and since c0/v >>1, the following holds after substituting Eq.
The above equation holds true only for movements in the normal
direction.When the target moves at angles with respect to the
detector, the Doppler frequency is
For the normal operation, the received power must be sufficiently high. It
depends on several factors, including the antenna aperture area A, target
area a, and distance to the target r:
where P0 is the transmitted power, is the reflective coeficient.

Generally, conductive materials and objects with high dielectric constants

are good reflectors of electromagnetic radiation, whereas many dielectrics
absorb energy and reflect very little.
Plastics and ceramics are quite transmissive and can be used as windows in
the microwave detectors. The best target for a microwave detector is a
smooth, flat conductive plate positioned normally toward the detector. A
flat conductive surface makes a very good reflector; however, it may render
the detector inoperable at angles other than 0.
Thus, an angle of =45 can completely divert a reflective signal from the
receiving antenna. This method of diversion was used quite effectively in
the design of the Stealth bomber, which is virtually invisible on radar
screens.

To detect whether a target moves toward or away from the antenna, the
Doppler concept can be extended by adding another mixing diode to the
transceiver module. The second diode is located in the waveguide in such a
manner that the Doppler signals from both diodes differ in phase by onequarter of wavelength or by 90 (Fig. 6.2A).

Capacitive Occupancy Detectors

Being a conductive medium with a high dielectric constant, a human body

develops a coupling capacitance to its surroundings. This capacitance greatly
depends on such factors as body size, clothing, materials, type of
surrounding objects, weather, and so forth. However wide the coupling
range is, the capacitance may vary from a few picofarads to several
nanofarads.

Then, the resulting capacitance C between the plate and the earth becomes
larger by C

Figure 6.4 illustrates a capacitive security system for an automobile [3]. A

differential charge detector is controlled by an oscillator which produces
square pulses (Fig. 6.5).
Under the no-seat occupied conditions, the reference capacitor is adjusted
to be approximately equal to Cp. Resistors and the corresponding
capacitors define time constants of the networks. Both RC circuits have
equal time constants 1.Voltages across the resistors are fed
into the inputs of a differential amplifier, whose output voltage Vc is near
zero. Small spikes at the output is the result of some imbalance.
When a person is positioned on the seat, his (her) body forms an
additional capacitance in parallel with Cp, thus increasing the time constant
of the R1Cp network from 1 to 2. This is indicated by the increased spike
amplitudes at the output of a differential amplifier. The comparator
compares Vc with a predetermined threshold voltage Vref . When the spikes
exceed the threshold, the comparator sends an indication signal to the
logic circuit that generates signal V manifesting the car occupancy. It should
be noted that a capacitive detector is an active sensor, because it essentially
required an oscillating test signal to measure the capacitance value.

When a capacitive occupancy (proximity) sensor is used near or on a metal

device, its sensitivity may be severely reduced due to a capacitive coupling
between the electrode and the devices metallic parts.
An effective way to reduce that stray capacitance is to use driven shields.
Figure 6.6Ashows a robot with a metal arm. An object, while approaching
the arm, forms a capacitive coupling with it, which is equal to Cso. The arm
is covered with an electrically isolated conductive sheath called an electrode.
To reduce the capacitive coupling between the electrode and the arm, the
shield must be at the same potential as the electrode; that is, its voltage
must be driven by the electrode voltage (thus, the name is driven
shield). Hence, there would be no electric field between them; however,
there will be a strong electric field between the shield and the arm.

Figure 6.7 shows a simplified circuit diagram of a square-wave oscillator

whose frequency depends on the net input capacitance, comprised of Csg
(sensor-to-ground), Cso (sensor-to-object), and Cog (object-to-ground). The
electrode is connected to the shield through a voltage follower. The
frequency-modulated signal is fed into the robots computer for controlling
the arm movement. This arrangement allows us to detect the proximity to
conductive objects over the range of 30 cm.

Triboelectric Detectors
Any object can accumulate static electricity on its surface. These naturally
occurring charges arise from the triboelectric effect (i.e., a process of
charge separation due to object movements, friction of clothing fibers, air
turbulence, atmosphere electricity, etc.).
Usually, air contains either positive or negative ions that can be attracted
to the human body, thus changing its charge.
Under the idealized static conditions, an object is not charged: Its bulk
charge is equal to zero. In reality, any object which at least temporarily is
isolated from the ground can exhibit some degree of its bulk charge
imbalance. In other words, it becomes a carrier of electric charges.

Optoelectronic Motion Detectors

Facet Focusing Element

Positioning of the facet lens, focal distances, number, and the pitch of the
facets (the distance between the optical axes of two adjacent facets) may
by calculated in every case by applying rules of geometrical optics. The
following practical formulas may be applied to find the focal length of a
facet:
and the facet pitch is
where L is the distance to the object, d is the width of the sensing
element, n is the number of sensing elements (evenly spaced), and is the
objects minimum displacement which must result in detection.
For example, if the sensor has two sensing elements of d =1 mm, each of
which are positioned at 1 mm apart, and the objects minimum
displacement =25 cm at a distance L=10 m, the facet focal length is
calculated from Eq. (6.10) as f =(1000 cm)(0.1 cm)/25 cm=4 cm, and the
facets should be positioned with a pitch of p =8 mm from one another as
per Eq. (6.11).

Visible and Near-Infrared Light Motion Detectors

PIR Motion Detectors

These detectors became extremely popular for the security and energy
management systems. The PIR sensing element must be responsive to farinfrared radiation within a spectral range from 4 to 20 m, where most of
the thermal power emanated by humans is concentrated.
There are three types of sensing element which are potentially useful for
that detector: thermistors, thermopiles, and pyroelectrics However, the
pyroelectric elements are used almost exclusively for the motion
detection thanks to their simplicity, low cost, high responsivity, and a broad
dynamic range.

PIR Sensor Efficiency Analysis

To estimate a power level at the sensors surface, let us make some

assumptions. We assume that the moving object is a person whose
effective surface area is b (Fig. 6.16) and the temperature along this surface
(Tb) is distributed uniformly and is expressed in Kelvin. The object is
assumed to be a diffuse emitter (radiates uniformly within the hemisphere
having a surface area of A=2L2). Also, we assume that the focusing device
makes a sharp image of an object at any distance. For this calculation, we
select a lens which has a surface area a. The sensors temperature (in K) is
Ta, the same as that of ambient.

The total infrared power (flux) lost to surroundings from the object can
be determined from the StefanBoltzmann law:

where is the StefanBoltzmann constant and b and a are the object and
the surrounding emissivities, respectively. If the object is warmer than the
surroundings (which is usually the case), this net infrared power is
distributed toward an open space. Because the object is a diffusive emitter,
we may consider that the same flux density may be detected along an
equidistant surface. In other words, the intensity of infrared power is
distributed uniformly along the spherical surface having radius L.
Assuming that the surroundings and the objects surface are ideal
emitters and absorbers (b =a =1) and the sensing elements emissivity is
s , the net radiative flux density at distance L can be derived as

The lens efficiency (transmission coefficient) is , which theoretically may

vary from 0 to 0.92 depending on the properties of the lens material and
the lens design. For the polyethylene Fresnel lenses, its value is in the range
from 0.4 to 0.7. After ignoring a minor nonlinearity related to the fourth
power of temperatures in Eq. (6.13), thermal power absorbed by the
element can be expressed as

The electric current generated by the sensor can be found from the
fundamental formula

where Q is the electric charge developed by the pyroelectric sensor. This

charge depends on the sensors pyroelectric coefficient P, the sensors
area s, and the temperature change dT :

Thermal capacity C can be derived through a specific heat c of the

material, area s, and thickness of the element h:
By substituting Eqs. (6.15), (6.17), and (6.18) into Eq. (6.16), we can
evaluate the peak current which is generated by the sensor in response
to the incident thermal flux:
To establish relationship between the current and the moving object, the
flux from Eq. (6.14) has to be substituted into Eq. (6.19):

where T =(Tb Ta).

Reference

JACOB FRADEN. HANDBOOK OF

MODERN SENSORS, P HY S I C S, D
E S I G N S, a n d A P P L I C AT I O N
S.T h i r d E d i t i o n. Springer. 2003