Practical design and implementation of IoT-based occupancy monitoring systems for office buildings: A case study

Abstract

This study introduces a scalable, cloud-based approach to occupancy monitoring designed to optimize HVAC operations in office buildings. It addresses the challenges of developing and implementing a multi-parameter IoT-based occupancy monitoring system by integrating various off-the-shelf sensors—CO2, infrared (IR), motion (PIR), and door status detection—into a cohesive system. Leveraging wireless LoRaWAN and novel cloud technologies, the system ensures easy installation, efficient maintenance, and robust data management. CO2-based occupancy detection models were trained using data from a reference office and validated in another office environment. Among the various models evaluated, the four best-performing ones—Decision Trees, Random Forest, LightGBM, and K-Nearest Neighbors—were selected for integration into a multi-parameter detection system. To further enhance system performance and identify optimal sensor combinations and configurations for cost-effective and accurate occupancy detection, a data fusion methodology was employed. This methodology, validated with ground-truth data from a test bed, tested the monitoring system in different office settings, ranging from single to quadruple-occupant rooms. Integration of additional parameters into the developed data fusion approach significantly improved system performance, achieving a True Positive Rate (TPR) of 95% compared to 81% with a simple baseline data fusion method. This approach also reduced false detections during unoccupied periods, as tested in multiple rooms within the studied building, thereby enhancing the system's reliability for integration into occupancy-aware HVAC control strategies.