{"id":41261,"date":"2024-09-03T11:05:10","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T15:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/?p=41261"},"modified":"2024-09-04T09:10:02","modified_gmt":"2024-09-04T13:10:02","slug":"innovative-energy-efficiency-fisheye-cameras-in-smart-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/innovative-energy-efficiency-fisheye-cameras-in-smart-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovative Energy Efficiency: Fisheye Cameras in Smart Spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine a bustling corporate office building where energy consumption needs to be balanced with maintaining a comfortable environment for employees. In such settings, traditional methods of regulating air handling systems can lead to inefficiencies and waste energy in unoccupied areas. This is where the research of Boston University Professors and CISE affiliates <\/span>Thomas Little<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Janusz Konrad<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Prakash Ishwar<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Michael Gevelber<\/span><\/a> is critical.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Professors Little, Konrad, Ishwar, and Gevelber have collaborated on a paper related to their innovative work on smart spaces, energy efficiency, and privacy-conscious solutions. Their paper, <\/span>“High-accuracy people counting in large spaces using overhead fisheye cameras”<\/span><\/a>, was published in <\/span>Energy and Buildings<\/span><\/i> on ScienceDirect, a database of peer-reviewed, full-text scientific, technical, and health literature.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“We aim to reduce HVAC energy use in indoor spaces, particularly commercial ones, by means of improved management of air handling, which requires knowing the number of people,” said Konrad. This system is known as COSSY, or the <\/span>Computational Occupancy Sensing System.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

“The more accurate the count, the better energy savings you’ll get while assuring occupant comfort,” noted Konrad. The system applies artificial intelligence to live images to estimate the number of people in a space. This data is then used to adjust air handling systems dynamically, ensuring energy is not wasted in unoccupied or sparsely-occupied rooms. This process directly addresses the dual challenge of reducing energy consumption while also maintaining a comfortable environment for occupants, which is essential in large commercial and institutional spaces where inefficient energy leads to significant costs and environmental impact.<\/span><\/p>\n

While COSSY\u2019s primary application is improving energy efficiency in commercial spaces, it has broader potential uses. For instance, it could tailor the built environment where people are located, such as lighting that follows occupants or delivering different spectra of light based on people’s needs at different times of the day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Their paper provides a detailed analysis of the technical processes behind COSSY. High- resolution fisheye cameras capture extensive fields of view, enabling accurate occupancy estimates in large or irregularly shaped rooms. One significant challenge in this research is the perception of privacy invasion with cameras. “Even though cameras are everywhere, we recognized this as a problem and specifically designed the system to be self-contained, ensuring that captured images never leave COSSY. We don’t want to look at the images or have anyone else look at the images,” emphasized Konrad.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of\u00a0 increasing concern over surveillance and potential misuse of personal data, the issue of privacy is critical in this research. With cameras already prevalent in many public and private spaces, individuals are often wary of being constantly monitored, which can lead to discomfort and mistrust. By ensuring that the COSSY system is self-contained and images are not stored or transmitted, the research team has addressed these privacy concerns head-on. This approach not only encourages user acceptance, but sets a standard for ethical considerations in the development of smart technologies. By prioritizing privacy, Professors Little and Konrad have demonstrated that it is possible to harness advanced technologies for societal benefit without compromising individual freedoms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Little and Konrad\u2019s scope of research extends beyond the COSSY system, including designing an indoor air-quality sensor network, supported in part by BU\u2019s <\/span>Campus Climate Lab<\/span><\/a>. This sensor network provides real-time data on classroom air quality, which can be imperative for ensuring a healthy indoor environment. It is also highly customizable, allowing the integration of various sensors and displaying data to occupants in individual classrooms.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Innovating in impactful areas is rewarding, but as solutions get more complicated, diverse expertise is required, so collaboration becomes essential,” shared Konrad. The publication of research papers serves as validation from peers, affirming the importance, novelty and impact of their work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a researcher is such an entrenched activity, we all just think about innovating,\u201d Little added. \u201cInnovating in impactful areas is the win and that’s intrinsically satisfying, and it’s why all of us are here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

CISE Affiliated Faculty Profiles<\/b><\/p>\n

Thomas Little<\/span><\/a> is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boston University and Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives in the College of Engineering. He leads the <\/span>Multimedia Communications Lab<\/span><\/a> where he is active in research on pervasive computing and communications which supports the development of \u2018smart spaces\u2019 enabling built environments to anticipate and respond to human needs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Janusz Konrad<\/span><\/a> is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boston University, where he leads the <\/span>Visual Information Processing (VIP) laboratory<\/span><\/a>. His research interests include computer vision, visual sensor networks, stereoscopic and 3D imaging, image and video processing, and multidimensional digital signal processing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prakash Ishwar<\/span><\/a> is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Boston University. Professor Ishwar\u2019s research interests include statistical signal processing and machine learning, network information and communications, information security, and visual information processing and analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Gevelber<\/span><\/a> is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Boston University. His research interests include modeling and control for advanced materials processing applications and sustainable buildings: electro-spinning of nanofibers, plasma spray, optimization of building HVAC systems and building energy use. Professor Gevelber\u2019s engineering research focuses on developing enhanced materials processing capabilities through modeling, sensor development, experimentation, and integrated system and control design. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine a bustling corporate office building where energy consumption needs to be balanced with maintaining a comfortable environment for employees. In such settings, traditional methods of regulating air handling systems can lead to inefficiencies and waste energy in unoccupied areas. This is where the research of Boston University Professors and CISE affiliates Thomas Little, Janusz […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21479,"featured_media":41262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[26,127,204,77,76],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21479"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41261"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41264,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41261\/revisions\/41264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}