Public Funding for Hilson Moran Partnership Limited

To stop the spread of Coronavirus, people around the world are practicing social distancing and should avoid close contact with anyone they do not live with. In order to maximise the number of people who can return to work safely, employers must make the workplace as safe as possible for staff, customers and anyone else who visits. This raises a need for a smart system to analyse how occupants use and move around building. DIREK, along with Hilson Moran are developing and testing the Smart Indoor Management System (SIMS), which enables building operators and occupants to monitor real-time movement within building and send any relevant notification regarding the number of occupants. Existing tracking technologies rely on mobile apps or wearing other smart devices, whilst SIMS rely on smart sensors which are sensitive to people's presence and activity and are low-energy, low-cost, and easy to deploy. The advantage of using SIMS compared to conventional sensors, thermal and infrared cameras is that it does not require any user device involvement and at the same time does not capture sensitive information. In addition to social distancing, SIMS can be integrated with the Building Management System (BMS) in smart buildings to optimise energy consumption and reduce carbon footprint. BMS is a computer-based control system installed in buildings that controls and monitors the building's mechanical and electrical equipment such as ventilation, lighting, power systems, fire systems, and security systems. One of the significant variables which can lead to under or over prediction is usage profiles. Having increased understanding of occupational densities and when people enter and leave a building is crucial to helping to improve the design and operation and ultimately help meet the UK's zero carbon agenda. To achieve the above, we need to address three challenges: 1) accurate estimation of propagation characteristics of signals 2) correlate propagation characteristics to activity and occupancy level 3) Feed the BMS system with the appropriate command. As part of the initial phase of the project Hilson Moran would look to install the SIMS technology in one or more of their offices in the UK. This would allow the technology to be tested in a real working environment. We would also look to reach out the building operators to gather information on the plant operation to see if there are opportunities for increased building efficiencies based on this data. At this stage we would also look to work with BMS providers to look at integrating SIMS with the wider building systems.