Terabee collaboration helps Husense develop prize winning smart building technology solution
Never has there been a greater need or more demand for smart building technology solutions. The ability to count, monitor and track people as they enter and exit buildings, rooms and spaces is now an imperative, driven partly by Covid-19, but also by the need to maximise building efficiency to reduce costs. Husense is a smart building technology and smart retail solutions provider that has selected and incorporated Terabee’s Time-of-Flight (ToF) People Counting L-XL technology into its prize winning solutions.
Terabee is excited about the opportunities our people counting technology presents for the Dutch based business. The Husense software platform was originally developed for smart building technology deployments, to help companies cleverly optimize space in terms of utilization, as well as manage and optimise Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems based on accurate occupancy figures.
Husense required a GDPR compliant people counting technology solution to integrate with its Building Information Management software platform. Terabee’s 3D ToF people counting technology offered the ideal solution.
Michael de By, Husense’s Managing Director commented, “I discovered Terabee through a Google search. The technology appeared to be the perfect fit for our platform and requirements and the team was incredibly enthusiastic and helpful. Their engineers worked extremely hard and very proactively to help integrate its people counting technology with our platform and as a result we have been able to quickly launch our solution within retail and hospitality and the business sector.”
Terabee’s People Counting L-XL device is a discrete sensing module based on infrared Time-of-Flight (ToF) technology. An in-built 3D depth sensor collects non-intrusive images in real-time across a fairly wide field of view (74° x 57°), enabling it to detect multiple people in the environment being monitored with 98% accuracy. And because the sensor is based on infrared ToF, it works in low light conditions and total darkness. The smart building technology is also GDPR compliant as it does not capture a person’s image so identities are fully protected.
Husense’s platform, which is hosted on Microsoft’s Azure cloud, takes the real-time data from Terabee’s sensors and delivers insights on occupancy levels via an intuitive dashboard and app. For retailers, store managers can use this information to make real-time operational decisions to ensure social distancing policies are met and to optimise the store’s operations.
Occupancy numbers can also be displayed at the entrance of the premises to enable customers to see whether there is space and they are permitted to enter. For smart building applications, building managers can use the real-time insights on occupancy levels to control and optimise the building and spaces within it, as well as ensure social distancing and the comfort of staff and visitors. Terabee’s ToF sensors are also being used in Husense’s workplace reservation system. The sensors measure an office or area’s occupancy levels in real-time, and employees can reserve available desks via the portal or app. Because individual desks aren’t monitored and the system is anonymised, employee privacy is protected.
Husense’s customer counter and retail analysis software has since been named winner of the Starthubs Challenge, which was organized by the Municipality of The Hague. The challenge was to deliver a solution for businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors to assist them with maintaining the 1.5m social distancing measures.
Michael commented, “We won the challenge based on our solution for social distancing and the durability of our solution post-Corona. We were also able to aggregate the data from multiple stores to provide accurate occupancy levels within shopping precincts. As a result of winning the challenge we have been awarded funding that we can use to provide retail and hospitality clients in The Hague area with a discount on our solution and service.”
Michael concludes, “The speed at which we have been able to take our solution to market is very much down to the hard work and commitment of Terabee’s team. It’s a fantastic partnership and we are excited to be investigating other technology solutions that Terabee offer, including their fever screening technology, to further expand our range of solutions and service offerings.”
Laurent Meoni, Account Manager at Terabee adds, “Like Terabee, Husense is agile and fast to respond to changing market conditions and client demands, and we are very happy to be able to help them launch their new solutions. We are already in discussion about other smart building technology applications where Terabee’s sensing expertise can be used to feed Building Information Systems with valuable data – from people counting to desk and meeting room occupancy, fever detection and touchless interfaces for digital signage and information panels. We both see lots of potential for further collaboration!”
The scope of application for Terabee people counting applications is practically limitless, from smart retail to COVID-compliant shops and office spaces where social distancing rules are supported by autonomous data acquisition. If you would like to speak with a member of the sales team about your specific smart business challenges, contact us using the link below.
