Real-time Occupancy Tracking Solutions
1. Stakeholder Shared Spaces Requirements
Many enterprises, especially hospitals and healthcare facilities, require immediate access to critical, shared spaces, such as conference and patient exam rooms. The demand for these spaces fluctuates, driven by the ebb and flow of consumer or patient demand.
As a result, facility operators are under constant pressure to provide just enough space to accommodate peak demand without introducing too much, costly space. Furthermore, in the absence of readily available occupancy data, direct consumers of these shared spaces, such as doctors, often complain of a lack of available space—leading to tension between doctors and facility administrators.
- Operations managers need a way of planning for future demand based on actual occupancy data, to better answer questions about how much space should be removed, modified, or added to the facility.
- Direct consumers need a way to immediately locate available shared spaces in real-time.
2. Solving Stakeholder Requirements
a. Facility Manager Needs
Solution
- Need better planning tools based on actual occupancy data
- Must be based on actual occupancy information from the shared spaces
- Data should becurrent and constantly updated — not static
- Must be readily accessible by managers
- VLogicFM Tracking Module’s Dashboard gives managers occupancy charts over a time range they specify
- Track actual occupancy data, from past & current sensor readings by room or date
- Continually updates VFM cloud server 24/7, 365 days a year
- Centralized access on the cloud using Web browsers or mobile devices to all or specific sites or buildings
b. Direct Consumer’s Needs
Solution
- Need to locate available shared spaces in real-time
- Actual occupancy information must be immediately available on demand
- Data should be current and constantly updated — not static
- Must be readily accessible by consumers
- Data should show lists of available rooms and their location in the facility
- Data should be portable for easy consumption outside of the system
- VLogicFM Tracking Module’s Live tracking feature gives users powerful tools to see available shared spaces on floor plans or room lists in real time:
- Immediate access to live occupancy data from sensors in shared spaces
- View available spaces in a list by occupancy status, or drill in to see a floor plan of each room or an occupancy chart of the same room
- Continually updates VFM cloud server 24/7, 365 days a year
- Centralized access on the cloud using Web browsers or mobile devices
- Export occupancy list to Excel for easy processing outside of VLogicFM
3. Tracking Module Components & Architecture
The Tracking module offers the following solutions to stake holder needs:
1. Components
The Tracking module relies on both hardware and software to track live and historic occupancy data. It is designed as a “plug-n-play” system with a minimal IT footprint. The system includes the following components:.
-
Sensor hardware – located on site in each shared room
Battery operated, infrared motion / occupancy sensors transmit minimal motion/no motion signals to the gateway. No personally identifiable information is transmitted, just the motion data. -
Cellular Gateway hardware - located on site
Gathers wireless readings from 80+ sensors and transmits encrypted data to VLogicFM system over a cellular network (Verizon, AT&T, etc.). Does NOTneed to be plugged into the local area network. -
Cloud Sensor Management software - located in the cloud
Sensor Management software collects data transmitted by gateway hardware and sends data to VLogicFM Tracking module(see below). -
VLogicFM Tracking module - located in the cloud
The Tracking module receives motion data from the Cloud Sensor Management software and interprets occupancy from the motion readings. The Tracking module gives users access to this data via web server to web browsers & mobile devices.
2. Architecture
Frequently Asked Questions
Real-time tracking is the ability to automatically determine motion, pressure, humidity, temperature, location and other environmental changes to spaces, objects and people, in real time — typically in a facility or building. VLogicFM Tracking currently tracks motion/occupancy, but the same general model can be used to track other environmental changes with different sensors, per customer demand.
You will need three things: (1) Sensors, preferably wireless, to detect the specific environmental change you are tracking; (2) Network gateways to collect sensor data and transmit it to your collection point; (3) a software system to automatically collect and interpret your sensor information.
Yes, VLogicFM Tracking is a complete, turnkey solution. We will provide all hardware and software you need to install, configure, and activate a real-time tracking system.
No. VLogicFM Tracking is completely independent of your facility LAN. Neither the sensors nor our cellular network gateways require any access to your LAN. Our real-time tracking solution operates over a standard cellular network, such as Verizon, AT&T or Sprint.
No. VLogicFM Tracking is designed to be “plug-n-play.” The steps are straightforward and can be performed by anyone who is familiar with your facility: (1) We configure all sensors and gateways before we ship them to you; (2) Upon receipt of the hardware shipment, you install the sensors on the ceiling of any room you wish to track; (3) plug your gateways in a central location — the gateway only needs a regular wall outlet for power. The rest is automatically taken care of by our cloud-based IWMS software, VLogicFM Tracking.
You will need: (1) As-builts module, (2) Space module, and (3) Tracking module. Administrative and user configuration modules are automatically enabled upon activating these three modules.