Hello,

I want to build a project for school that can count people who pass in a room. I am thinking to use an Ir sensor Rx and Tx.The result must be displayed on a screen of computer.
In the first phase i don't know what microcontroller i can use to obtain great performance.

Any idea, books, schema or advice it would help me.Thanks in advance.

 

Hello,

I want to build a project for school that can count people who pass in a room. I am thinking to use an Ir sensor Rx and Tx.The result must be displayed on a screen of computer.
In the first phase i don't know what microcontroller i can use to obtain great performance.

Any idea, books, schema or advice it would help me.Thanks in advance.

You needn't have great performance. However, you need to think of how you are going to connect the device to a computer. These are pretty handy if you have Bluetooth available on the computer, or there are USB to TTL converters about. Going either of these routes, you would be better off with a microcontroller with a hardware UART module, otherwise, you have to do it in software.

Personally, I use PIC microcontrollers. Many of them would be more than enough to accomplish the task.

As far as the detection of people, the Ir sensor seems reasonable. You should probably go look up opto-interruptors and the means to use them effectively.

 

People counting is quite difficult in practice. One big problem is that people will "clump together" so when they go through the doorway it will register a single pulse and only count 1 person even though 4 people were clumped together.

In a school where people are impatient and have closer personal distances this is going to be a big problem.

 

And do you need to take into account people leaving? If four people enter, and two leave - what will your counter show? Six or two?

 

Use a turnstile with a mechanical counter.

 

And do you need to take into account people leaving? If four people enter, and two leave - what will your counter show? Six or two?

Six. The entire number will be devided by 2 to see the real number of people that was in that room. Thanks

 

Use a turnstile with a mechanical counter.

Thanks for the idea. I must use infrared beam, or something cheaper.

 

People counting is quite difficult in practice. One big problem is that people will "clump together" so when they go through the doorway it will register a single pulse and only count 1 person even though 4 people were clumped together.

In a school where people are impatient and have closer personal distances this is going to be a big problem.

Yes, you have right. In this case I don't know how to resolve this problem when i use infrared sensor. Can I use another sensor to resolve this error(must be cheaper) ?Thanks

 

You needn't have great performance. However, you need to think of how you are going to connect the device to a computer. These are pretty handy if you have Bluetooth available on the computer, or there are USB to TTL converters about. Going either of these routes, you would be better off with a microcontroller with a hardware UART module, otherwise, you have to do it in software.

Personally, I use PIC microcontrollers. Many of them would be more than enough to accomplish the task.

As far as the detection of people, the Ir sensor seems reasonable. You should probably go look up opto-interruptors and the means to use them effectively.

Thanks for the answer. I am not decided yet how i will make the conection between the device and computer. But , in this moment I am thinking to use the usb conection or rs232.Can you tell me which is the easiest and cheapest option? Thanks

 

Yes, you have right. In this case I don't know how to resolve this problem when i use infrared sensor. Can I use another sensor to resolve this error(must be cheaper) ?Thanks

Commercial designs use a downward facing camera, and very sophisticated software to examine the camera data and count people in each "clump". It's not easy, especially if people have bags or push trolleys etc.

As far as putting a cheap beam sensor across a doorway, I think it will not be accurate UNLESS you train everyone to go through the doorway one by one, with clear distance between people. Even then, if someone is swinging their arm or has a backpack etc it might make 2 pulses for that 1 person.

 

I was going to say aim a camera from above and use image recognition software.
Or hire some to operate one of those pushbutton people counters.

 

Hello,

I want to build a project for school that can count people who pass in a room. I am thinking to use an Ir sensor Rx and Tx.The result must be displayed on a screen of computer.
In the first phase i don't know what microcontroller i can use to obtain great performance.

Any idea, books, schema or advice it would help me.Thanks in advance.

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