Boston University

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Hartford Fire Insurance Compnay

Thomas D C Little

Emily W Lam

Michael Gingrave

Robert F Karlicek

Michael Alan Gevelber

Prakash Ishwar

John J Anthony

Richard J Radke

Robert Cornelis Wagenaar

Hany Elgala

Pankil M Butala

Li Jia

Janusz L Konrad

An apparatus, and method of operating the same, include a system for indoor positioning and localization. The apparatus includes a first beacon having a beacon optical detector to receive an optical signal, and a beacon microcontroller. The apparatus includes a zone-positioning unit (ZPU) having an optical source configured to transmit the optical signal, and a ZPU microcontroller. The beacon microcontroller is configured to identify and decode the optical signal after receipt by the beacon optical detector to determine data related to a position of the ZPU. The beacon microcontroller is further configured to wirelessly communicate with the ZPU microcontroller to convey information to the ZPU including the data related to a position of the ZPU and a known position of the first beacon. The ZPU microcontroller is configured to determine a position of the ZPU based on the information received from the first beacon.

Apparatus and method for zone-based positioning

Sensing and control apparatus for a building HVAC system includes interior and boundary sensors, such as cameras and thermal sensors, generating sensor signals conveying occupancy-related features for an area. A controller uses the sensor signals to produce an occupancy estimate and to generate equipment-control signals to cause the HVAC system to supply conditioned air to the area based on the occupancy estimate. The controller includes fusion systems collectively generating the occupancy estimate by corresponding fusion calculations, the fusion systems producing a boundary occupancy-count change based on sensor signals from the boundary sensors, an interior occupancy count based on sensor signals from the interior sensors, and the overall occupancy estimate. Fusion may be of one or multiple types including cross-modality fusion across different sensor types, within-modality fusion across different instances of same-type sensors, and cross-algorithm fusion using different algorithms for the same sensor(s).

Fusion-based occupancy sensing for building systems

A positioning system includes a steerable laser configured to emit a laser beam, an optical receiver, one or more processors, and a memory device. The optical receiver is configured to detect the presence of the laser beam on the optical receiver, measure a received signal strength of light emitted by a luminaire, or both. The memory device stores instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors cause the positioning system to target the laser beam on the optical receiver, and based on a first angle of the laser beam, a second angle of the laser beam, and an isointense curve associated with the optical receiver and the luminaire, estimate three-dimensional position of the optical receiver relative to the steerable laser source.

Ray-surface positioning systems and methods

A system for embedding phase and amplitude into a real valued unipolar signal suitable for intensity modulation (IM) by optical transmitters. The system includes a complex-to-unipolar conversion engine configured to receive complex symbols in Cartesian format and convert the complex symbols from the Cartesian format to a polar coordinate format and generate real valued unipolar symbols including embedded phase and amplitude information of complex symbols in the Cartesian format.

System and method for embedding phase and amplitude into a real-valued unipolar signal

Disclosed herein is an illumination system including an array of LED light sources for emitting light encoded with a modulation pattern, an array of sensors and a space characterization unit. The array of sensors receives emitted light scattered by an object. Each sensor determines a distance between the corresponding light source and the object using the modulation pattern. The space characterization unit uses the distance from each sensor to generate an elevation map indicating a presence of the object.

Sensory lighting system and method for characterizing an illumination space

Systems and methods are discussed for providing a sensor enhanced employee safety evaluation system. Systems that monitor and assess employee lifting behavior are employed at the workplace of an insured entity. Data from the lift monitoring systems are processed to obtain a safety evaluation. Based on the safety evaluation, the insurance provider can adjust the terms of the insurance policy to accurately reflect the risks associated with the insured entity. Feedback based on the safety evaluation is also provided to the insured entity and the employees of the insured entity to promote improvements in safe behavior.

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Newton, MA, United States of America

Thomas D C Little