A standalone capacitively coupled occupancy sensor

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a standalone, capacitively coupled, occupancy sensor. Unlike previous iterations, the new sensor is decoupled from the fluorescent lamp. A well controlled, high voltage amplifier and autotransformer are designed as a replacement source and operate over a wide range of output frequencies and amplitudes. The sensor electronics are implemented with active sensing electrodes and resistive and capacitive feedback modes are evaluated for performance. Optimal front end feedback, electrode spacing, and signal source amplitude are explored. The sensor achieves a detection range of 11 feet for occupancy detection, with capacitive measurements down to the attofarad level. The application of the sensor as a material detector, using a linear mixing algorithm, is also found to be feasible.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Thompson, William H., M. Eng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Steven B. Leeb and Al-Thaddeus Avestruz.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/85512

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/85512