Re: [misterhouse-users] More info about HW setup (detectors, ....) for automatic lighting feature

[Jason S. <ja...@sh...>]

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004, Robert Rozman wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> thanks for all responses. I guess it would be good to put this conversation
> to docs.
> 
> I'm particularly interested in way of sensing presence with combination - if
> I understand right, the best combo would be to have motion detector + door
> sensor (I guess motion sensors are not enough). Will in this case automatic
> lighting work ok ?
> 
> I'd also like to know how you deal with rooms junction (if I remember right
> code is based on graphs - so their are connecting points between two rooms)?
> Can anyone provide sample floorplan with sensors in it and also experience
> how it behaves ?
> 
> What are common problems you encounter when using automatic lighting feature
> ?

The only problem right now is that the computer cannot resolve if there 
are two people active in adjacent nodes.  Presence will shift back and 
forth.  This can be resolved by inserting another node (motion sensor) in 
between, but that sometimes is not feasible (motion sensors need to be 
tightly controlled so to prevent overlap).

Predictive lighting as presented in MH code just triggers adjacent nodes 
based on edges.  I have custom C code linked to libneural that enhances 
the prediction based on learned movement patterns (offshoot of my HVAC 
routines).  I am going to try and solve the adjacent node problem using a 
similar technique, as soon as I find a descent nn library for perl.


> Another question is based on sensors. I'm thinking of putting simple
> pressure sensors under first floor concrete layer. Has anyone any experience
> on that? I'm fan of uninvasive sensing techniques. I've read an article,
> where University research group did 95% correct person identification based
> solely on their walking patterns in such "active floor" (using HMM models).
> Since I'm quite fond of HMM models from speech recognition it shouldn't be
> too hard to play with that. It would be quite fun if house recognized person
> without visible sensors...
> 

That is very interesting.  If you know of a cheap seismic sensor for this 
purpose, I would love to try that out as well.

> I think automatic light feature is great feature - it's real start in
> direction I'm for - adaptive house. I plan to work on that when I enter new
> house. Till then I'll try to learn more from you guys,

Im a big fan of the "automated" part of HA ;)   My goal is to remove most 
of the active input devices in my house to all passive (non-intrusive) and 
have the computer determine things on its own.

-J