Photonic specialist Lumentum and edge AI specialist Ambarella have published a new joint reference design that enables a new approach in Distributed Building Intelligence, adding scalable AI to sensor nodes while protecting occupant privacy.

Called Vision-D, the design combines Lumentum’s flood illuminator module for accurate time-of-flight (ToF) 3D sensing, with Ambarella’s CV22 edge AI SoC. Small AIoT sensors with local processing can be blanketed across buildings for applications such as occupancy monitoring, intelligent space management and smart retail. Additionally, ToF 3D sensing maintains privacy by generating a point cloud with granular 3D information, but without any personally identifiable information, for applications such as healthcare and eldercare.

Integrating intelligence directly onto Smart Building sensing nodes allows functionality and scalability, such as the creation of digital twins for automated real-time space utilisation or hot desking in shared workspaces. Other applications include traffic-based hospitality staffing, cleaning and maintenance alerts to address the labour shortage, and maximised energy efficiency through the fine-tuned usage of HVAC and lighting systems.

“There are currently two choices for occupancy sensing in building automation systems—basic motion-detection devices that preserve privacy, or intelligent camera-based systems that compromise privacy,” said Jerome Gigot, Senior Director of Marketing at Ambarella. “This joint reference design combines Lumentum’s high-performance flood illuminator module with our CVflow edge AI SoC to provide a novel solution for digital transformation that protects occupant privacy.”

“The use of sophisticated building automation and occupant monitoring solutions is expanding rapidly, driven by home healthcare and monitoring for the world’s growing senior population, efficient building usage with hybrid work schedules, and other increasingly important applications,” said Ken Huang, Director of Product Line Management at Lumentum. “This innovative reference design uniquely addresses key requirements of building automation and occupant monitoring systems by providing rich data sets and processing power while being unobtrusive in terms of both size and privacy.”

In addition to supporting multiple image sensor inputs, Ambarella’s CV22 SoC also offers peripheral interfaces for a range of other sensors—including humidity, temperature and audio—to enhance environmental perception. The Lumentum 10 W flood illuminator module incorporates a high-performance, three-junction vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) array for ToF 3D sensing.

The Vision-D reference design provides a platform for a range of applications in smart building automation and home security. Examples include smart PIRs for home security that are able to differentiate pets from intruders; hotel environmental and scheduling systems that can intelligently adjust the HVAC temperature in reserved rooms based on real-time occupancy; and remote monitoring of ageing parents without invading their privacy. Regardless of the location, AI algorithms running on this reference design can monitor occupants for sudden falls or medical events, intelligently and immediately triggering a request for emergency services.