Retail stores can perform accurate counting of people to manage store capacity for social distancing using technology from California-based Quanergy Systems, a provider of lidar sensors and smart perception products.
 
The Qortex people counter delivers over 98% accuracy from pitch dark or indoor to very bright lighting conditions in full sunlight. Its detection accuracy is comparable with traditional camera-based products and, as an integral part of Quanergy’s Flow Management platform, it is suitable for outdoor smart space applications.
 
By accurately and anonymously capturing individual movements, the people counter provides insights about the flow and number of people in retail stores, public transportation centres, stadiums, venues and more.
 
As well as counting people to manage store capacity, retailers can more easily determine employee staffing and resource management as well as increase conversion rate by accurately measuring crowd size and customer footfall. This version can integrate with the Genetec occupancy management package so retailers can maintain maximum occupancy in their shops and businesses can manage shared workspaces occupancy.
 
“Around the world, occupancy management is a top priority for businesses and public agencies to limit the risk of Covid-19 transmission as they reopen,” said Christian Chenard-Lemire, intelligent mobility leader at Genetec. “Our all-in-one occupancy management package integrated with Quanergy’s lidar-based S3-2 Qortex people counter provides high accuracy in counting and measuring population density in an area. This gives safety and security operators the information they need to quickly take action in compliance with occupancy guidelines and help ensure customer health and safety.”
 
It can also automate the counting of passengers on public transport to maintain maximum capacity for social distancing. Its S3-2 cmos solid-state sensor technology provides reliability in high vibration locations such as at the doors of trains, metros and buses, enabling officials to count more accurately the number of people entering or exiting the vehicles.
 
As it operates in any lighting conditions, indoor and outdoor, operators can count large crowds while guaranteeing privacy, to control access to common areas and benefit from more efficient staff resource management.
 
“As sports stadiums, retail stores and public transportation move towards re-opening their doors and welcoming back fans and shoppers, their ability to monitor and analyse crowd density and identify situations that will require immediate actions is paramount in the wake of today’s Covid-19 pandemic,” said Enzo Signore, chief marketing officer at Quanergy. “Our new people counter incorporates lidar and advanced perception software to provide accurate, actionable data for management of people and crowd flows in smart buildings and commercial retail locations.”
 
It provides constant people counting accuracy irrespective of the environmental lighting conditions. The version allows smart spaces to use it indoors as well as outdoors at night or in very bright lighting, up to 80,000 lux. Also, its performance is unaffected by shadows or other variable lighting that impact the performance of traditional camera-systems, and therefore it provides accurate and reliable measurement throughout the day.
 
The Qortex SensorFusion functionality accurately fuses data from up to eight sensors to cover openings and doors of virtually any width.
 
The patent-pending perception software doesn’t use facial recognition technology nor requires the storing of any personally identifiable information to protect individual privacy.
 
The solid-state sensor provides electronic beam steering without any moving parts, thus offering immunity to vibration and over 100,000 hours MTBF, or over ten years.
 
The technology can also be adapted to automate a broad range of additional industrial and smart city applications, such as containers, crates and vehicle counting.
 
As part of the Quanergy Flow Management platform, it can be combined with not only the current M8 mid-range version but also the MQ-8 long-range unit, also just announced, to provide end-to-end flow management across entire airports, malls, stadiums, factories, data centres and corporate buildings.
 
Quanergy Systems was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.