PIR probability model for a cost/reliability tradeoff unobtrusive indoor monitoring system

PIR (Pyroelectric InfraRed) sensors can be used to detect the presence of humans without the need for them to wear any device. By construction, the fields of view of the sensors are not uniform both in terms of vision space and of sensitivity. The aim of this work is twofold: to provide a probabilistic model of the sensors’ detection sensitivity with respect to the movement of the person and of his/her emission surface, and to identify the probability of detection within an area covered by multiple PIR sensors. This allows the computation of the coverage of the PIRs and their optimal arrangement that maximizes the probability of detection of the person.