Labs Idea #8: Presence Detection with Thermopile Infrared (IR) Sensor

Author: Sensirion Innovations Team
January 2018
Motivation/Summary
Low power infrared (IR) sensors enable presence detection of users in front of smartphone or computer displays.
A visible light camera or other components can be awakened upon detection of the presence of a user or other suitable actions may be taken.
Approach/Measurement
Sensirion's thermal flow sensor technology can be used as thermopile based infrared sensor with on-chip signal conditioning and digital output.
Using the thermopile IR sensor without a lens enables a large field of view for easy person detection (figure 1).

The thermopile infrared sensor shows a clear output signal compared to an IR reference (figure 2).

Implementation
Sensirion does not sell thermopile IR sensors as a product.
However, the digital SMD CMOSens chip of Sensirion's CO2 sensor would be well suited for IR based person detection applications.
Patent Information
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