Microcontroller-Based Seat Occupancy Detection and Classification

Abstract

This paper presents a microcontroller-based measurement system to detect and confirm the presence of a subject in a chair. The system relies on a single Force Sensing Resistor (FSR), which may be arranged in the seat or backrest of the chair, that undergoes a sudden resistance change when a subject/object is seated/placed over the chair. In order to distinguish between a subject and an inanimate object, the system also monitors small-signal variations of the FSR resistance caused by respiration. These resistance variations are then directly measured by a low-cost general-purpose microcontroller without using either an analogue processing stage or an analogue-to-digital converter, thus resulting in a low-cost, low-power, compact design solution.