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Data Acquisition in Real Life

ManlyMansNegator

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I am developing a system which greatly easies the use of Data from people counters , colloquially known as people counters.The system will take me around 3 months of prototyping and eventually (The fun part) giving it to the market.To motivate me i will give a semi detailed explanation of how i am going!


Initial , gut check!

I have surfed the web by throwing my idea into forums such as reddit , facebook etc The idea was met favourably however the niche pushed towards nightclubs more than retail.This will be interesting but i t supports my premise of NEED.
 
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jon.M

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With people counters, do you mean some kind of sensor that counts people who enter a store? Something like this?

GroupCount.gif

People Counter | People Counting System | SenSource Inc.

What kind of feedback did you get that supports your premise of NEED? Did people say it would be cool, helpful or beneficial? Who are they? Did they say "I want this"? Does that mean they are, in the end, actually willing to hand over their money to you?

Could you sell it NOW?
 

ManlyMansNegator

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With people counters, do you mean some kind of sensor that counts people who enter a store? Something like this?

GroupCount.gif

People Counter | People Counting System | SenSource Inc.

What kind of feedback did you get that supports your premise of NEED? Did people say it would be cool, helpful or beneficial? Who are they? Did they say "I want this"? Does that mean they are, in the end, actually willing to hand over their money to you?

Could you sell it NOW?
There is a market and a few competing systems.i have found most lack in user friendly design, my skew factor will essentially be to connect up to an online database and make a graphical format for customers entering or leaving the store.

I work occasionally at my dads shop and am a pseudo accountant, i hated the lack of customer analytics so i thought of this solution.The people i asked mostly linked it to a problem they had in sectors of retail,nightclubs, museums etc.

For example one user said they had to manually count customers due to common errors with dodgy machinery.If i had my hands on what i envision i would be able to sell it.
 

George Appiah

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I recently implemented a Social Wi-Fi (aka WiFi marketing) system for a restaurant here in Accra, and this system had a people counter (sort of) built in.

OK, it's not the traditional people counter, and it doesn't count the number of people who cross a line like @jon.M's post.

Called Presence Analytics, this one uses Wi-Fi technology to count foot traffic -- ie Wi-Fi devices crisscrossing the coverage area of an access point.

Of course, it can only count people with smartphones and their Wi-Fi turned on (they don't need to connect to the venue's Wi-Fi network -- the Wi-Fi radio just has to be turned on, so it's totally passive tracking).

But the big advantage is that the mobile device's unique MAC address is tracked, which makes it possible to track and count repeat visits. The system can even estimate the human traffic passing in front of the restaurant (but not entering) from the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurements.

Combine this with the social data gleaned from the people who actually connect to the restaurant's Wi-Fi network using their social media accounts -- and you have a very powerful (but very creepy) personalized campaign and retargeting machine.

Awesome times for marketers, terrible times for personal privacy!
 
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AgainstAllOdds

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Alibaba is huge into this and providing all the Chinese mom and pop shops the tech for free/dirt cheap.

Make sure your product fills a need and can be competitive.
 

ManlyMansNegator

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I recently implemented a Social Wi-Fi (aka WiFi marketing) system for a restaurant here in Accra, and this system had a people counter (sort of) built in.

OK, it's not the traditional people counter, and it doesn't count the number of people who cross a line like @jon.M's post.

Called Presence Analytics, this one uses Wi-Fi technology to count foot traffic -- ie Wi-Fi devices crisscrossing the coverage area of an access point.

Of course, it can only count people with smartphones and their Wi-Fi turned on (they don't need to connect to the venue's Wi-Fi network -- the Wi-Fi radio just has to be turned on, so it's totally passive tracking).

But the big advantage is that the mobile device's unique MAC address is tracked, which makes it possible to track and count repeat visits. The system can even estimate the human traffic passing in front of the restaurant (but not entering) from the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurements.

Combine this with the social data gleaned from the people who actually connect to the restaurant's Wi-Fi network using their social media accounts -- and you have a very powerful (but very creepy) personalized campaign and retargeting machine.

Awesome times for marketers, terrible times for personal privacy!
This would be great to gauge out repeat customers.
 

ManlyMansNegator

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Alibaba is huge into this and providing all the Chinese mom and pop shops the tech for free/dirt cheap.

Make sure your product fills a need and can be competitive.
Isnt Ali Baba mostly China Based?
 
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ManlyMansNegator

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Luck?

i believe i just got some of that.Went to a nearby electronics to acquire experimental goods(Wi-Fi shield and upgrade arduino board).After asking the store clerk vehemently on the difference between laurel and Yun Wifi shields a passerby over heard me.After acquiring the goods i strolled out into the heated sun only to be approached a balding man with a smiling face.

He began asking me about my project and apparently ran a hackathon within my city , government sponsored, he invited me to go join the free system and use the equipment that is installed there.An entrepreneur himself he was building a counter system for government tracks (currently use pressure sensors , extremely expensive).


How lucky was I to meet someone who had such connections, all because i was conscious about a wifi shield.
or was i?


"Shallow people believe in luck and in circumstances; Strong people believe in cause and effect." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

ManlyMansNegator

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Have been experimenting with my wifi shields etc, i dont know but i think i fried my 80$ Arduino YUN wifi shield lmao(i could hear the money burn).

Now that i understand i can connect to the wifi properly I will continue incorporating a wifi shield + simple IR Beam Breaker to gather data. The only question i have is would it be better to use an IR break beam sensor then an IR passive tracker.

The latter allows me to detect any movement at all. However, after experimenting this has the added cost of simply trying to limit to an area, essentially recreating a beam breaker. Any advice here.

Furthermore, do any engineer or Arduino hobbyists know if we can create wifi shield PCB replaceable. That is, how we can implement a wifi output device.

Also would it be more efficient if I simply built a prototype on a breadboard then hire and a designer to create a "package".Would help me get into contact with manufacturers and focus on them.


Cheers.
 
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ManlyMansNegator

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After Constant experimentation and frying countless microcontrollers. I have hit a break. i met a university "hobbyist group" which had set me straight on some discrepancies i have had. Firstly they explained i wasted 110$ on a local store , they told me to go acquire a refund and buy equipment from them for 5$ instead of 80$. There I met students of the highest caliber, God the knowledge was beautiful. One student, a quasi-social recluse has built more inventions in his spare time than I can count. Another was an advanced computer programmer who could code anything you ask him. Anyone who is in the university should make sure that they take advantage fo the greatest resource given to us on Earth... people., but I digress.


I have concocted a final plan for the system, i will use an ESP to send data online to a firebase database. From there I shall transfer information to my webpage, using already built libraries i shall implement graphical design whilst constantly uploading my code to a private GitHub Repository.For the device , i will use an already built sensing system and improve it.

Onwards.
 

ManlyMansNegator

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Update ------ 20 Oct 2018

Tonight was extremely enjoyable, I have finally been able to connect my ESP8266 wifi module to the internet. It felt awesome when I entered one into my firebase database on my computer only for the LED on my breadboard to light up!

Now that I have confirmed wifi functionality, the next step will be the designing and implementation of my database onto a website. After fully completing my website I can buy an existing sensor and plonk my wifi module onto it. The website will be the real grind as my design skills are rudimentary!

Also just want to add, this whole just "doing it" system helps you learn much more quickly!
Onwards!
 

ManlyMansNegator

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Got abit off track, im going to return back to the struggle.

EDIT :

Ok finally outputted info from firebase onto a webpage.So far i can now:

- Send data online to a database
- ouput that data to a webpage from the database
- need to begin using design software , most likely outsource, to transform that data into graphs!

Going to make a new thread for outsourcing!
 
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Last edited:

Leo Hendrix

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Have you looked at beacons, BLE devices, NFC and maybe IOT?

Maybe you can learn something useful from their to utilize.
 

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