ICT and Environmental MonitoringMr ContiICT in Society

Why Monitor Environments?

All kinds of environments can be monitored for different reasons: people who work indoors will be more productive

if the room is at a comfortable temperature and the air is neither too dry nor too humid

they will be safer if the building has fire and intruder alarms

rivers and soil can be monitored to check for pollution

public buildings need to monitor how many people are inside them in case of emergencies

greenhouses and industrial processes often need controlled levels of temperature, moisture or acidity.

Starter Task On the next slide you are going to see a

Network server room.

What needs to be monitored in this server room?

Write down 6 things you can see which require monitoring.

Network Server Room

Sounding the AlarmSensors are located in or around the server room. Each sensor monitors a different condition,

e.g. temperature, humidity, smoke, floodwater, mains power etc.

When the condition crosses a set threshold, the output state changes to abnormal.

That triggers an alert, which could be an alarm sounding or a message sent to a mobile phone to tell someone there is a problem.

Some sensors, like smoke alarms, have a fixed threshold. Others, like temperature, can be set by the user.

Network Server Room

Shopping CentresModern shopping centres monitor their environment very carefully. They need to know: how many cars are in the car parks how many people are in each part of the

centre whether the temperature and humidity

levels are comfortable for shoppers. They also need to be able to respond

quickly in emergencies such as fires, because there are a lot of people in an enclosed space.

The Bullring CentreThe Bullring Centre in Birmingham opened in 2003 at a cost of over £500 million. It controls: 3,100 car parking spaces 140 shops and 110,000 square metres of retail space. On its opening day it had 276,600

visitors.

People TrackingTracking people as they move around shopping centres is important for many reasons: measuring how successful the centre is mapping the routes people take; this helps

to plan which shops and attractions go where

finding out how long visitors stay making sure the visitor numbers aren’t too

high for safety. The path of shoppers inside a store can be

tracked by fitting sensors to each trolley or basket.

People Tracking The traditional way of counting

people was to use a light beam sensor and count how many times it was broken.

The traditional way of counting people was to use a light beam sensor and count how many times it was broken.

Infra-red sensors mounted above each entrance can count how many people go through and which way they turn.

Did you know that………Most people getting off an escalator turn left?

GreenhousesCommercial food growers need to be able to control the climate that their crops grow in.They can control: temperature: using heat sensors that

turn heaters on and off or open air vents the moisture of the soil: watering

systems can be turned on and off by moisture sensors

the amount of light the plants receive: lighting can be turned on or off, or blinds lowered or raised either by timers or light sensors

the humidity: if the air is too dry, water can be sprayed into it.

Sensors and thresholdsThresholds are limits which trigger certain actions.Imagine a particular plant grows best between 20 and 25°C. The heater would be controlled like this:

Switch on heater

Temperature below 20oC ?

Temperature above 25oC ?

Yes

NoIs heater on ?

Switch off heaterNo

Yes No

Yes

Start To ventilation system

Plenary All kinds of environments can be controlled

for different reasons. Sensors can be used to monitor different

conditions including light, temperature, humidity, smoke, floodwater and mains power.

Certain sensors have a fixed threshold, others can be set by the user.

Crossing the threshold triggers an alert. The alert can be auditory (for example,

sounding an alarm) or visual (for example, a message on a screen), or it can make an event occur (for example, opening a vent or turning sprinklers on).