VergeSense
- Julie Isebaert
- Gilles Ghyssaert
Difficulty: expert
Learning Objectives
After reading this article, you’ll be able to:
have insight in how a VergeSense sensor captures data
recognize sub-optimal situations when it comes to obtaining the best VergeSense accuracy
What is VergeSense?
The VergeSense sensors detect people’s presence, locations and numbers, and send analytics data over a secure, encrypted network connection.
The area sensors measure person count of the space(s) they are mounted above
enclosed spaces (meeting rooms)
open spaces (individual desks)
open spaces (collaboration spaces)
They produce information such as “Desk A is now occupied” or “Meeting Room B now contains 7 people”.
Since they are wireless, they are super easy to install and replace batteries (ceiling installation is magnetic or with screws).
How does it work?
It’s a non-intrusive solution – images are never stored on the sensor
The sensor uses a image processing, which is done on the sensor itself, the sensor does not store, and has no interface to extract images, so privacy is fully protected. The sensor will only transmit the analytics data to the cloud management system.
What is the impact of the VergeSense sensor technology on existing wireless infrastructure in the office?
VergeSense sensors in a building with other WiFi devices has zero impact to the users or the other devices. This has been tested in attached coexistence analysis:
How often is data captured?
Because image processing demands a lot of resources, VergeSense has optimized the battery-use by including a PIR (Passive Infra-Red) sensor, next to the optical sensor.
Presence detection and count starts when the PIR sensor is triggered.
When presence is detected, the data is uploaded into the Workplace Cloud and updated every 2 minutes for wireless sensors.
The sensor goes in battery saving mode overnight and over the weekend.
How is VergeSense data reflected in Workplace Live Views?
Decay Configuration options
Perhaps you would want to indicate in Workplace Live Occupancy View that if a Desk sensor has been triggered, the location is occupied for at least 2 more hours, so that colleagues and guests can go to lunch or drop by a meeting without having to fear that someone is clearing out their workplace? But at the same time you want to indicate that a meeting room has freed up as quickly as possible, so that it turns green (“available”/”not occupied”) and people can recognize this at a glance?
The Workplace back-end Studio configuration options have you covered: per room category, both the icon and the decay timer can be modified.
Knowing that VergeSense data is processed every 2 minutes and allowing for some glitches, the timer can be set to anything higher than 5 minutes (5min being the minimum).
VergeSense Accuracy
VergeSense provides highly accurate data on Presence detection, yet some factors might impact people detection:
Make sure lights are turned on/there is enough daylight. It should not be too dark in the room
Nothing should be blocking the sensor detection area
items might be suspended from the ceiling (eg HVAC or light fixtures)
items might be too high and block visibility (eg high back chairs or office screens)
Reflections in windows (might be avoided by restricting count area in the configuration)
Installation needs to be level (not tilted)
Installation location: make sure to verify measurements (height + length/width) in the config platform
Find more information on
A Single Platform for Occupancy Intelligence | VergeSense
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