A human detection method f or residential smart energy systems based on Zigbee RSSI changes

The paper presents a novel method for human detection that is applied to the automatic control of home appliances' power consumption. The method uses a wireless smart outlets network and changes of received signal strength indicator (RSSI) between stationary communication nodes (2.4 GHz smart outlets). The main idea is to monitor the changes of RSSI which violate the established radio communication field between nodes inside a room, due to a human's presence. When a person enters into the established radio communication field, he/she induces the change of RSSI which is periodically read during the message exchange between wireless nodes. Based on the detected changes with regard to the initial thresholds, the system detects human presence and responds with the automatic control of power consumption of all appliances connected to the power network. Such an approach increases users' awareness by contributing to the energy savings and low installation costs.