Amazon (Global Engineering, Maintenance & Sustainability)

Occupancy-Based Control (OBC) Prototype for HVAC Systems Using IoT Sensors

This student team designed and prototyped an Occupancy-Based Control (OBC) strategy for commercial building HVAC systems, addressing the limitation of fixed airflow and CO₂-based demand-controlled ventilation approaches that may not reflect true real-time occupancy. The design integrated commercial IoT presence and occupant-counting sensors with a mock building management system (BMS) to dynamically reset zone-level ventilation setpoints for spaces such as offices and break rooms served by HVAC configurations such as single-zone rooftop units or variable air volume systems. The prototype included a control concept, system architecture, simulated performance analysis, and a dashboard for viewing occupancy signals and ventilation setpoints. Lab and testbed evaluation focused on estimating potential energy savings, assessing indoor air quality performance against ASHRAE 62.1 ventilation requirements, and outlining how the approach could scale to commercial building applications without field deployment or custom sensor development.