Cuont up and down

Joe Schissler · 2012-04-11 14:36

We have one door in and one door out of the store room. I need to count the number of people going in and then out. I've looked at all the books etc. But still see no evidence of this type of counting. If you can't guess i'm a noobe. I have some electronic experience. Would like someone to point me in the right direction. I AM USING A BS2 AND PROX SENSORS
Thank you

ElectricAye · 2012-04-11 14:51

Hi Joe,

welcome to the forum. What sort of prox sensors are you using?
Keep in mind that counting the number of times the door opens and closes does not necessarily reflect the number of bodies moving in and out. Does it matter to you if people open the door but don't enter, then let the door close? Will it matter much to you if the door is opened and two or three people move through it at one time? These are the kinds of things you will need to think about.

Leon · 2012-04-11 14:52

It's very difficult to do that accurately. I designed the first version of this people counter which would do what you want:

http://www.irisys.co.uk/people-counting/

It's rather expensive, though.

ElectricAye · 2012-04-11 15:38

Leon, I wonder if a similar system could be kluged from a Kinect sensor?

LoopyByteloose · 2012-04-12 00:13

You actually might be better with a couple of floor mat senors than proximity sensors. The proximity sensors generally presume that people would have to line up and wait their turn to enter or exit. Unless you actually impose a turnstile, people will always muddle ahead in rather unpredictiable ways. Beside this, determining actual direction is problematic. For instance, what if a person gets to the door's threshold and decides to turn around and not enter?

Having two sensor systems that confirm their independent counts is likely even better. PIRs track body heat and are another likely way to count people if they are well posistioned.

Joe Schissler · 2012-04-12 05:29

Joe Schissler wrote: »

We have one door in and one door out of the store room. I need to count the number of people going in and then out. I've looked at all the books etc. But still see no evidence of this type of counting. If you can't guess i'm a noobe. I have some electronic experience. Would like someone to point me in the right direction. I AM USING A BS2 . Actually we have a turnstyle . My problem is the program. I can't get it to work on the benchtop. I've tryed many different configurations and no luck.
Thank you

ElectricAye · 2012-04-12 06:36

Joe Schissler wrote: »

... Actually we have a turnstyle . My problem is the program. I can't get it to work on the benchtop....

Hi Joe,

Do you have any idea how the switch system inside the turnstile is set up?

You should post your code so we know what you're doing. See the link below for how to use CODE tags.

attachment.php?attachmentid=78421&d=1297987572

Joe Schissler · 2012-04-12 08:16

the sensors are microswitches on a cam system one on the in door and one on the out door.

ElectricAye · 2012-04-12 09:37

Joe Schissler wrote: »

the sensors are microswitches on a cam system one on the in door and one on the out door.

Okay, so if you look on page 133 of the Basic Stamp manual (version 2.1), you'll find a command called Button. Have a look at that and you should be able to figure out how to wire up the microswitches using this sort of schematic.

If that does not work, then it's probably your software, which you will need to post.

I'm guessing your turnstiles are not powered in any way, correct? You want your switches to operate on only the power you provide to them via your BS2 circuitry.

skylight · 2012-04-12 09:38

Have two sensors on each door one before and one after and have logic that ignores the second sensor if the first hasn't been triggered and only counts up or down if both sensors on a door have been triggered.in the correct order,otherwise it sets an alarm flag to state that someone has tried to trick the system.

Joe Schissler · 2012-04-12 10:43

' {$STAMP BS2}
' {$PBASIC 2.5}

counter VAR Byte 'declares "counter"
DEBUG "Programme Running..."
DEBUG "COUNTER"
PIN 8 INPUT
PIN 9 INPUT
FOR counter = 1 TO 150
PIN 8 COUNTS UP 'counts up when switch is closed. "in"
PIN 9 COUNTS DOWN 'counts down when switch is closed. "out"
NEXT

ElectricAye · 2012-04-12 11:22

Joe,

have a look at Chapter 3 of this free download, What's a Microcontroller?

www.parallax.com/Portals/0/Downloads/.../28123-WAM-v3.0.pdf

It will teach you how to wire up the switches and get variables to record your counts, etc. I'm no expert on the Basic Stamp, but right now I can't understand how your code is supposed to work.
What you want to do with the turnstile is fairly simple, so don't get discouraged. You just need to read Chapter 3, I think.

I hope that helps.

Joe Schissler · 2012-04-12 13:32

ok got that. Now how do I add in the counter

' What's a Microcontroller - PushbuttonControlOfTwoLeds.bs2
' Blink P14 LED if P3 pushbutton is pressed, and blink P15 LED if
' P4 pushbutton is pressed.
' {$STAMP BS2}
' {$PBASIC 2.5}

PAUSE 1000
DO
DEBUG HOME
DEBUG ? IN4
DEBUG ? IN3
IF (IN3 = 1) AND (IN4 = 1) THEN
HIGH 14
HIGH 15
PAUSE 50
ELSEIF (IN3 = 1) THEN
HIGH 14
PAUSE 50
ELSEIF (IN4 = 1) THEN
HIGH 15
PAUSE 50
ELSE
PAUSE 50
ENDIF
LOW 14
LOW 15
PAUSE 50
LOOP

ElectricAye · 2012-04-12 14:24

I'm away from my junk, so I can't test this. But I think something like this ought to work
Note that the program will wait about 1 second after a switch is tripped so it won't credit thousands of people entering just because the microswitch is in a high state on each loop.
In other words, people have one second to get through the turnstile, otherwise it will rack up more counts than it should.
But do you need to consider what will happen if somebody is entering at the same time somebody else is exiting? That would be a problem with this code.

' {$STAMP BS2}
' {$PBASIC 2.5}

Counter VAR Word

DO 'Begin the Do Loop...

  DEBUG HOME
  DEBUG Dec Counter
  IF (IN3 = 1)  THEN 'People are going into the warehouse.
    Counter = Counter + 1
    PAUSE 1000  'Debounce the switch
  ENDIF

  IF (IN4 = 1)  THEN 'People are exiting the warehouse.
    Counter = Counter - 1
    PAUSE 1000  'Debounce the switch
  ENDIF

LOOP

END

Joe Schissler · 2012-04-13 06:38

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH . i WAS GOING NUTS ABOUT THIS. MY WIFE THOUGHT I WAS NUTS . I PLUGED THE PROGRAM IN AND RAN IT .I SEE THE ONLY PROBLEM IS IF BOTH SWITCHES ARE CLOSED AT THE SAME TIME.
THANKS AGAIN
JOE

ElectricAye · 2012-04-13 08:28

Joe Schissler wrote: »

....I SEE THE ONLY PROBLEM IS IF BOTH SWITCHES ARE CLOSED AT THE SAME TIME.
...

Hi Joe,

Yes, that's a problem. I confess it's been a long time since I've done much with the Basic Stamp (I normally work with the Propeller chip), so perhaps somebody can suggest an easy way to work around that problem. I know there is a BUTTON command, but I don't know if it can overcome this problem. Another thing you might need to play with is the pause time given for "debouncing" your turnstile switch. Pause 1000 gives you 1 second to get through the turnstile, but you might find that's not enough time. So you might want to make it Pause 2000 for 2 seconds, or something else to make it work right.

I'm glad you're making progress with it.

jmg · 2012-04-13 13:15

You might prefer to edge-activate the counter, and a saturating counter also avoids embarrassing numbers...
(not tested)

' {$STAMP BS2}
' {$PBASIC 2.5}

Counter VAR Word
Last_IN3 VAR bit
Last_IN4 VAR bit
DebDly CON 20      ' reduce this until it double counts, then x5 


Last_IN3 = IN3
Last_IN4 = IN4

DO 'Begin the Do Loop...

  DEBUG HOME
  DEBUG Dec Counter
  IF (IN3 = 1) AND (Last_IN3=0)  THEN   '  SW _/=   People are going into the warehouse.
    Counter = Counter + 1
    PAUSE  DebDly     ' Debounce the switch - can now be much shorter
  ENDIF
  Last_IN3 = IN3

  IF (IN4 &/ Last_IN4)   THEN '  SW _/=  People are exiting the warehouse.
    IF Counter > 0 THEN 
       Counter = Counter - 1   ' Saturating counter, spin the exit to clear to zero..correct any creepage.
    ENDIF
    PAUSE  DebDly  ' Debounce the switch
  ENDIF
  Last_IN4 = IN4

LOOP

END

I see there is an AND NOT operator (&/), so I added that example for IN4, and the statements
(IN3 = 1) AND (Last_IN3=0)
and
(IN4 &/ Last_IN4)
could be tested to see which is smaller/faster (Or you can nest two IF statements & test that too )

Joe Schissler · 2012-04-13 17:34

Thanks!! I'll give it a try and play with it .
Joe

Joe Schissler · 2012-04-13 18:54

It counts up and down. But counting down from 10 it shows 90,80,70,60,50,40,30,20,10,00. Why is it keeping the extra 0? EVEN WHEN IT REACHES 0, OR IF YOU RESET IT?

jmg · 2012-04-13 19:09

Joe Schissler wrote: »

It counts up and down. But counting down from 10 it shows 90,80,70,60,50,40,30,20,10,00. Why is it keeping the extra 0? EVEN WHEN IT REACHES 0, OR IF YOU RESET IT?

Does it do the same on Count UP ? ( and does it stop at 0, as expected ?)
What happens as you vary the constant DebDly ?

ElectricAye · 2012-04-13 19:29

Is it possible that you need a DEBUG CLS command to clear all the old numbers so the new numbers don't overwrite the old and leave on the 0 from the previous display?

.
.
.
DEBUG HOME
DEBUG CLS
DEBUG DEC COUNTER
.
.
.

Joe Schissler · 2012-04-14 03:44

How do I do the math ??
' {$STAMP BS2}
' {$PBASIC 2.5}
'Two counters one for people entering and one for leaving.
'The difference "C" is the number of people in the store
CounterA VAR Byte 'People entering store
CounterB VAR Byte 'People leaving store
C VAR Byte 'People in store
DO

DEBUG HOME

DEBUG DEC CounterA, CR
DEBUG DEC COUNTERB, CR
DEBUG DEC C 'People in store
IF (IN3 = 1) THEN
CounterA = CounterA + 1 'People entering store
PAUSE 200
ENDIF
IF (IN4 = 1) THEN
CounterB = CounterB + 1 'People leaving store
PAUSE 200
ENDIF

LOOP

END

ElectricAye · 2012-04-14 06:00

Joe Schissler wrote: »

How do I do the math ??...

CounterC = CounterA - CounterB

DEBUG DEC CounterC 'People in store

Joe,

just so you know, there's a forum here dedicated to just the Basic Stamp. Right now you are in the General Discussion forum.
If you're working with the Basic Stamp, then feel free to post questions at the Basic Stamp forum, too: http://forums.parallax.com/forumdisplay.php?48-BASIC-Stamp

Did you ever solve your problem with your unit apparently counting by 10's .. 10, 20, 30...? Or did the "clear screen" command, DEBUG CLS, solve your problem?

Joe Schissler · 2012-04-14 06:45

cls solved the problem
thanks a million
Joe

Cuont up and down

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