The present disclosure relates generally to detection systems, and more particularly to a motion detection system used with a power conservation system.
Lighting systems may provide the ability to reduce power consumption by, for example, turning the lighting system off, dimming the lighting components, and/or a variety of other power consumption techniques known in the art. For example, the IntelliDimmer® lighting system available from the assignee of the present disclosure, IntelliSwitch, S.A. de C.V. of Monterey, Mexico, provides a lighting system that is configured to dim the lamps of the lighting system in response to ambient light and/or detected motion. The IntelliDimmer® lighting system and similar systems may provide for energy conservation by reducing the power consumed when ambient light is sufficient and/or when the lighting system is not being used. For example, such a lighting system may reduce the power consumed by its lamps by reducing the illumination levels of the lamps by approximately 50% when no motion is detected near the lighting system. If motion is detected near the lighting system, the lighting system may then determine the ambient light condition to increase the illumination levels of the lamp up to 100% if the ambient light condition is below a predetermined level. As the ambient light condition changes (e.g., increases), the illumination level of the lamps in the lighting system may be reduced to optimize power consumption while providing a desired level of illumination. The detection of motion near the lighting system using conventional motion detection systems raises a number of issues.
Conventional motion detection systems typically may include two types of sensor devices. The first type of sensor device is a wall-mounted sensor device that includes a single sensor that provides detection coverage about a horizontal plane. Such wall-mounted sensor devices typically include a detection coverage angle of approximately 160 degrees about that horizontal plane. The second type of sensor device is a ceiling-mounted sensor device that includes a single sensor that provides detection coverage about a vertical plane. Such ceiling-mounted sensor devices typically include a detection coverage angle of approximately 160 degrees about that vertical plane. Furthermore, both wall-mounted and ceiling-mounted sensor devices suffer from the limitation that their ability to detect motion decreases at the edges of their detection coverage ranges (e.g., as the motion occurs near the 0 degree and 160 degree angle to the sensor that is located at the 80 degree point in the range.) Thus, convention detection systems require several sensor devices (wall-mounted sensor devices and ceiling-mounted sensor devices) in order to provide full coverage over any desired area (e.g., 360 degrees about a horizontal plane and 180 degrees below that horizontal plane), which increases the cost of implementing the detection system.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved detection system.