Motivation

The EnergyPlus Room Simulator tool, can support research and practice in building-related tasks such as energy optimization or occupancy detection on a room-level. In Weber et al. 2020, the authors discuss an approach to use deep learning algorithms to detect presence in a room. They propose that an approach which combines real-world data and simulation data can reduce the required real-world training data by half, and in the same time contribute to a more robust model. This tool can provide an arbitrarily large amount of simulation data for this purpose, and it offers users without in-depth technical knowledge towards EnergyPlus to conduct and even automate simulations.

Deep learning approach for occupancy detection (Weber et al. 2020)