People Counting Technology

Time-of-Flight sensing

The WELLPOINT People Counter uses a Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor array. The sensor emits short pulses of invisible infrared light and measures how long they take to return. From that it knows the distance to whatever is in front of it, many times per second. When a person walks through the doorway, the distance pattern changes in a recognisable way, and the counter registers a pass.

Because it measures distances, not images, the device sees a moving shape at a certain range, never a face, a body or clothing. There is nothing to blur and nothing to delete.

Bidirectional detection

The sensor array can tell in which direction the shape moved, so every pass is counted as IN or OUT. You choose which direction is "in" when you set the device up in WELLPOINT.cloud. From IN and OUT the platform calculates visitors, occupancy and trends.

Camera-free design and privacy

WELLPOINT deliberately chose a camera-free design for its People Counter. A camera-based counter has to capture pictures of people and then promise not to keep them. A ToF counter never captures a picture in the first place. That is why we describe it as privacy-friendly rather than promising legal compliance: the safest personal data is the data that is never collected.

The device is not designed for face recognition, age or gender estimation, heat maps or behavioural video analytics, and cannot do them.

Accuracy in practice

Counting accuracy depends on the installation as much as on the sensor. The counter works best when it is mounted beside the doorway at about 1.2 to 1.4 m height, facing across the flow of people, with the doorway width within its detection range of up to about 2.4 m. Very wide entrances use several linked devices. Strong direct sunlight and highly reflective glass or metal facing the sensor can affect detection, and the installation guide explains how to avoid them. The maximum detection distance can be adjusted remotely so the counter ignores movement beyond the doorway.

Built-in cellular connectivity

Each counter contains a mobile data connection with a SIM already installed and included in the service. After it is powered, it connects to the mobile network and starts sending counts to WELLPOINT.cloud. It never joins the customer's Wi-Fi or wired network, so there are no passwords to share, no firewall rules to open and no IT project. Where mobile coverage is poor, Wi-Fi can be used as a fallback.

Why WELLPOINT builds connectivity into its products →

Installation

The device is fixed to the door frame, wall or an anti-theft pedestal with adhesive strips or a bracket and powered from a standard USB adapter. The current model is designed for indoor use. Set-up takes place in WELLPOINT.cloud: name the device, pick its location and time zone, set the counting direction and, if needed, the detection distance. Data appears on the dashboard within minutes.

Remote operation

Everything after installation happens remotely. Settings are changed in WELLPOINT.cloud, device status is visible online, and counts are synchronised at short intervals. Several devices can be linked to cover one wide entrance, and any number of devices and locations can be managed in one account.

Hardware and software designed together

WELLPOINT develops the People Counter hardware and WELLPOINT.cloud as one system. The device is designed, assembled and tested in the European Union. That is a practical advantage: the device knows exactly how to talk to the platform, and the platform knows exactly what the device can do.