People Counting without a Camera
How many people have entered the room, and how many are in it right now? EnOcean wireless sensors answer these questions without a camera and without images – with a counter above the door or a sensor on the ceiling, connected to the building automation or your application.
Why count people
Four usesThree methods compared
Door, ceiling, camera| Door counter | Ceiling sensor | 3D / video camera | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is measured | entries and exits at the door | people present in an area | people in the camera’s view |
| Images | none (PIR sensor) | none (time of flight + thermal sensors) | yes |
| Power | 2 AA batteries, EnOcean radio | PoE, USB or 12 to 60 V DC | usually PoE or mains |
| Mounting | above the door, corridor side, adhesive pad | on the ceiling, two screws or two magnets | on the ceiling or above the entrance |
| Accuracy | typically 80 to 95 % | counts the people present directly, no accumulated errors | high, depending on the system |
| Best for | rooms with one or more doors, retrofit without cabling | open spaces and areas without a door | shop entrances, high footfall |
| At DEUTA Controls | EnoSense® People Counter (battery) and EnoSense® People Counter PRO (time of flight, PoE) | EnoSense® Presence Count | — |
Accuracy: what matters
And how to secure itThe accuracy of the EnoSense® People Counter door sensor is typically between 80 and 95 %. It depends mainly on how people pass through the door: people walking side by side, or a door wider than the detection area (about 1 m), lower the result.
Because the sensor counts passages, a small error can add up over the day. The remedy is simple: a motion detector in the room, such as the EnoSense® PIR Ceiling. If it detects no motion for a set time – 20 minutes, for example – the counter is reset to zero. The empty room is thus detected reliably, for example to release a booking.
A room with several doors gets one counter per door. Each sends a continuous count value (0 to 255); the application calculates the actual number of people from it.
Installation
What to plan forEnoSense® People Counter
- Above the door, on the corridor side, on the door frame
- Typical mounting height: 2.4 m
- Detection width: approx. 1.0 m; detection area approx. 0.5 m in front of and 0.2 m behind the sensor
- Fixed with the supplied double-sided adhesive pad on a cleaned surface
- Housing in black, white or beige to match the frame
- One radio telegram per passage
EnoSense® Presence Count
- On the ceiling, fixed with two screws or two magnets and a mounting plate
- Power from the rear: PoE, USB or 12 to 60 V DC
- Covers a rectangular area
- New value at the latest 40 s after a change, otherwise every 5 minutes (adjustable)
From the sensor to your system
Four stepsFrequently asked questions
5 questionsIs people counting without a camera GDPR-compliant?
The sensors take no images and transmit only count values, no data that would identify a person. Assessing the processing is up to the party responsible for the building; we are happy to provide the technical description.
How many sensors does a room with two doors need?
One door counter per door. The application adds the values. For an area without a door, a ceiling sensor is the better fit.
How accurate is a people counting sensor?
For the EnoSense® People Counter door sensor, typically 80 to 95 %. A motion detector that resets the counter in the empty room corrects deviations over the day.
Do cables have to be run?
Not for the door counter: it runs on batteries and uses radio. The ceiling sensor needs power (PoE, USB or 12 to 60 V DC). The EnoDisc® receivers are connected via PoE.
How does the data reach the building automation?
The VL-700 BASE gateway receives the telegrams via the EnoDisc® receivers and passes the values on as JSON via MQTT or via Modbus TCP.
As of October 2026. Values from the device data sheets.
Plan your people counting
Tell us how many rooms, doors and open spaces you want to equip – we will put together the sensors, receivers and gateway for you, with the tender texts.