Hybrid Fusion: Patented Signal & Time-of-Flight Sensing
People Counting System for Visitor Analytics
Go beyond basic people counting. Ariadne's Hybrid Fusion people counting technology combines Time-of-Flight depth sensing with our patented signal sensor to deliver real-time footfall, occupancy, dwell time, and flow insights—without video cameras, or facial recognition.
99%
Optimal Precision
Hybrid Fusion Technology
Patented Phone Signal Sensing plus Depth-based validation (Time-of-Flight). Dual-verification improves stability in dense crowds and complex layouts while enabling multi-zone journey insights.
Flow (Journey Analytics)
Flow in people counting maps how visitors move between zones. It reveals the most common paths, bottlenecks, and cross-shopping journeys across a facility.
- Measure visitor journeys across zones and floors (not just door counts).
- Identify congestion points and optimize layouts using flow analytics.
- Compare flow patterns by hour, day, campaign, or store configuration.
- Improve queue management by spotting where movement slows down.
Hybrid People Counting
What Is People Counting?
People counting (also called footfall counting) is the automated measurement of visitor traffic and in-building behavior across stores, airports, and smart buildings. It helps teams quantify footfall, monitor occupancy, measure dwell time, and connect traffic to KPIs like conversion rate and queue performance.
Why Hybrid People Counting Beats Single-Sensor Systems
Many systems rely on a single method like cameras, beams, or standalone 3D sensors, making them vulnerable to occlusion, complex layouts, or dense crowds. Ariadne uses Hybrid Fusion: Time‑of‑Flight depth sensing provides device-independent counting at key choke points, while our patented signal sensor adds continuity for multi-zone insights and journey analytics across the facility.
The result is a practical digital twin of movement: validated entrance counts plus continuous zone-level insights for staffing, safety, and experience optimization. You can measure flow, occupancy, dwell time, and conversion-related KPIs with GDPR-safe analytics.
Enterprise People Counting System
People Counting Features That Drive Profit
Ariadne's Hybrid Fusion technology turns raw footfall into decision-grade analytics. By combining Time-of-Flight precision with signal-based journey mapping, we deliver the market's most complete view of visitor behavior—from entry to purchase.
+12%
Conversion Rate
People Counting for Conversion
Calculate true capture rates and traffic-to-sales conversion. Connect people counting data directly to POS transactions to identify abandonment points and improve performance by zone and hour.
-15%
Labor Costs
Staff Exclusion & Queue Management
Stop overstaffing. Automatically filter staff from your footfall counts to ensure 100% accuracy. Use predictive occupancy insights to align schedules with peaks, reducing queue wait times.
100%
Journey Visibility
Zone Analytics & Flow Heatmaps
Visualize traffic patterns, journeys, and congestion zones. Measure dwell time and flow by zone to understand which displays create engagement and how visitors move through your facility.
ESG
Efficiency Gains
Real-Time Occupancy (ESG)
Leverage live occupancy signals to optimize HVAC and lighting. Reduce energy waste by conditioning spaces based on actual usage while ensuring safety compliance with capacity alerts.
24/7
Compliance
Privacy-First, GDPR-Focused
Designed for strict privacy standards: no stored video footage and no facial recognition. Our system uses depth events and anonymous signals to produce aggregated operational insights.
API
Data Integration
Automated Reports & API
Export people counting data directly to your BI tools. Schedule automated reports or use our API to merge offline traffic stats with your existing marketing and operational dashboards.
Deploy Hybrid Fusion People Counting
Get a custom floor-plan simulation and ROI analysis, then validate accuracy with a short pilot.
Annonymous People Counting
How Ariadne's People Counting Works
Our proprietary technology bridges the gap between physical movement and digital insights, leveraging patented signal processing to deliver sub-meter accuracy without ever identifying a single individual.
Signal-Based Presence Detection
Phones broadcast 'presence signals' searching for connections. Ariadne’s patented sensors detect these anonymous signals to track movement across multiple zones and floors without requiring apps or Wi-Fi logins.
Real-Time Anonymization
Unlike camera systems, we never store video or facial data. Ariadne instantly de-identifies and breaks down signal hardware IDs at the point of detection, ensuring that no personal identifier ever reaches our servers. These signals are then encrypted and aggregated into people counting metrics, ensuring 100% GDPR compliance from the first second.
Hybrid Data Fusion
We synchronize Time-of-Flight (ToF) laser sensors for high-precision entry counting with signal-based zone tracking for interior journey mapping. By fusing these datasets, Ariadne eliminates signal noise and fluctuations, providing the most robust people counting accuracy even in ultra-dense retail or airport environments.
Optimal Accuracy
People Counting Accuracy you can explain to stakeholders
Ariadne People Counting delivers up to 99% accuracy in optimal conditions and typically 95%+ depending on environment, layout, density, and calibration. Hybrid Fusion improves robustness by combining Time-of-Flight counting precision with signal-based continuity, helping maintain consistent people counting across entrances and zones.
Enterprise Ecosystem
Seamless People Counting Integrations
Streamline your retail intelligence by connecting Ariadne's high-precision people counting data with your existing tech stack. Sync real-time occupancy and visitor analytics with BI tools, ERP systems, and marketing automation via our robust API and native cloud exports.
People Counting Technology Comparison
2026 People Counting Technologies Compared: Why Hybrid Fusion Wins
A people counting system is only valuable if it's accurate, privacy-safe, and actionable. Most technologies force a trade-off: accurate door counts (3D sensors) OR journey analytics (signal/Wi‑Fi methods) OR operational simplicity (beams).
Hybrid Fusion People Counting (Ariadne)
RecommendedPros: Best-of-both: ToF validates true people counts at choke points while Ariadne's patented signal sensing adds continuity for multi-zone journeys. Measures footfall, occupancy, dwell, flow, queues, and supports staff exclusion.
Cons: No Cons
Time-of-Flight (ToF) People Counting
Pros: Strong privacy-by-design option for people counting at entrances. Depth sensing works in low light and can avoid capturing identifiable images.
Cons: Primarily line-crossing / entrance metrics. Limited journey analytics across multiple zones without an additional tracking layer.
3D Stereoscopic Video (Active Stereo)
Pros: Stereo depth reduces false counts from shadows and improves separation vs. monocular video in complex scenes.
Cons: Still camera-based, increasing privacy/compliance burden and often requiring more tuning/infrastructure than ToF.
mmWave Radar (Presence / Occupancy)
Pros: Excellent presence detection (even micro-movements) and works in darkness. Strong choice when the KPI is 'is anyone here?'
Cons: Harder to separate individuals in dense crowds. Typically not the best fit for decision-grade entrance people counting.
Monocular AI Video (2D)
Pros: Can reuse existing CCTV and add visual verification / classification.
Cons: Accuracy is sensitive to lighting, occlusion, and camera angle. Capturing identifiable people on video increases GDPR obligations and governance overhead.
Fisheye Cameras (360°)
Pros: Wide field-of-view with overhead mounting can reduce occlusions and support heatmaps.
Cons: Radial distortion makes detection/tracking harder; high accuracy often requires distortion-aware models, careful calibration, and sometimes multiple cameras.
Wi-Fi / Bluetooth Device Counting
Pros: Can estimate recurrence and dwell over larger areas than a single doorway.
Cons: Counts devices, not people (phones may be absent/off). Wi-Fi tracking often involves personal data under GDPR and needs careful legal + technical controls.
Active Infrared (Break-Beam)
Pros: Simple and low-cost way to do basic people counting at a narrow entrance.
Cons: Side-by-side/group entries collapse into a single count. Limited analytics beyond basic in/out totals.
Technology | Accuracy | Privacy | Install | Best For | Pros & Cons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hybrid Fusion People Counting (Ariadne)Recommended | Up to 99% (typically 95%+) | Privacy-first (Very High)GDPR Safe | Fast | Airports, Large Retail, Malls, Smart Cities, Complex Layouts | Pros: Best-of-both: ToF validates true people counts at choke points while Ariadne's patented signal sensing adds continuity for multi-zone journeys. Measures footfall, occupancy, dwell, flow, queues, and supports staff exclusion. Cons: No Cons |
| Time-of-Flight (ToF) People Counting | 98-99.5% (entrance counting) | High (depth data, not RGB video)GDPR Safe | Fast | Standard Entrances, Doors, Corridors | Pros: Strong privacy-by-design option for people counting at entrances. Depth sensing works in low light and can avoid capturing identifiable images. Cons: Primarily line-crossing / entrance metrics. Limited journey analytics across multiple zones without an additional tracking layer. |
| 3D Stereoscopic Video (Active Stereo) | 70-99%+ (deployment dependent) | Medium (camera-based) | Cery Complicated | High Ceilings, Busy Entrances | Pros: Stereo depth reduces false counts from shadows and improves separation vs. monocular video in complex scenes. Cons: Still camera-based, increasing privacy/compliance burden and often requiring more tuning/infrastructure than ToF. |
| mmWave Radar (Presence / Occupancy) | Great for occupancy; moderate for headcounts | Very High (no images)GDPR Safe | Fast | Washrooms, Meeting Rooms, HVAC Occupancy | Pros: Excellent presence detection (even micro-movements) and works in darkness. Strong choice when the KPI is 'is anyone here?' Cons: Harder to separate individuals in dense crowds. Typically not the best fit for decision-grade entrance people counting. |
| Monocular AI Video (2D) | 85-95% (scene dependent) | Low-Medium (video processing) | Slow | Security + Basic People Counting | Pros: Can reuse existing CCTV and add visual verification / classification. Cons: Accuracy is sensitive to lighting, occlusion, and camera angle. Capturing identifiable people on video increases GDPR obligations and governance overhead. |
| Fisheye Cameras (360°) | Trend-level (varies widely) | Low-Medium (video) | Slow | Open Floors, Large Spaces (with specialist tuning) | Pros: Wide field-of-view with overhead mounting can reduce occlusions and support heatmaps. Cons: Radial distortion makes detection/tracking harder; high accuracy often requires distortion-aware models, careful calibration, and sometimes multiple cameras. |
| Wi-Fi / Bluetooth Device Counting | Sample-based (not absolute footfall) | Low-Medium (device identifiers) | Fast | Recurrence & Dwell (in compliant setups) | Pros: Can estimate recurrence and dwell over larger areas than a single doorway. Cons: Counts devices, not people (phones may be absent/off). Wi-Fi tracking often involves personal data under GDPR and needs careful legal + technical controls. |
| Active Infrared (Break-Beam) | 80-95% (depends on doorway + flow) | HighGDPR Safe | Fast | Single Door, Low-Traffic Entrances | Pros: Simple and low-cost way to do basic people counting at a narrow entrance. Cons: Side-by-side/group entries collapse into a single count. Limited analytics beyond basic in/out totals. |
Why Hybrid Fusion Is Built for Decision-Grade People Counting
Most people counting technologies excel in one area and fall short in another: ToF-only sensors can be highly accurate at entrances, but they don't connect a visitor's journey across multiple zones. Signal/Wi-Fi methods can show movement patterns, but they're often sample-based and add privacy/compliance complexity. Ariadne's Hybrid Fusion solves the trade-off by using Time‑of‑Flight to validate the true headcount at key choke points, while patented signal sensing adds continuity for full journey analytics (flow, dwell, cross-shopping) across zones and floors.
Privacy-First People Counting: Depth Events vs Video vs Wi-Fi Tracking
Camera-based people counting can be effective, but video of identifiable people is personal data and increases GDPR obligations and operational overhead. Wi‑Fi tracking can also process personal data (including location/trajectory data) depending on how it's implemented. Depth-based ToF people counting reduces privacy risk by relying on depth information rather than RGB video. Ariadne goes further by avoiding stored video and applying real-time de-identification at the point of detection, producing aggregated people counting metrics designed for privacy-first deployments.
Where mmWave Radar Fits (and Where It Doesn't)
mmWave radar is excellent for presence and occupancy because it detects very fine motion—even when people sit still. But for accurate entrance people counting in dense foot traffic, optical depth sensors typically provide clearer separation and validation. Use mmWave when the KPI is room occupancy (washrooms, meeting rooms, energy automation), and use ToF or Hybrid Fusion when you need decision-grade people counts plus operational KPIs like dwell, flow, and queues.
Industries
Retail Stores
- Track footfall and capture rate to understand street-to-store performance.
- Optimize staffing and reduce queues during peak hours.
- Identify top- and under-performing zones with dwell and flow analytics.
- Measure conversion impact of merchandising and layout changes.
- Standardize traffic and KPI reporting across locations.
Airports & Transportation Hubs
- Monitor passenger flow to reduce congestion.
- Improve staffing at check-in, security, and gates.
- Measure dwell time and queue performance by zone.
- Support safety operations with real-time occupancy insights.
- Benchmark performance across terminals and time periods.
Smart Cities & Public Spaces
- Measure pedestrian footfall and density for planning.
- Monitor crowd flow during public events.
- Detect congestion points and improve routing.
- Support safety planning with occupancy insights.
- Track changes over time with consistent reporting.
Shopping Centres & Retail
- Measure footfall by corridor and anchor to optimize tenant strategies.
- Track flow between wings and zones to identify high-value paths.
- Identify peak hours by area for promotions and staffing.
- Analyze dwell time in food courts and event spaces.
- Evaluate campaigns with zone-level performance data.
