SENSOR SBIR/STTR | DE FOA 0001738

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - SENSOR SBIR/STTR (ARPA-E)

What is the SENSOR SBIR/STTR opportunity?

SENSOR (Saving Energy Nationwide in Structures with Occupancy Recognition) is an ARPA-E SBIR/STTR funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Energy focused on reducing building energy waste by improving how HVAC systems respond to real human occupancy. The goal is to move beyond crude proxies (like fixed schedules or simple motion detection) and instead use sensors that can reliably detect true presence or count occupants in a defined zone.

Who is the funding agency behind SENSOR?

The opportunity is issued by ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy), part of the U.S. Department of Energy.

What problem is SENSOR trying to solve?

Buildings often waste energy because heating, cooling, and ventilation are controlled using incomplete signals such as time-of-day schedules or motion sensors that do not reliably reflect real occupancy. SENSOR targets sensor-driven HVAC control that reflects actual human presence (residential) and real people counts (commercial), enabling smarter setbacks and ventilation control while maintaining comfort and indoor air quality.

What are the program performance goals?

The core performance target described is about a 30 percent reduction in HVAC (heating and cooling) energy use:

• Residential: approximately 30 percent reduction by using sensors that accurately determine occupied vs. unoccupied (true presence, not just motion), enabling automatic temperature setbacks when nobody is home.
• Commercial: approximately 30 percent reduction by using reliable people-counting within predefined HVAC zones to support both temperature setbacks and ventilation setbacks based on real demand.

Is this basic research or applied R&D?

The work is framed as applied research and development. The emphasis is on building and improving prototypes, demonstrating performance, and validating solutions in realistic settings. It is not positioned as basic research.

Why is ARPA-E involved in this area?

ARPA-E is targeting technologies that are still too early and too risky for typical private investment, but that could be market-disruptive if proven. The program is looking for approaches that can plausibly be manufactured at competitive cost, deployed at scale, and widely adopted.

What types of technologies does the FOA focus on?

The FOA describes four main technical focus areas:

1. Residential human presence sensors that output a simple occupied/unoccupied signal.
2. Commercial people-counting sensors that provide an occupant count for a defined HVAC zone.
3. Low-cost, stable, easily deployable CO2 sensors to support demand-controlled ventilation and broader ventilation setback adoption.
4. Real-world testing and validation (lab/quasi-real and field deployments) across the above technologies throughout the project period.

What does ARPA-E mean by "true presence" in residential buildings?

In this program context, "true presence" means determining whether a home is actually occupied, rather than relying on indirect or error-prone signals such as motion detection alone. The desired sensor output is a clear occupied/unoccupied signal that home controls or thermostats can use for automatic setbacks.

What does SENSOR mean by "people counting" in commercial buildings?

For commercial buildings, the FOA focuses on sensors that can provide an actual occupant count for a defined zone (aligned to HVAC zoning). This count is intended to enable temperature setbacks and ventilation setbacks that track real demand.

How do people-counting sensors translate into energy savings in commercial buildings?

The idea is to reduce outside air intake and conditioning loads when spaces are lightly used, while still maintaining comfort and indoor air quality when spaces are busy. If the building reliably knows how many people are present in an HVAC zone, it can better match ventilation and temperature control to real occupancy rather than worst-case assumptions or static schedules.

Why are CO2 sensors included as a focus area?

CO2 sensing can support demand-controlled ventilation strategies and can be important for enabling ventilation setbacks in commercial environments. The FOA specifically calls for CO2 sensors that are low-cost, stable over time, and easily deployable.

What makes a sensor approach "adoptable" under SENSOR?

ARPA-E emphasizes that meaningful savings depend on sensor systems being accurate, dependable over time, inexpensive enough for broad deployment, and low in failure rate. If sensors are unreliable, drift over time, or cost too much to install and maintain, building owners and integrators are unlikely to adopt them.

What kinds of real-world conditions are solutions expected to handle?

Competitive projects are expected to be robust under messy, real building conditions, including variations such as different room layouts, occlusions, temperature gradients, pets, changing lighting, and other confounders that can cause false positives/negatives or inaccurate counts.

Does the program expect prototype demonstration and field testing?

Yes. A dedicated focus area is real-world testing and validation, including controlled laboratory or quasi-real environments and actual field deployments throughout the project period. The intent is to prove performance under real conditions and to identify adoption barriers early.

Do applicants need to reinvent building controls to apply?

The program notes that much of the downstream building infrastructure already exists (such as thermostats, building automation controls, and variable air volume systems) and could use improved sensor inputs with only modest modifications. This framing suggests applicants are expected to focus on sensing breakthroughs, integration pathways, and proof of value rather than rebuilding entire HVAC control stacks from scratch.

What kinds of integration pathways are relevant?

Based on the FOA description, relevant integration pathways include interfacing new sensors with existing thermostats, home controls, building automation systems, and zone-level HVAC equipment (including variable air volume systems), with an emphasis on modest modifications rather than wholesale replacement.

What adoption barriers should proposals address?

The opportunity highlights several barriers that applicants are expected to address directly, including installation complexity, maintenance needs, calibration drift, privacy and acceptability concerns (especially for occupancy detection and counting), interoperability with existing building systems, and evidence that sensor outputs translate into measurable HVAC savings without sacrificing occupant comfort.

Are privacy concerns relevant to this program?

Yes. The description explicitly notes privacy and acceptability concerns as important adoption barriers, particularly for technologies that detect occupancy or count people.

Who is eligible to apply?

This is an SBIR/STTR opportunity aimed at small businesses.

What type of award instrument is described?

The opportunity is described as a discretionary cooperative agreement issued under ARPA-E authorities.

What is the FOA number and CFDA listing?

The FOA number is DE-FOA-0001738, and it is listed under CFDA 81.135.

How many awards were anticipated, and what was the funding ceiling?

The listing anticipated around five awards, with a stated award ceiling of $3,225,000.

What were the posting and closing dates in the provided listing?

The posting date shown is January 18, 2017, and the original closing date shown is March 17, 2017. ARPA-E encouraged concept paper submissions at least 48 hours before the deadline.

How were submissions required to be submitted?

Submissions were required through ARPA-E eXCHANGE and were not accepted through other channels. The full FOA and submission guidance were available on ARPA-E's funding portal.

What would a competitive SENSOR project typically propose?

Based on the description provided, a competitive project would typically propose a sensor approach that can distinguish true human presence (residential) or accurately count people (commercial) robustly across real building conditions, demonstrate low-power operation suitable for widespread deployment, and present a credible path to low unit cost and long-term reliability. Strong proposals would also show how sensor outputs translate into measurable HVAC energy savings without sacrificing comfort, while directly addressing adoption barriers such as installation, maintenance, drift, privacy, and interoperability.

Why does the program care about low power and wireless communications?

The rationale notes that advances in low-power consumer electronics and wireless communications can be leveraged to create a new class of occupancy and indoor sensing that is both better and cheaper than typical building sensor systems today. This supports the goal of scalable, broad deployment.

What is the difference between residential and commercial SENSOR approaches in this FOA?

Residential approaches emphasize a simple, reliable occupied/unoccupied signal to drive thermostat or home-control setbacks. Commercial approaches emphasize reliable people counting within predefined HVAC zones to enable both temperature and ventilation setbacks aligned to real occupancy demand.