Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. The Challenge of Social Distancing in Buildings and Public Spaces
- 3. How LiDAR Enables People Flow Management for Social Distancing
- 4. Case Study – Quanergy's Flow Management Platform and QORTEX in Action
- 5. Key Benefits & Features: Anonymous Tracking, Occupancy Monitoring, Thermal Integration
- 6. Implementation Considerations & Best Practices for Buildings, Airports, Retail
- 7. Conclusion
LiDAR Social Distancing Solution for Buildings: How Quanergy Enables Safe Return to Work
December 2024
10 min read
Introduction
Ensuring safe social distancing in buildings and public spaces is now one of the most critical challenges for businesses, airports, retail venues and governments.
A LiDAR social distancing solution for buildings offers a powerful way to monitor occupancy, measure interpersonal distances and issue alerts when thresholds are breached; without infringing on personal privacy.
In this article we'll explore how LiDAR technology (specifically the Flow Management™ Platform from Quanergy) supports the safe return to work, shopping and travel.
Our thesis: By combining 3D LiDAR sensors with AI-powered perception software, building operators can proactively manage people flow and occupancy, help enforce distancing protocols and restore confidence in shared spaces.
The Challenge of Social Distancing in Buildings and Public Spaces
The global COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of maintaining physical distance between individuals in indoor environments; be it offices, warehouses, retail stores, airports or transportation hubs.
Manual monitoring (staff with tally counters, visual checks) is labour intensive, error-prone and hard to scale. According to industry commentary, reliable monitoring of both the number of people in an area (occupancy) and the physical distance between individuals is crucial for safe re-opening of public facilities.
For building operators, the key tasks include: tracking people entering/exiting, measuring flow in real time, detecting overcrowding or clustering, and generating alerts in near-real-time. Traditional camera systems raise privacy concerns, produce large data volumes and may struggle with occlusions or low-light.
This creates a demand for new sensing solutions that are accurate, scalable and privacy-respecting.
How LiDAR Enables People Flow Management for Social Distancing
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology works by emitting laser pulses and measuring the time of flight to construct a 3D map or "point cloud" of the environment. As a result, LiDAR can detect the positions, distances and movements of people in a space in real time.
In the case of one leading solution, Quanergy's Flow Management Platform (which includes QORTEX™ perception software) uses LiDAR sensors to anonymously and accurately track people flows, count occupancy, measure distances between individuals and issue alerts when social-distancing thresholds are breached.
Examples of how LiDAR helps:
Measuring interpersonal distance: the system can detect when the gap between individuals drops below a set value (e.g., 1.5–2 metres) and trigger an alert.
Occupancy control: by counting people entering/exiting zones and maintaining occupancy limits in real time.
Complex environments: LiDAR is less reliant on ambient lighting and able to handle challenging conditions (dark, glare, busy scenes) with high accuracy; one vendor claims 95–98% accuracy even in varying lighting.
Privacy-respecting: Since LiDAR captures point clouds rather than facial images, it avoids many of the privacy concerns associated with video-based monitoring.
In short, LiDAR provides a robust sensor layer for flow management, especially relevant in the era of social distancing protocols.
Case Study – Quanergy's Flow Management Platform and QORTEX in Action
The platform provided by Quanergy offers a modular hardware/software suite: LiDAR sensors (M-Series and S-Series) combined with the QORTEX perception software, capable of detecting, tracking and classifying people in real time.
The solution was adapted for the COVID-19 era to enforce social distancing; termed social-distancing solutions built on the Flow Management Platform.
Real-world deployment scenarios include:
Airports: monitoring passenger flows, detecting clustering at security, bag drops or boarding gates.
Retail stores: tracking people flows, controlling occupancy and spotting areas where people congregate too closely.
Industrial warehouses and commercial buildings: supervising large open indoor spaces, controlling density and alerting staff when zones exceed permissible counts.
Moreover, Quanergy states that the solution can integrate with thermal cameras to elevate individuals with high body temperature and initiate alerts; supporting a layered approach to pandemic-related health safety.
Quanergy also partners globally (Quantum Labs in Australia, iCENT in Korea, CRON in India, Axone in France, inside in USA) to deploy these solutions worldwide. This case shows how a LiDAR-based flow management system helps organisations manage social-distance in real time, with data-driven alerts and less dependence on manual labour.
Key Benefits & Features: Anonymous Tracking, Occupancy Monitoring, Thermal Integration
A LiDAR social-distancing solution for buildings offers several significant benefits:
Accuracy and coverage: High-accuracy sensing, with some sensors covering up to 15,000 m² with a single unit and reducing reliance on numerous cameras.
Privacy-friendly: Since no identifying facial imagery is captured, the system avoids many privacy pitfalls associated with video-surveillance.
Real-time alerts and analytics: The platform can immediately issue alerts when distances between individuals shrink below thresholds or occupancy limits are exceeded; enabling proactive response.
Integration with thermal detection: Combining LiDAR with thermal cameras allows not only spatial analysis but also health-related alerts (e.g., elevated body temperature) in sensitive public venues.
Versatility across applications: Suitable for retail, public venues, airports, industrial warehouses, commercial and government buildings; thereby helping wide-scale return-to-work efforts.
These features make LiDAR flow-management systems a compelling choice for organisations seeking robust, scalable, privacy-respecting social-distancing enforcement.
Implementation Considerations & Best Practices for Buildings, Airports, Retail
While LiDAR social-distancing solutions bring strong capability, practical implementation demands careful planning:
Sensor placement & coverage: Ensure sensors are positioned to avoid occlusions (columns, partitions), cover entry/exit points and high-traffic zones, and overlap fields of view for reliability.
Calibration and thresholds: Set appropriate distance thresholds (e.g., 1.5 m, 2 m) and occupancy limits aligned with local regulations or organisational policy.
Integration with existing systems: The LiDAR platform should integrate with building management systems (BMS), security dashboards, thermal cameras and alerting workflows.
Data privacy and compliance: Ensure the system complies with privacy laws; since LiDAR doesn't capture facial data it simplifies compliance but still demands data-governance oversight.
Staff workflows & response mechanisms: Alerts must trigger actionable responses (e.g., dispatching staff, opening additional entry/exit lanes, pausing flows), not simply deliver passive information.
Scalability & maintenance: Choose hardware and software that scale across multiple zones/buildings, offer remote management and minimal maintenance.
By addressing these considerations, building owners, airport operators and retail chain managers can deploy LiDAR-based flow-management systems that support safe occupancy, distancing and operational continuity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a LiDAR social distancing solution for buildings offers a forward-thinking, data-driven way to monitor occupancy, manage people flow, enforce distancing and enhance safety in shared indoor spaces.
Quanergy's Flow Management Platform and QORTEX perception software spotlight how LiDAR can support the safe return to work, retail and travel.
If you're seeking a reliable way to manage social-distances in your building, airport or warehouse, now is the time to evaluate LiDAR-based solutions: engage a specialist integrator, model required sensor coverage and build your response workflow around the alerts and analytics.