Bidirectional Visitor Counter – Arduino Project 6

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Bidirectional visitor counter is one of the most useful and important application based project which can be made using Arduino.

Bidirectional Visitor counters are most commonly used at Mall, stadium or event entrances to count the footfall of the people entering or exiting the place.

It can also be used for automation by controlling the appliances on the basis of no. of people entering/exiting a location. 

This project also features in our Top 10 Minor Projects for ECE/EEE students list.

Step 1 : Components required for Bidirectional Visitor Counter

First we’ll arrange the components required for this project and we have prepared a list below. This project can be made on Arduino Uno board as well as any Arduino based development board as shown in the video. 

Step 2 : Connect the LCD & IR Sensors 

Once we have arranged the components, we’ll start connecting them as per the circuit diagram given below. Personally speaking, we prefer to connect the LCD to Arduino first and then connect any sensor or module. 

Once LCD is connected, adjust the contrast as per requirement and upload the code given below. If the connections are correct, the LCD should show a title of the project (which you can customize). 

Congratulations, you have successfully uploaded the code for Bidirectional Visitor counter. If LCD shows boxes, double check your connections for errors. 

Next you can connect the IR sensors as in the circuit diagram.

Download Codes & Circuit Diagram.  

Step 3 : Understanding the Algorithm of Bidirectional Visitor Counter 

To understand the algorithm, let’s first understand how an IR sensor work. 
IR Sensor consists of a IR LED and IR Receiver and the signal change occurs when IR Light falls on the IR Receiver.

This is based on the reflection from any non black surface. This is calibrated as presence of a person/object and count is accordingly implemented. 

Now we use flags and alternately detect whether the person is entering or exiting based on which sensor is detected first. This way we can increment or decrement the count and complete the algorithm of our Bidirectional Visitor Counter Project.