The idea behind the Kanary Wing was simple but ambitious: create a low-cost, battery-powered sensor platform that could count people or measure distance with high reliability, all while integrating seamlessly into the Kanary® ecosystem.
From the beginning, the team knew the challenge would be about finding the right balance, between cost and energy efficiency, precision and practicality. What emerged is a flexible, compact, and hugely capable sensor platform that not only strengthens Kanary’s infection-prevention mission but also opens new possibilities well-beyond hand hygiene.
From Concept to Challenge
“The idea was to have a device that could be used as a people counter or for distance measuring,” explains David Issler, one of the lead hardware engineers on the project. “We designed a main board that could take multiple sensor boards–like time-of-flight sensors for distance measurement or passive-infrared (PIR) sensors for people counting. The idea was to make it expandable for the future.”
However, cost quickly became a defining constraint. “For the Wing product, the main challenge was price,” says David. “We wanted to offer something affordable but still reliable. Competing products existed, but not at our target price point. It’s always a trade-off – cheaper components often consume more power, while low-power components usually cost more. Finding that balance was a huge challenge.”
The team also faced a technical limitation: the Wing had to run on battery power. That single decision shaped almost every design choice that followed.
“There aren’t many people-counting devices on the market that are battery powered,” David continues. “It restricted which sensors we could use. We ended up with a PIR sensor–the same type used in motion-activated lights–but we had to configure it in a completely different way to count people reliably. Using two sensors at different angles helped us detect both the presence and direction of movement.”
Engineering Within Limits
On the firmware side, Daniel Zimmerman from the Swiss engineering team faced a similar balancing act. “We’re building on our low-cost smart platform, so we can’t just pick any microcontroller we like,” he says. “We decided to use the same controller that powers our touchless dispensers. That meant making a lot of firmware adjustments to support something completely different.”
The advantage of this approach was platform consistency, something Daniel sees as critical for long-term development efficiency. “If we keep the same platform across products, it’s easier for everyone—hardware, software, production—to collaborate. But it also means we have to be clever with how we use its limited resources.”
One of the key technical breakthroughs was figuring out how to run advanced functions on a microcontroller with limited memory and power. “We could have used a resource-hungry algorithm,” Daniel notes, “but it simply wouldn’t run on the chosen hardware. So, we had to write a very efficient, lightweight algorithm that could still make the most of the sensor data we collect.”
To preserve battery life, Daniel and his team pushed as much processing as possible onto the smaller low-power processor, only waking the main controller, if absolutely necessary, for Wi-Fi or Bluetooth communication. “That’s a big part of the challenge, finding smart ways to move functionality around so we can still hit the performance targets.”
Building on Kanary’s Smart Foundation
From a software perspective, Josh Geurts, who leads the Kanary integration efforts, sees Wing as a major step forward for both the hardware and the broader ecosystem.
“The new time-of-flight sensor is a big leap,” he says. “The old sensor we used in SanTRAL® Plus had an external battery pack, making it harder to integrate into a wide range of products. Now, we’ve come to a much smaller form factor that works better and can even be retrofitted into existing dispensers—a win-win.”
For Kanary, the implications are substantial. “The people counter is a huge boost to the software,” Josh explains. “Without it, we could only estimate compliance rates based on averages—how many patient-visits a room might have, for example. But now, we can correlate hand-hygiene data with actual human activity. That’s incredibly valuable for infection prevention.”
The Wing also allows for new data insights, such as room occupancy trends or visitor flow analysis. Features that will further strengthen Kanary’s analytics capabilities.
“We can now detect when someone enters or exits a room,” Josh continues. “That lets us provide real data on how spaces are being used, not just hand-hygiene compliance. It’s a huge step forward.”
Practical Applications and Real-World Impact
In practical terms, the Kanary Wing’s flexibility means it can be used in many different settings.
“One option,” David suggests, “is installing it in front of public restrooms. You could estimate when to clean based on how many people walk by, helping optimize cleaning schedules and resource use.”
But the possibilities go well beyond that. As Josh puts it: “What I imagined was a generic IoT platform. You could use it in a library, under desks to tell if a seat is occupied, or in a parking garage to monitor spaces. The same technology could automate lighting or HVAC systems based on room activity. Why can’t we connect all these things and let customers build their own smart systems through our software?”
While this kind of application extends beyond Ophardt’s traditional infection-prevention mission, the scalability is undeniable. “It’s easy to see the potential,” Josh says. “Wing gives us a bridge to entirely new markets while strengthening our core business.”
Designed for the Future
For Hendrik Ophardt, who helped define the overall product architecture, the key strength of Kanary Wing is its flexibility. “We can put almost any sensor on it,” he explains. “That makes it a future-proof platform for all kinds of sensor-based applications.”
That flexibility, combined with the shared smart platform, power efficiency, and deep integration into Kanary – makes Wing not just another sensor, but a foundation for what comes next.
As Hendrik summarizes “We wanted to make something modular, scalable, and efficient. A product that can grow as we grow.”
Summary
The Kanary Wing embodies the spirit of innovation that defines OPHARDT: tackling complex engineering problems with creativity, precision, and collaboration. From balancing cost and power to developing custom algorithms within tight hardware limits, the Wing team turned constraints into breeding grounds for innovation.
Now, as it connects to Kanary and begins to collect real-world data, the true impact of Wing is just beginning to unfold, one smart signal at a time.
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