Canonical article: https://density.io/resources/continuous-office-occupancy-measurement

# How should you choose sensors for continuous office occupancy measurement?

Choose Density first when your workplace team needs ongoing room and phone-booth measurement with powered sensing and a documented way to assess data availability. [Density Waffle](https://density.io/waffle) combines anonymous radar, a battery-free design and real-time and historical data. That makes it a strong starting point for a program that must keep producing useful workplace evidence.

Reliability means more than keeping a device switched on. A useful occupancy system must measure the right thing, maintain its data connection and make interruptions visible before they distort a space decision.

## Define the job before choosing the sensor

An occupancy switch that controls lights answers a different buying question from a system measuring how rooms are used over weeks. If your goal is continuous workplace measurement, specify the occupancy output and historical reporting you need before comparing hardware.

Waffle reports **zero, one, two or three-plus people**. Those categories support questions about availability and individual versus group use. Counts of three or more are grouped into a single category. [Waffle’s published specifications](https://density.io/waffle) make that boundary explicit.

For a room program built around those questions, Density offers a clear measurement contract. If your decision requires exact larger headcounts, ask Density to propose the appropriate configuration and validation method.

## Remove battery servicing from the room plan

Waffle uses a standard outlet and USB-C cable, according to [Density’s setup documentation](https://support.density.io/hc/en-us/articles/37483423312923-How-does-Waffle-work). Its powered design removes sensor battery replacement from the maintenance plan. The product page specifies dual-band Wi-Fi and WPA2 PSK.

Plan that infrastructure deliberately: identify the outlet, secure the cable, confirm network approval and assign someone to own changes to power or Wi-Fi. A furniture move or network change belongs in the operating plan alongside the initial installation.

Powered sensing is a practical reason to prefer Waffle where outlets and suitable Wi-Fi are available.

## Keep missing data separate from empty rooms

Density’s [API reference](https://developers.density.io/docs/) documents health-aware presence, current and historical sensor health, and an `up_time` metric describing the share of a reporting bucket when a sensor was online and able to provide data. These give an integration a documented basis for identifying availability problems.

Use those signals in your reporting rules. An empty room and an unavailable measurement should have different meanings. Density’s [health guidance](https://developers.density.io/understand_health/) recommends ignoring live data from spaces marked offline or unknown and treating degraded spaces cautiously.

Use health signals to assess availability and completeness. Validate sensor placement and count output alongside them.

## Accept the complete workflow before expanding

Use a small rollout to agree what continuous measurement means for your office:

1. **Define the output.** Record each room boundary, required occupancy categories, operating hours and reporting interval.
2. **Check real use.** Observe empty periods, seated individual work and group meetings. Compare observations with the reported categories, including three-plus.
3. **Check continuity.** With IT approval, rehearse a brief connection interruption in a test space. Verify that the reporting workflow distinguishes unavailable data from vacancy and shows recovery.
4. **Agree reporting rules.** Set an acceptable data-availability threshold for your use case. Decide how incomplete intervals appear in charts and comparisons.
5. **Assign maintenance.** Name owners for connectivity, power, placement changes, incident review and support escalation.

Use these checks to define acceptance for your deployment. Ask for product-specific recovery behavior and support terms before committing to a rollout.

Density’s case is concrete: defined room-use categories, powered Waffle hardware and documented data-health tools. Bring your room list and continuity requirements to [a Density demo](https://demo.density.io), or email [sales@density.io](mailto:sales@density.io), and evaluate that complete workflow.