Methods and systems for determining the available storage capacity of an enclosed space

A storage monitoring system, comprising:

• one or more light sources configured to generate near-visible light, wherein the near-visible light includes electromagnetic radiation within an infrared spectrum or an ultraviolet spectrum, and wherein:
• each of the light sources are located at a respective source position within a physical volume of a storage space;
• and
• the generated near-visible light is radiated by one of the one or more light sources from the source position associated with the respective light source;
• one or more light sensors configured to obtain one or more intensity measurements of the radiated near-visible light illuminating the one or more light sensors, wherein:
• each of the one or more light sensors are located at a respective sensor position within the physical volume of the storage space;
• and
• the source positions of the one or more light sources and the sensor positions of the one or more light sensors are located relative to one another such that the radiated near-visible light propagates through the physical volume of the storage space before illuminating the one or more light sensors;
• and
• a controller connected to the one or more light sources and the one or more light sensors, wherein:
• the controller is configured to determine occupancy information indicating an amount of the physical volume of the storage space occupied by physical objects by:
• determining for each of the one or more intensity measurements, an amount of dimming for an associated light source-light sensor pair based on a difference between the respective intensity measurement and a corresponding predefined baseline intensity measurement associated with a same source-light sensor pair;
• determining, for each light source-light sensor pair, if attenuation information for the light source-light sensor pair exceeds a threshold amount of attenuation;
• and
• calculating the amount of the physical volume of the storage space occupied by physical objects based on a total physical volume associated with light source-light sensor pairs that exceed the threshold amount of attenuation divided by a total physical volume of all the light source-light sensor pairs;
• and
• each of the one or more predefined baseline intensity measurements are associated with an expected measurement of the intensity of near-visible light for a given pair of radiating source position and measuring sensor position.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to monitor a storage space by:

• radiating near-visible light from one or more respective source positions within a physical volume of a storage space, wherein the near-visible light includes electromagnetic radiation within an infrared spectrum or an ultraviolet spectrum;
• evaluating the near-visible light radiated from the one or more source positions to obtain one or more intensity measurements of said near-visible light,
• wherein:
• each of the one or more intensity measurements of the near-visible light radiated from the one or more source positions are from an assessment of an intensity of near-visible light radiating from a respective source position being received at a respective sensor position of one or more sensor positions within the physical volume of the storage space;
• and
• the one or more source positions and the one or more sensor positions are located relative to one another such that the radiated near-visible light propagates through the physical volume of the storage space before the intensities of the near-visible light are assessed;
• and
• determining occupancy information indicating an amount of the physical volume of the storage space occupied by physical objects by:
• determining for each of the one or more intensity measurements, an amount of dimming for an associated light source-light sensor pair based on a difference between the respective intensity measurement and a corresponding predefined baseline intensity measurement associated with a same source-light sensor pair;
• determining, for each light source-light sensor pair, if attenuation information for the light source-light sensor pair exceeds a threshold amount of attenuation;
• and
• calculating the amount of the physical volume of the storage space occupied by physical objects based on a total physical volume associated with light source-light sensor pairs that exceed the threshold amount of attenuation divided by a total physical volume of all the light source-light sensor pairs, wherein each of the one or more predefined baseline intensity measurements are associated with an expected measurement of the intensity of near-visible light for a given pair of radiating source position and measuring sensor position.