Identification

Fixture Close
Identification
Sinks (27 in 10 homes) 98.1% 95.1%
Toilets (14 in 10 homes) 98.7% 97.5%
Showers (8 in 8 homes) 95.5% 89.4%
Bathtubs (3 in 3 homes) 100% 100%
Clothes Washer (2 in 2 homes) 100% 100%
Dishwasher (1 in 1 home) 100% N/A
Figure 8: A different view of the results, showing accuracy
of identification of individual fixtures by fixture type.
Home Fixture Open
Identification
Fixture Close
Identification
H1 (12 valves) 100% 100%
H2 (8 valves) 96.4% 100%
H3 (6 valves) 100% 100%
H4 (5 valves) 96.2% 100%
H5 (9 valves) 100% 100%
H6 (8 valves) 100% 90.0%
H7 (8 valves) 100% 100%
H8 (6 valves) 100% 97.1%
H9 (7 valves) 97.1% 97.1%
H10 (7 valves) 97.1% 77.1%
Aggregate 98.9% 96.8%
97.9%
Figure 7: In a cross-validation test of the robustness of
learned model parameters across multiple homes, our
template-based classification enables identification of the
individual fixtures associated with valve open and valve
close events with aggregate 97.9% accuracy.
Figure 8 presents a different view on the same data,
showing the accuracy of fixture-level classification for
different types of fixtures across homes. Our overall
fixture-level classification across all homes is above 90%,
including a number of cases where classification accuracy
is 100%. All of these results are equal to or better than prior
results by Fogarty et al. using microphone-based sensors
[7]. Of particular note is our ability to reliably distinguish
among different sinks within a home, as Fogarty et al.
found that their microphone-based sensors did not capture
enough information to reliably make this distinction. Our
dataset contains only a few instances of clothes washer or
dishwater use, in part due to time constraints during data
collection and in part because Fogarty et al. found these
fixtures can be easily recognized by their structured cycles
of water usage (an approach that can be combined with
ours). However, we note that our approach is independent
of the number of fill cycles (important if a dishwasher is
sometimes run with a pre-rinse cycle) and allows
recognition as soon as these appliances first use water
(in contrast to being able to recognize them only after their
pattern of fill cycles becomes apparent).
ANALYSIS OF FLOW ESTIMATION
As previously discussed, the volumetric flow rate Q is
proportional to the change in pressure P divided by a
resistance variable Rf (Q = P / Rf). We calculate the
change in pressure P by measuring the difference between
the pressure at the onset of a detected valve open event to
the stabilized pressure at the end of the segmented valve
open pressure wave impulse. The resistance variable Rf
cannot be directly measured, so we ins