Stumbled across this, looks pretty neat and if the claims are true, a simple firmware update brings the motion sensing to existing ZigBee devices without additional hardware. Seems you can set “zones” plotted out by ZigBee devices.
What are your thoughts on this?
One thing I noticed in my reading is that it appears to suffer from the same challenge a PIR does. If you sit still the system stops sensing you. So it’s fine as long as there is motion, but if you sit down (or go to bed) the system will say nobody is there. The article I was reading even said the mmWave sensors were a better choice when you need to sense a body that isn’t moving around much.
So maybe it could be used kind of like PIR is now, pir as main motion detection with mmwave for still/target left zone logic? Reduces hardware and if we can get the ZigBee stack working for esphome (with sensify libs), could strategically place esp32-h2/c6 type boards for the sensify “zones/areas” which also have mmwave. So you could plot out a zone with light bulbs, switches etc. add one esp32-h2/c6 for mmwave and other sensors.
Might all be a pipedream though, just thought it was interesting.
From what I read, you need three Zigbee devices in every room that are spread out so that the system can do triangulation. This will probably be fine for someone who has a bunch of Zigbee devices in a room already. If you’re starting from nothing, a single device doing PIR and mmWave would do what you’d need at least three devices to do with the new Zigbee system (assuming one of the three Zigbee devices is also mmWave).
This feels like a niche solution for someone who has a ton of Zigbee devices but nowhere to stick a PIR and needs motion detection but not presence detection.
Yes I agree it is a bit niche, it’s more of a gimmick and I just want to see how well it performs. I guess just explore some of the more new technology.
You are absolutely correct about just putting 1 esp with a pir and mmwave.
Bumped into this too, and my usecase would be mostly non-residential rooms but hallways and storage rooms etc. Places where you would go in-n-out. In my case I should have more then enough devices, however they are never nicely distributed on one plane on all sides of the place of possible movement. Plenty of triangles can be drawn though 