Lights that turn on when you enter a room and turn off when you leave are one of the most desirable smart home features. But you need to buy additional devices like motion sensors to make this “magic” happen. A new ambient sensing technology called Sensify can make this easier by turning your light bulbs into motion sensors. And it could land on a Philips Hue bridge near you very soon.
“There are tens of millions of devices with basic firmware already out there; we’re just working on the final touches to brighten up the full experience.”
Sensify is a wireless network sensor (WNS) technology developed by Ivan that can turn powered Zigbee devices into motion sensors to control your lights with just a firmware update — no additional hardware required. The best part is that it can work on devices already in most homes. “There are tens of millions of devices with basic firmware already out there; we’re just working on the final touches to brighten up the full experience,” says Ivani co-founder Justin McKinney. Threshold.
An obvious use case for this is a Zigbee-based smart lighting system like Philips Hue. There has been speculation that Hue is working on a Zigbee sensor technology since its sister company Wiz debuted a similar technology called SpaceSense in 2022, which uses WNS over Wi-Fi. The well-informed Hueblog.com reports that the Zigbee wireless network sensor is the technology that Hue will most likely use. threshold reached out to Signify, which owns Hue, but has yet to hear back.
McKinney wouldn’t say which companies are using Ivani’s Sensify, which has been in development since 2016, but he indicated the company is working “with some big household names willing to deploy the technology very quickly.” It also said it is the only company to offer this capability through Zigbee networks.
Ivan is a member of the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which governs the Zigbee protocol, but Sensify is a proprietary solution that uses the Zigbee network. Despite reports indicating that this sensing technology is coming to all Zigbee devices, CSA confirmed threshold that this is not a new feature within Zigbee itself.
WNS works by detecting radio frequency disturbances and can also be applied to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Thread technologies. McKinney says Sensify requires three or more devices positioned around a detection zone to detect movement and occupancy in the space. The technology also allows for precise detection zones based on the location of devices. “The devices send messages to each other, look at basic network diagnostic information and process it to provide occupancy sensing decisions,” says McKinney.
In terms of performance, McKinney says Sensify is “equivalent or superior” to passive infrared (PIR) sensor technology, which is traditionally used for motion sensing. It also doesn’t need line of sight like PIR does. However, it’s not as accurate as technologies like the mmWave sensor, which can determine if someone is in a room through a movement as light as breathing. “The lights are likely to go out if you’re still, even if you’re in space,” he says.
The good news is that Sensify can work on Zigbee networks with a variety of chips working together, meaning it can be deployed as a software update to existing systems. McKinney also confirmed that Sensify works locally on your Zigbee network, there is no Sensify cloud, and any sensor data is only accessible to the manufacturer using the technology.
This video, published by CSA, illustrates how Ivan’s wireless network sensor works over a Zigbee network.
Motion sensing in the smart home has several use cases, from lighting control and security to energy management and elder care. Two big advantages of WNS here are cost and scale. There is no need to purchase additional equipment to get the capability, and many homes already have equipment that can use it.
Ivani is currently the only company with a Zigbee solution, but there are WNS solutions out there that use Wi-Fi. Origin Wireless and its partner company, Nami, were the first to develop the Wi-Fi sensor and are leading Matter’s efforts to bring RF ambient sensing technologies into the smart home standard.
“It’s really the promise of what home automation should have been”
Origin’s technology enabled Linksys Aware, a feature the router company launched in 2019 that turned its routers into motion sensors, and last year, Threshold launched a smart plug using Origin’s Wi-Fi sensor to let caretakers monitor activity of a long-distance lover.
In 2021, I tested Hex Home, a proof-of-concept security system from Origin that used Wi-Fi sensing instead of motion sensors. But the false results made it practically unusable. I also tried Wiz-based Wi-Fi SpaceSense when it first launched. It was more reliable, but still quite unstable. However, according to McKinney, advances in machine learning and AI have brought significant improvements to WNS technology.
He says Ivani’s Sensify technology is ready for deployment over Zigbee, and they’re just waiting for their partners to fine-tune the best way to “introduce the feature within their product lines.” He expects them to update existing products in the coming months. “We’ve had the pleasure of experiencing our partner’s products and their beta tests in our own homes, and it really is the promise of what home automation was supposed to be.”
There have been many promises about home automation over the years, with very few delivered. But the idea of, say, every Philips Hue bulb in your house turning into a motion sensor overnight, making it simple to automate control of your lights without sticking motion sensors everywhere, is one I hope will come to fruition.