Soon your Zigbee lights could also recognise movement
23.1.2025
Translation: machine translated
There are indications that you will be able to use Zigbee lamps as motion sensors in the coming months. A firmware update could soon provide this functionality.
Motion sensors are very popular among smart home users. Not having to fumble for the corridor light switch in the dark and not having to switch off the basement light manually - that's simply convenient. However, this usually requires additional hardware that recognises movement using infrared, for example.
This could change in the not too distant future: There are growing indications that a technology could soon turn mains-powered Zigbee devices into optional motion sensors.
The trick: signal fluctuations during wireless transmission
A detection zone is defined by placing at least three Zigbee devices at a certain distance from each other. The devices are designed to recognise people in this zone. The video does not explain exactly how ambient sensing is supposed to work. However, it does suggest that it is about wireless network sensing (WNS).
WNS is actually used for network diagnostics purposes. The technology uses the communication of the connected devices to monitor interference in the radio signal strength. Fluctuations are also caused by the movement of a person in the monitored area. The system can therefore deduce that someone is in the detection zone.
A WNS technology is in the final development phase
"The Verge" speculates that the recent announcement of Ambient Sensing by the CSA and Sensify are related - and it also directly involves Philips Hue. Hueblog reported more than a year ago that Hue was working on such a function.
Header image: Shutterstock/Pixel Enforcer
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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