Imagine if your smart light bulbs could double up as motion sensors, without the need for any extra hardware.
That’s the promise of a new tech that’s been shown off by the Connectivity Standards Alliance; the guys overseeing both Matter and Zigbee.
The idea is that Zigbee bulbs – like those used by Philips Hue – can be upgraded via a firmware update to detect motion, using the radio signals they already emit.
It’s not limited to just Zigbee bulbs either, any mains powered Zigbee device could also utilized as well.
This isn’t just a theoretical concept; it’s a wireless network sensing (WNS) technology called Sensify that’s been in development for years by a company called Ivani.
There are murmurs that Philips Hue will roll out this feature this year, and that other brands are expected to follow suit.
Philips Hue’s parent company Signify already introduced WNS over Wi-Fi with its Wiz smart light bulbs back in 2022.
The tech works by detecting how radio signals are disturbed by movement in a room. It’s not as precise as dedicated motion sensors such as mmWave, but it will be good enough to trigger smart home routines or alerts.
Ivani says it can create detection zones by grouping 3–4 devices together and, in testing, it found that these virtual sensors can respond to motion in under a second for convenience triggers, and within a few seconds for security alerts.
False positives are rare, with less than one expected every six months for security triggers.
The system reportedly requires at least three Zigbee devices in a room to work effectively.
The detection intensity can be adjusted to suit different rooms and use cases.The best part is that this all happens locally on your Zigbee network, without needing any cloud processing or personal data and with no need to buy a new smart home hub or new Zigbee devices.
The fact that it can be deployed via a simple firmware update across a wide range of existing Zigbee devices makes it an exciting prospect for smart home users.
