Lights that turn on when you walk into a room and turn off when you leave are one of the most desirable smart home features. But you need to buy additional hardware like motion sensors to make this \u201cmagic\u201d happen. A new ambient sensing technology called Sensify<\/a> could make this easier by turning your light bulbs into motion sensors. And it might be landing on a Philips Hue bridge near you very soon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThere are tens of millions of devices with the base firmware already out there; we\u2019re just working on the final touches to light\u00a0up the full experience.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Sensify is a wireless network sensing<\/a> (WNS) technology developed by Ivani<\/a>\u00a0that can turn mains-powered Zigbee devices into motion sensors for controlling your lights with just\u00a0a firmware update \u2014 no additional hardware needed. The best part is that it can work on devices already in most homes. \u201cThere are tens of millions of devices with the base firmware already out there; we\u2019re just working on the final touches to light\u00a0up the full experience,\u201d Ivani cofounder Justin McKinney tells The Verge.<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n An obvious use case for this is a Zigbee-based smart lighting system such as Philips Hue. There\u2019s been speculation that Hue is\u00a0working on a Zigbee sensing technology<\/a>\u00a0since its sister company Wiz debuted a similar tech<\/a> called SpaceSense in 2022, which uses WNS over Wi-Fi. The well-informed hueblog.com reports that Zigbee wireless network sensing is the technology Hue will most likely use<\/a>. The Verge <\/em>reached out to Signify, which owns Hue, but hasn\u2019t yet received a response. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n McKinney wouldn\u2019t say which companies are using Ivani\u2019s Sensify, which has been in development since 2016, but he did share that the company is working \u201cwith some large household names poised to deploy the technology very soon.\u201d He also said it\u2019s the only company offering this capability over Zigbee networks. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ivani is a member of the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which runs the Zigbee protocol, but Sensify is a proprietary solution that leverages the Zigbee network. Despite reports indicating this sensing tech is coming to all Zigbee devices, the CSA confirmed to The Verge <\/em>that this is not a new feature within Zigbee itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n WNS works by detecting disturbances in radio frequencies and can also be applied to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Thread technologies. McKinney says Sensify requires three or more devices positioned around a detection area to detect motion and occupancy in the space. The tech also allows for precise detection zones based on where the devices are situated. \u201cThe devices send messages to each other, look at underlying network diagnostic information, and process it to provide occupancy sensing decisions,\u201d says McKinney.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Performance-wise, McKinney says Sensify is \u201cequivalent or superior\u201d to passive infrared sensing (PIR) tech, which is traditionally used for motion sensing. It also doesn\u2019t need line of sight, as PIR does. However, it\u2019s not as precise as technologies like mmWave sensing<\/a>, which can determine if someone is in a room through as slight a movement as breathing. \u201cThe lights will still likely turn off if you\u2019re still, even if you\u2019re in the space,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The good news is that Sensify can run on Zigbee networks with a range of chipsets working together, meaning it can be deployed as a software update to existing systems. McKinney also confirmed Sensify runs locally on your Zigbee network, there\u2019s no Sensify cloud, and any sensing data is only accessible to the manufacturer deploying the technology. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n This video, published by the CSA, illustrates how Ivani\u2019s wireless network sensing works over a Zigbee network.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n 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\u2019s no need to buy additional hardware to get the capability, and many homes already have devices that can use it. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ivani is currently the only company with a Zigbee solution, but there are WNS solutions out there that use Wi-Fi. Origin Wireless<\/a>\u00a0and its partner company,\u00a0Nami,<\/a> were the first to develop Wi-Fi sensing, and they are leading Matter\u2019s efforts around bringing ambient RF sensing technologies to the smart home standard. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt really is the promise of what home automation was supposed to be\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Origin\u2019s technology powered Linksys Aware<\/a>, a feature the router company launched in 2019 that turned its routers into motion sensors, and last year, Threshold launched a smart plug<\/a>\u00a0using Origin\u2019s Wi-Fi sensing to allow caregivers to monitor a loved one\u2019s activity remotely. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n