Smart home automation company Shelly has launched its first mmWave radar sensor, capable of detecting the location of ten people across multiple zones.
The Shelly Presence Gen4 has been released in North America, and detects human presence to assist in the sort of advanced smart home automations that Matter supports. It also features a cloud-free local option, which is an advantage for any smart home owner concerned about privacy, security, and network resilience.
What’s mmWave again?
The Shelly Presence Gen4 uses radar technology to detect the presence of up to ten people, across ten zones that you can customize. This radar technology is called mmWave, named to represent wavelength it uses (1 to 10 millimeters, or 30 to 300GHz), and offers better results than a motion sensor.
With mmWave, the location of a subject remains constantly observed. Our explanation of mmWave goes into this in more depth.
Using an mmWave sensor, you can essentially detect the presence of people and even pets, and set automations to react to them, rather than use motion sensor as a trigger. The device can detect micro-movements even when people are motionless. Via the app, the Shelly Presence Gen4 displays occupancy by each defined space, making it a smart alternative to video monitoring.
Shelly Presence Gen4 features
You can wall mount the Shelly Presence Gen4, where it can detect across a 140-degree horizontal field, covering up to 650 square feet. This makes the compact 64x41x26 mm unit it suitable for larger rooms and open plan areas. Of course, corner-mounted, you’re limited to a 90-degree field, which covers 525 square feet.
A built-in stand can aid in positioning the mmWave sensor (increasing the dimensions to 73x41x37 mm), but however you place it, the USB-C cable will need to be in adequate proximity to the power supply. You can also flip the Shelly Presence Gen4 within the stand, for optimum positioning.
Inside the box are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee radios, with Matter support delivering interoperability with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Samsung SmartThings, and Home Assistant. Other Matter-compatible systems should also be able to connect to the Shelly Presence Gen4. Local control and custom scripting options are also supported.
Using the Shelly Presence Gen4
This mmWave sensor supports various integrations and automations. Lights and climate control systems can be automated, as can shades and curtains, entertainment systems, and more – all based on where people are located in the home or large room.
Able to detect up to ten people simultaneously, across up to ten customizable zones, the Shelly Presence Gen4 is designed to trigger automations based on entering and leaving zones. It can also detect minimum and maximum height, allowing you to configure finely tuned integrations to filter out (or include!) pets and robot cleaners and other small objects. Changes to lighting can also be detected by the built-in light sensor.
“Accurate presence detection unlocks the kind of smart home experience customers have long dreamed about, where everything from lighting to HVAC respond automatically without needing to lift a finger,” said Matt Brown, CMO, Shelly USA. “Shelly Presence Gen4 delivers unprecedented levels of control and adjustability with fine-tunable detection settings and pet-filtering options, which expands how users can automate their homes and improves reliability.”
You can get it now
So, you might use the Shelly Presence Gen4 for basic room automation (enter the room, trigger lights, air-conditioning, music, etc.) or employ it for energy efficiency in empty rooms. That is just two examples -- it has a considerable set of integrations.
The Shelly Presence Gen4 has an RRP of $84.99 and is available now on us.shelly.com, will availability on Amazon, . You can also find it on Amazon -- it might even end up on our list of the best mmWave presence sensors.
