After a year of research and development, we’ve now officially launched the RadSense 1. The device is a presence detector that solves several problems with other products on the market today:
- As opposed to Passive infrared sensors, the RadSense 1 is not affected by someone standing still. A classic problem with PIR sensors is that they cannot detect someone standing still, so even when someone are present, they may still turn off the light/experience.
- As opposed to optical distance sensors, the RadSense 1 is not affected by lighting conditions. This solves detecting presence in an outdoor setting or a setting with varying weather.
- As opposed to Ultrasound sensors, the RadSense 1 does not need to be exposed in any way. Since it’s based on radar, you can position it behind a wall, furniture or any other non-metal surface and it will still detect presence. This makes it much easier to make a vandal-proof installation.
If you are an advanced user, we also offer full documentation and allow you to change the software on the device as much as you want to create custom solutions.
Background
About a year ago, we worked on a unique IoT project. ForeningenLes! wanted to build audio experiences in the old, red phone booths that are placed across Norway. As part of the experience, they wanted the phone to ring if someone stood outside and looked into the phone booth. The booths are made of metal and have a window that would block normal presence sensors, so we looked into what millimeter radar could do for the project.
After testing, we realized that such a sensor could solve more than just this problem. When making exhibitions with video, you don’t want audio to play if nobody is present since this produces noise pollution. Using the IO features of Digital Signage players such as Brightsign, you could easily control audio but you could also show a trailer as “Attract mode” and when somebody walks over, you could start the main feature. When they leave, the device will go back to show the trailer.
To make the device as useful as possible and to make it solid, we’ve based it on relays. Using one of the two relay outputs, you can easily make or break the circuit to control literally any low voltage device such as lights, motors, video, audio and much more.
Designed to be simple to use
Most users only need a simple way to turn things on/off. All you need to do is to unpack the device along with the complimentary USB Type C cable and a tiny screwdriver. For the device you want to control – just cut one of the power/signal cables. Attach one end to the middle (COM) connector and the other to either the Normally Open (NO) or Normally Closed (NC) connectors.
The connection between COM and NO will close if someone is present. The connection between COM and NC will open if anyone is present. Plug the device in and that’s it. It literally takes 5 minutes to set this up. Behind each of the wire terminals are potentiometers that you can adjust using the scewdriver to reduce the range from the 3 meter (9ft) max to what you need for your application.
The device allows you to set two different zones – one for each of the two outputs. In the example below, we’re using a Brightsign video player to display still images based on the distance.
Optional advanced features
If you want a more precise setup, tap the single button once and connect to the device using a standard app such as BLE Scanner (Mac / Android). This will let you setup the two detection zones quite precisely as well as get insight into what the device sees. Read more about this in the Setup instructions.
When we use products like this, we do sometimes wish the device was more customizable. With a background from the Maker Movement and Hackerspaces, we want users use the device as they want, so we offer full documentation with schematics, pinout, tutorials and source code.
This means that you can easily hack the sensor to your needs. Want a push message every time someone walks into the server room? Just hook the device up to a service like PushSafer for easy integration. Want to create a dynamic height measurement? Attach the sensor at a fixed distance in the roof and connect a small Oled screen to the onboard Adafruit STEMMA QT connector.
Future plans
This is our first product that is packaged and sold. While Maketronics is making hardware products for customers on a regular basis, we’ve learned a lot from launching this product. There is so much more to do than just making the product.
For now, the product is only available online for the US market due to regulations. We’ll work on solving this in the year to come, so we can make it available worldwide.
We will continue to offer firmware updates and improvements for as long as the product is available and we have several customers already. While the first product was shipped from Amazon just a couple days ago, we’ve already sold 15 devices before that to local businesses. Expect to see more blog posts on how some of these are using the product and why they love it!