Aqara has begun the rollout of new firmware for their Presence Sensor FP2 that adds sleep monitoring capabilities to the product.
Aqara designs and develops hardware and software solutions for the smart home. They were founded in 2009 and have grown to be one of the largest manufacturers of smart home products in the world with over 36 million devices activated globally.
I’ve written about Aqara’s revolutionary Presence Sensor FP2 (that article can be found here) and how its use of millimeter wave (mmWave) radar can detect the slightest movements. This includes the movements a person makes breathing while they sleep. This allows the Aqara Presence Sensor FP2 to overcome the limitations of standard motion sensors for detecting presence in a room.
Sleep Monitoring Mode of the FP2 tracks data including sleep duration, sleep stages, heart rate, and respiratory rate. This can be leveraged to help a user track their sleep status and can provide insights for care of elderly individuals. Due to the sensitivity of the mmWave radar technology used in the FP2, Aqara has made all this possible without a user having to wear any kind of sleep monitor.
In addition, a user’s sleep status, which has been determined by the FP2, can be used to trigger smart home automations. For example, the FP2 can be used to trigger custom go-to-bed or wake-up scenes.
One thing to be aware of is that the Aqara Presence Sensor FP2’s Sleep Monitoring capabilities are designed for use by a single person. To track the sleep of a second person, a second Aqara FP2 would need to be installed in the room.
A second thing to be aware of is that the sleep monitoring, zone detection, and fall detection modes of the Aqara FP2 are mutually exclusive and can’t be used at the same time. So, if an FP2 was being used for fall detection monitoring of an elderly person living alone, to track their sleep for health purposes would require the installation of a second Aqara FP2 in the room.
Other important news from Aqara about the Presence Sensor FP2 is that additional new features are in the works. Aqara is currently working on person detection using AI and a “people counting” capability.
Person detection will use AI to enable the FP2, while operating in Zone Detection Mode, to distinguish between human motion events and other motion detected in a room from pets, robot vacuums, etc.
An enhancement to the FP2’s Zone Detection Mode, People Counting Mode will provide a real-time headcount of the number of people occupying a room.
