Monitoring Matters: Presence Detection is an Intricate Element of Every Smart Home

Presence detection platforms aren’t all the same; they monitor for presence and activity in a variety of manners.
Published: May 30, 2024

One area of the security and smart home sector that has had my eye for the past few years is the great evolution of presence detection.

Companies such as Origin AI and Ubiety Technologies are making a big splash on a variety of levels.

The future of intelligent and safe living spaces is now here when a variety of mainstream technologies are leveraged in concert. A variety of technologies that most consumers currently have within their premises have now become the foundation for deploying new, groundbreaking technologies like presence detection.

Presence detection platforms aren’t all the same; they monitor for presence and activity in a variety of manners. The differences stem from the core technology, the focus of what the technology is sensing, the AI and added benefits the platforms deliver.

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Although some platforms have some overlap in features and benefits, the additional differences and markets they serve are important to consider. I believe you will also see some of these technologies work together to deliver even greater value.

Key Benefits of Presence Detection

Some of the key benefits of the various platforms include sensing, monitoring and notification of lifestyles and behavior, individual device identification, and enhanced aging in place and medical alert systems.

Although monitoring by activity and type is typically primary, in some scenarios, the absence of activity and anomalous activity are equally important. These systems bring additional value when augmented with other, traditional systems to create a comprehensive platform.

The two key technologies are Wi-Fi sensing, which leverages AI that utilizes the Wi-Fi waves within a premise to monitor and categorize presence, motion and activity type, and wireless device-based sensing. This utilizes AI technology, software and hardware solutions to detect people’s physical presence via their devices.

Both technology platforms, through their AI, deliver information about the presence or absence of activity within a premise. This information is transformed and becomes the factor that drives the smart home experience, premise security and verified central station monitoring.

Features and Benefits

Here are some examples of the features and benefits that these technologies provide:

TruPresence is Origin AI’s innovative Wi-Fi sensing platform, focused on transforming homes and businesses into safer, more efficient, more responsive environments. Wi-Fi sensing harnesses Wi-Fi signal disruptions to unlock a real-time, hyper-detailed understanding of the dynamics within our homes and workplaces.

TruPresence will significantly impact a variety of channels:

  • Security: Intrusion detection; the technology minimizes false alarms.
  • Smart Home: HVAC and lighting automaton to intelligently reduce energy usage.
  • ISPs: ISPs can introduce new recurring revenue streams that reduce customer churn, attract new customers and radically increase customer engagement.

Radio Frequency Sensing

The Eckleburg AI engine is Ubiety’s platform that combines data streaming capabilities and cutting-edge technology with advanced machine learning algorithms to deliver presence insights.

This platform utilizes radio frequency sensing that is constantly monitoring virtually any RF-emitting device (e.g., smartphone, smartwatch, AirPods, tablet, computer) that enters a premise. The AI takes this noise, transforms it and delivers usable, actionable data, giving useful insights about what (and who) is onsite.

The Eckleburg AI engine will affect a variety of channels:

  • Security: Detect the presence of people who do or don’t belong within a premise. As part of the proactive detection and central station monitoring, this provides real-time data that allows for dynamic central station call lists to increase the notification and verification rate, reducing false alarms and creating more data-driven dispatches, when necessary, in compliance with the TMA AVS-01 Standard.
  • Smart Home: HVAC and lighting system automation can intelligently reduce energy usage. “Hyper personalization” automations allow the home to intelligently react based on real-time information about who is (or is usually) present. For example, the system can recognize that no one is home and automatically turn off the thermostat. Then, a half hour before the teenage children usually arrive home from school, the system can intelligently turn the thermostat back on.
  • Alarm Control Panel Manufacturers: Cutting-edge technology and manufacturing partners can incorporate Ubiety’s detection firmware on their existing panels via over-the-air updates, allowing deployment of these enhanced presence detection services and additional RMR, without the need to roll a truck or install additional equipment.

The Tremendous Value of Presence Detection

Understanding the presence of individuals and behaviors is of tremendous value when monitoring for safety and security.

Utilizing cutting-edge artificial intelligence to detect and identify both known and unknown people entering and leaving a premise provides substantial value both for fundamental monitoring of premise activity and for the central station monitoring center that is required to handle, verify and dispatch on any event transmitted by a premise system.

Although the technologies behind these platforms take different approaches in providing these services, they are all able to monitor, analyze and report the various points without compromising the security or personal data of any individual detected or monitored.

Check out our comprehensive guide to intrusion detection here!

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Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series
Strategy & Planning Series