Stacey on IoT | Internet of Things news and analysis

June 23, 2022 by Stacey Higginbotham 2 Comments

This week we cover the Ericsson mobility report that offers some stats on cellular IoT connections, including the surprising nugget that we won’t see 4G/5G connections surpass 2G/3G connections until some time next year. Then we hit another report. This one is from NPR and covers the state of audio and smart speakers. It proves that growth is slowing for smart speakers and that we may not do as many things with voice as we think. In dystopian news we cover China using COVID tracking apps to lock down protesters, and Microsoft stopping sales of some facial recognition tools. In new product news we talk about the latest Philips Hue gear, a new material that could generate electricity for wearables, and new MCUs from NXP. We also address the closure of SmartDry and explain how Google’s update on the Nest Max Hub may break your Nest x Yale lock. We end by answering a listener question about more accurate motion sensors.

Our guest this week is Daniel dos Santos, head of security research at Vedere, a business unit of Forescout. He’s on the show to discuss why Forescout released 56 new OT vulnerabilities dubbed ICEFALL. He shares the design flaws that led to these vulnerabilities and more importantly, explains what needs to happen if compromised controllers or devices can’t be fixed. He also shares a startling stat about how many industrial customers are actually updating their devices after a vulnerability has been disclosed, and how to encourage more of them to address security flaws. If you want to learn more abut securing critical infrastructure, this is a good place to start.

Hosts: Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel Guest: Daniel dos Santos, head of security research at Forescout Sponsors: Nordic Semiconductor and Wirepas

Want the latest IoT news and analysis? Get my newsletter in your inbox every Friday.

Filed Under: Featured, Podcast Tagged With: alexa, Amazon, Ericsson, Forescout, google, Microsoft, Nordic Semiconductor, nxp, Philips Hue, Signify, SmartDry, Wirepas

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

First, I congratulate Greg on knowing the difference between “occupancy sensor” (someone is in the room), “presence sensor” (Greg is in the room), “motion sensor” (something moved in the room) and PIR sensor (something warm just moved across the sensor’s detection field). Bravo!

While I agree with Kevin and Stacy that much better and more interesting occupancy sensors are likely to be available in about two years, there are some other options available now that might help depending on the exact use case. I’m going to limit this to discussion of options that would work with HomeKit, but there are additional devices for other platforms

If your goal is to know that someone is lying in bed, sitting on the couch, or sitting in a specific chair including an office chair, you can often do that very effectively with a pressure mat. There are a whole bunch of DIY project reports on making these smarter at places like Instructables, but the basic approach is always the same

A) purchase a pressure mat. These come in all different sizes, for a couple of bucks for one that can measure an ounce or two to $75 or so for one that knows when a car is parked on top of it. This is basically two pieces of rubber or fabric which close a circuit when they come together, and which are calibrated so that a specific weight will put enough pressure on the mat to make the two pieces contact each other.

You find these in all kinds of crazy places. At Maritime supplies where they are used as a “doorbell “for a houseboat. (When somebody steps on the mat, a circuit is completed, and a chime can sound). At medical supply houses where they are used for monitoring patients getting out of bed in the middle of the night. Robotics supply companies where they are used for fun projects like knowing when your drone has parked itself.

This part itself doesn’t have a radio inside it. It’s just the mat piece.

B) Now wire that pressure Mat to a smart open/close sensor so that when the pressure mat circuit closes, the smart sensor will report the change in state. The aqara sensors are popular for these because they’re cheap, but you can do it with most HomeKit compatible sensors, including Eve. ( in order to work with HomeKit, the aqara sensor also requires an Aqara hub.) The exact details will depend on the model sensor, but you should be able to find that information

Here’s just one example, but again, lots of people have done this with lots of different devices. It’s just a way of adding a radio notification to a pressure mat.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeKit/comments/kf31oj/meet_the_aqara_pressure_pad_diy_idea_stolen_from/

So if the purpose of your occupancy use case is to know that someone is sitting or lying still somewhere, a pressure mat can work well.

If you just want to buy one that works out of the box and not mess around with wiring and taking the sensor apart, you can use Withings Sleep mat, Connect it via IFTTT to trigger an inexpensive Meross smart plug, and use the Meross plug to bring the state change into HomeKit. That would cost a lot more, and it is cloud-dependent because of the IFTTT step, but it’s pretty easy to set up, and works well for a bed or a couch. Too big for a chair, though.

https://www.withings.com/us/en/sleep

2. THE FUTURE IS NOW: HIOME THERMAL SENSOR

There is an amazing thermal sensor available right now which does occupancy exactly the way most people thinking of home automation occupancy wish it would work. It’s almost instantaneous, it can tell when there are two people in a room and one leaves, it even works with HomeKit although uncertified. It’s just very very expensive from a very small company. People who have it seem to love it, but you are talking about a cost of $200 per doorway. Maybe $120 each if you do at least five rooms. Oh, and it’s plug in, not battery.

It runs locally. I’m not 100% sure, but I think this would continue to work even if the company goes out of business, at least via HomeKit. I would check with them to be sure though.

I can’t afford this myself, but as a wheelchair user it is definitely on my “when I win the lottery “ wish list. The engineering on this thing is amazing.

So those are two “right now” possibilities, depending on the exact use case.

I know lots of people using some variation of a pressure mat, and if you go the DIY route it can be pretty inexpensive. You don’t have to carry anything with you, and it’s able to recognize true occupancy because it’s based on the physical weight of something in the room. A person sitting on a chair or lying on the bed, but maybe even a coffee cup sitting on a particular coaster.

I don’t personally know anyone using the hiome thermal sensor system, but all the hands on reviews have been good. It’s just very expensive.

A friend of mine says that for completeness I should mention the Aqara FP1 miliwave radar sensor, but he lives in Hong Kong, so while I suppose he’s right, I will say upfront that this thing is really hard to find in either the US or Europe.

Otherwise it ticks all the boxes. It works with HomeKit as long as you have an aqara hub that works with HomeKit. It’s well engineered and pretty inexpensive for a true occupancy sensor, around $65. It seems to be quite reliable and is well reviewed. It’s using that radar technology that Stacey mentioned, but it is in fact released to market now. So all of that is the good news.

https://everythingsmarthome.co.uk/this-new-sensor-is-a-game-changer-for-your-smart-home/

The bad news is that it is currently only officially released in China, which means you have to be using the Chinese aqara servers or it won’t show up in your app. And documentation and support are only available in Chinese.

It does occasionally show up on AliExpress, so there are some people in the US and Europe who have it, but it’s not easy to find.

I do personally use and like aqara devices, but I only use them on the US server, so it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting this one for a while. So I think of this more as a proof of concept that Stacey and Kevin are right: we should start seeing more radar based occupancy sensors within a year or two.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.