Stacey on IoT | Internet of Things news and analysis

June 14, 2022 by Stacey Higginbotham 4 Comments

A few weeks ago, at the Parks Associates Connections conference in Dallas, I met with Ivani, an eight-year-old company that makes software to add wireless sensing to a variety of devices. I was intrigued by its approach, which leverages software that could be installed on any device that uses RF to add motion sensing to a device.

I’ve written a lot about Wi-Fi sensing companies like Cognitive Systems and Origin Wireless that have firmware that must be integrated into a specific Wi-Fi chip, which means that to add their Wi-Fi sensing capabilities to a product, a device maker must select a specific chip. But Ivani’s sensing technology isn’t specific to Wi-Fi and it doesn’t require integration on the chip itself.

Ivani software can run on any existing RF chip, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Thread, or other options. The company has deals with LeGrand and other companies it cannot name to add wireless sensing to everyday smart objects such as light switches and outlets. It has placed its technology in several hotels and has raised at least $15 million in funding.

The technology opens up a world of sensing that can be added as a software update or later in the design process of a particular device because it is not limited to a subset of chip vendors that can support the technology. However, Ivani’s technology can’t provide high-resolution sensing that can detect small or medium gestures.

For now, the idea is to detect motion to provide more context for the smart home or office. It has an obvious use case in light switches and even blind controllers because it can detect when a person comes into a room or walks under a light fixture. I’m looking forward to walking down my hall and having each light turn on dramatically right in front of me.

RF sensing is finally coming into use in the smart home (and commercial settings). We are seeing companies such as Plume add Wi-Fi motion sensing from Cognitive Systems into its products. Ecobee recently released a thermostat that uses radar instead of an infrared sensor to track when someone is in the home. In commercial settings RF sensing can help replace motion sensors that force people to wave their arms in the air just to prove they’re still in a conference room or at their desk.

Another advantage of RF sensing is that homes won’t need separate sensors to track motion — sensing can be built into existing devices. RF sensing is also better at distinguishing between people and events or animals which can trigger older motion detection sensors.

More sensors mean more context, so a light switch or bulb near you could automatically turn on if it senses a person, or it might also respond when someone says, “Siri (or Alexa) turn on the light.” They might also be useful when it comes to creating new forms of light displays in a home. Y’all know I love my Nanoleaf light panels, but adding RF sensing might make them more interactive. They could become an extension of my security system when someone walks by them.

The possibilities are endless, so I am eager to see how technology such as Ivani’s ends up in more places.

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Filed Under: Featured, Startups Tagged With: Cognitive Systems, Ivani, LeGrand, Origin Wireless

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It’s very interesting technology and they have a bunch of patents, which is good. I would be careful about saying this:

“ Ivani software can run on any existing RF chip, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Thread, or other options.”

As that’s not what Ivani themselves say, and it’s not what they’re doing.

“RF“ just means “radiofrequency“ and covers anything that the FCC has to license in the US, including a whole bunch of proprietary network protocols on various different frequencies. For example, Honeywell security systems commonly use 433 MHz. Lutron’s Clear Connect uses 434. Z wave in the United States uses 908.42. All three are “RF“ but I don’t think any of them are going to be able to run Ivani software. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Ivani’s own technical materials say “standard messaging protocols“ and that all four of the examples they give are on the same 2.4 GHz frequency: Wi-Fi, zigbee, Thread, and Bluetooth.

Ivani’s method works by determining where a human body is blocking signal on the network. It’s clever, and their multiple patents are intriguing, and it’s an interesting idea. But it doesn’t work for all RF, and they don’t say that it does. Better stated as “many standard RF devices like ones that use Wi-Fi, zigbee, or thread.“

You may be right, although when I asked the CTO and CEO if they can run on any frequency, they did say yes. I will check back and clarify. Thanks, JD.

It may be that the patents are broad even to cover any RF frequency, but it looks to me like the current ready-to-deploy system is set up for some specific protocols.

So they might be able to create a custom version for, say, Lutron or Honeywell, but it’s not what they’re currently offering.

BTW, The technology looks very similar to me to what Xandem introduced a few years ago. The main difference is at the time that it was introduced, Xandem used their own devices. However, in the last year or so they have also said that it could be added to some existing devices. Same idea, anyway: looking for blockages in the existing radio frequency networks and trying to identify the ones which are humans.

Xandem calls its version “radio tomography.”

And to get super geeky for a minute…

“Body shadowing” is a term used to describe what happens when a human body partially blocks signal. This can actually be a big issue for things like stage microphones, where a microphone worn as a body pack might only have half the transmission range of one hanging from the rafters. So there’s actually been quite a bit of work on it.

Here’s one discussing the effects in the 2.4 GHz range, where it’s definitely measurable:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6211019/

In terms of home automation, the interesting thing is that it appears to be a stronger effect at the higher frequencies. So radio tomography should be easier if the RF frequency is the one used for Wi-Fi/Zigbee/thread: 2.4 GHz.

If you get down to the much shorter wavelengths like Lutron Clear Connect, at 434 MHz, the effect would be much smaller and therefore harder to capture for use in occupancy sensing.

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