The dramatic shift in the way people operate in the workplace caused by the COVID-19 pandemic created significant interest in setting up a safe and efficient home environment. As part of this trend, consumers have sought smart home devices so they can remain productive at their jobs while meeting their everyday requirements.
Employees working from home want simple, effective ways to minimize disruptions while remaining alert for deliveries of goods and services. For households subscribed to an interactive security system, a video doorbell has become the pivotal point of home security and the central hub for many security-driven smart home controls such as lighting, access locking, and home monitoring. These kinds of products and systems are built around advanced technology, including energy-efficient smart sensors.
Strategy Analytics, a leading market intelligence firm, reports that the top five video doorbell brands globally as of the end of 2020 combined sold more than 3 million units, or about 40 percent, of the 7.9 million doorbells the firm estimates that were sold to consumers globally in 2020. See figure here.
Meeting people’s needs with environmentally friendly smart home security systems
Socionext’s SC1233 RADAR Sensors began shipping in Q4 2020. The sensor, introduced in late 2019, measures a compact 9 x 9mm and operates at 0.5mW. The SC1233 is both energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, and its radio-wave ranging sensors can detect location and movement of individuals with ultra-high sensitivity. It can also measure an object’s presence, distance, and direction. This highly-sensitive, low-power sensor technology is ideal for a range of smart home and IoT devices, including video doorbells and home security cameras.
In addition to reducing energy consumption, many consumers are seeking functional technologies to address their current needs, including the following:
- Crime prevention
Crime is on the rise. Statistics show that households without security systems are two times more likely to suffer intrusions than households with the systems.
- Lifestyle and efficiency improvements
New automated control and monitoring systems can make our lives easier and more secure. They offer a broad range of benefits, including auto-locking of doors and garage, turning off A/C or lights before leaving the premises, and notifications of deliveries, visitors, or intruders.
- Economical and effective security solutions
Modern home security devices and services are easy to install and implement. They offer competitive pricing for better quality services, unlike previous generations of systems for which there were only a few suppliers demanding added equipment and service costs.
The low-power SC1233 smart sensor provides superior accuracy and is ideally suited for battery-operated devices, and it reduces the rates of false alarms.
Based on our experiments, the average performance accuracy of PIR typically has hovered around 50 percent, while RADAR sensor products can raise the accuracy rates to more than 95 percent. The RADAR sensor detects moving objects as it actively senses the environment and target, as opposed to PIR, which is dependent on a target’s differential temperature profile.
Watch the following video comparing RADAR to PIR sensors for light control.
The SC1233 Sensor Highlights
The easy-to-use, all-in-one single package smart SC123x RADAR sensor comes with multiple built-in antennas and provides many unique benefits and capabilities that are not possible using other types of sensors.
Key features include:
- Antenna in Package (AIP) technology, which integrates multiple antennas (both Tx and Rx)
- Integrated high-speed FFT accelerator and signal processing which allow off-loading tasks in the host MCU
- Impervious to obstructed view, such as darkness, smoke, fog, dirt, and high-temperature environments
- Ability to transition through resins and non-metallic materials
- Draws less power than optical visual camera systems and ideal for battery-operated devices
- Features wide detection area covering a 120-degree FOV, making it well-suited for human and animal detection security and monitoring applications
- Have the potential capability of detecting vital signs such as respiration and heartbeat and distinguishing the differences between human, pets, and static objects using the raw IQ signal of the company’s proprietary hardware
- Ideally suited for intelligent application systems and offers reliable object sensing, low power consumption, small footprint, and ease of use
The Socionext Advantage
The SC1233 distinguishes itself from the competition by combining high levels of integration into a single IC and package and incorporating a full CMOS-based semiconductor design to help reduce power consumption and manufacturing costs.
- Socionext has decades of RF design expertise and is able to meet challenging requirements of customers, including integrating software and hardware components.
- Using standard CMOS semiconductor processing technology, Socionext has the capability of scaling volume demand for its customers.
- Additionally, the SC1233 sensor comes with embedded FFT and signal processing, which reduces design resource requirements and costs for manufacturers lacking experience or expertise in using RADAR sensors.
