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Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

What's cute about this is how far they went to make hobbyists happy. There's a way to connect it to Bluetooth and WiFi, and an Android app. There's compatibility with some Adafruit products. That's unusual for IC data sheets.

This is a phased array device. Angular resolution 20 degrees, range resolution 1 meter. It's not a Doppler radar, so it can detect fixed objects. So if you're using it for people detection, you have to tell it where the fixed objects are. A ceiling mounted unit will see the floor. OK for people counting and such. Range is only 10 meters.

If you just want a motion detector to turn on a light, and IR isn't working for you, there are cheaper microwave detectors.

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> What's cute about this is how far they went to make hobbyists happy.

Professionals are using hobbyist tools more and more, since these tools are just so much easier to use and don't require wading through datasheets which is like filling out tax forms.

Also IoT usecases require flexibility in connectivity.

Plus, rapid prototyping makes it easier / more likely to bring a volume product to market, and selling the same parts to hobbyists and manufacturers amortizes R&D costs more widely. It’s just makes a ton of sense all the way around.

As far as seeing and ignoring fixed objects, you can also remove any returns that have a near-zero velocity in radar and focus only on those objects that are moving.

Of course, indoor settings have a lot of non-stationary objects as well that might not be targets of interest to you, like fans, curtains blowing in the breeze, etc. So you can also develop algorithms to remove those signatures too.

Seeing fixed objects can be beneficial as well, for example, if you have a sensor deployed in a room but you don't know a priori what the room looks like. Longitudinal results and long range statistics can take you pretty far in seeing the room extents and layout and furniture, etc. Though a lidar sweep is better if you can get it

What about for things like moving objects? I’ve used the AD pluto system but looking for something more affordable

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