Aqara’s new smart sensor knows exactly where you are in a busy room – here’s how it works

Smart sensors continue to be one of the most underrated smart devices, but Aqara just launched its most advanced model yet, and I think it’ll get more people interested in sensors.

The Aqara Spatial Sensor FP400 is a camera-free smart sensor that’s designed to strengthen your automations, and give you a better understanding of what’s happening around your home. The FP400 is the next generation of its popular Presence Sensor FP2, and it builds on its features with upgraded AI recognition and radar.

Using 60GHZ mmWave radar and AI, the Aqara Spatial Sensor FP400 can track up to 10 people in a room at the same time. Not only does it monitor presence and motion, but the Aqara Spatial Sensor FP400 can understand exactly where you are in a room, and respond to your movements accordingly.

In terms of coverage, the Aqara Spatial Sensor FP400 can cover up to 860 square feet and has a 120° field of view. In the Aqara app, you can choose up to eight zones for the sensor to track and sense, so if you have automations set up in a specific room, you can use the Aqara Spatial Sensor FP400 to more accurately and quickly trigger them.

The responsiveness of the Aqara Spatial Sensor FP400 is what interests me most. According to Aqara, the sensor knows when someone or multiple people are present in a room, and how they’re moving within it. In response, the Aqara Spatial Sensor FP400 can trigger lights to follow you around using its built-in ambient light sensor.

Aside from zones, users can customise how sensitive the Aqara Spatial Sensor FP400 is to movement. It has three sensitivity levels to choose from – high sensitivity is best for quieter or long-stay areas while low sensitivity is suited for more active environments.

If you install the Aqara Spatial Sensor FP400 in a room you and your family are often in, you might not want to be alerted to your movements all the time. With this in mind, Aqara added its AI Spatial Learning software to the sensor to reduce false alarms by recognising things like pets, robot vacuums, and airflow.

Speaking of installation, the Aqara Spatial Sensor FP400 can be mounted on walls, and even the ceiling. As a Matter-enabled device, the Aqara Spatial Sensor FP400 is compatible with multiple smart home ecosystems, including Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home, Samsung SmartThings and Homey. It also has native support for Thread and Zigbee.

The Aqara Spatial Sensor FP400 is available to buy now for £79.99 / $79.99 / €79.99 at Aqara.