Millimeter wave radar: the only way for smart homes to achieve all-scenario intelligence

When we mention millimeter wave, many people will associate it with 5G, but we don't know that the application of 5G is only a kind of millimeter wave nature. Academically, we call electromagnetic waves with a wavelength of 1 to 10 mm as millimeter waves, so in essence it is located in microwaves and far infrared waves, electromagnetic waves such as microwaves are the same, but because the wavelength range it is in overlaps with microwaves and far infrared waves, it also causes millimeter waves to have the characteristics of these two spectrums at the same time, which also makes millimeter waves more versatile in applications.

Accurate information collection is the guarantee of intelligence

In practical applications, the need for spectrum is mainly applied to monitoring, that is, radar sensors designed for different needs. Because millimeter wave has the characteristics of speed of light measurement, adapting to a variety of temperature and humidity environments, wide monitoring distance, high tolerance of the physical characteristics of the measured target and multiple information tests, compared with the current common use of ultrasonic, infrared, laser, etc., millimeter wave radar has a better effect in the field of smart home, but also because of the particularity of its technology, the former millimeter wave radar is mainly used in the military, automobile field, and the price is usually in the thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan. Millimeter-wave radars at the consumer electronics level have only emerged in recent years, so in the field of radar sensors, millimeter-wave radars will have a wider range of uses.

Traditional infrared and ultrasonic sensors (source from the network)

A brief analysis of the current sensor solutions, including public facilities, office buildings and home scenes commonly used in sound waves, infrared, laser and other sensor technologies, all have greater limitations on the environment and the physical characteristics of the measured target, especially under the interference of light sources and temperature, which can easily cause inaccurate measurements. For example, we often encounter voice-controlled lights in the case of people turning off themselves, or infrared sensors in the home mistest moving objects, etc., you know, sensors as the "eyes" of smart products, information is not accurate, no matter how smart the product will become "mentally retarded", this is also the current problem of many smart products, for AI, accurate information collection is the most basic guarantee.

Comparison of current sensor and millimeter wave sensor functions (image source from the network)

Pay attention to everything you need between breaths

For millimeter-wave radar, because of its own information transmission characteristics, the data it can measure includes speed, direction of motion, distance, angle and other information, and the characteristics of excellent anti-jamming ability. It can detect human body fretting as small as a few tenths of a millimeter, and accurately determine the existence state, position and movement trajectory of the human body in space by detecting the microwave signal changes caused by human body fretting. Even the relatively stationary human body is able to perceive accurately while not being affected by environmental conditions such as temperature, dust, light sources, etc.

Huawei millimeter wave AI supersensitive sensor (image source from the network)

Taking the recently released Huawei millimeter wave AI supersensitive sensor as an example, in addition to paying attention to our bit movement work, this millimeter wave sensor will also be included in the collection range, including breathing, heartbeat, body temperature and other data. For example, in the case of turning off the lights at night, millimeter-wave radar can be judged according to the speed, angle, and position changes that occur when the human body gets up, so as to determine whether to turn over or get up, and then as a data template, the AI system will determine whether the next step will be to turn on the night light or turn on the room light, which greatly improves the accuracy and makes the user experience more intelligent.

Millimeter wave sensors make the home smarter (image source from the network)

For example, how to affect the family sleeping at home at night, while opening the door at home, through the collection of data by Huawei's millimeter wave AI supersensitive sensor, you can actively adjust the brightness of the light source, or turn on a certain range of lights, reduce the impact on another person in the case of ensuring the light source; when using air conditioning in the summer, Huawei's millimeter wave AI supersensitive sensor controls the direction of the air conditioner by sensing the position of the human body, avoiding direct blowing; judging the toilet behavior in the bathroom to open the exhaust or wind heating and so on. This is all through the millimeter wave collected, transmitted information, and then through AI intelligent judgment, linkage of different home products to achieve the effect, in order to let people experience the real smart home at the same time, but also more green environmental protection, low-carbon energy saving.

According to the data provided by Huawei, this Huawei millimeter wave AI supersensitive sensor can perceive the subtle movements of the human body within 16 square meters, and the recognition accuracy rate is 99.9%. Within this 16 square meters, it is also possible to finely divide the space with 1 square meter as the boundary. In addition, the positioning accuracy of human body position and trajectory tracking is controlled within ±0.5m, and by fusing infrared perception capabilities, it is possible to double determine the moving object, effectively determine whether the movement is a human body, and eliminate interference to make the most accurate operation.

Millimeter wave radar applications don't stop there

In addition to the above-mentioned scenario applications, millimeter wave radar can actually do more in other aspects. Including personal and property safety monitoring, as well as elderly guardianship, health and safety can have better performance, including smart door locks, smart wearable devices, and even enterprise-level applications, public facilities, etc., can meet the needs of different scenarios. The main reason is because, compared with the previous infrared equipment rely on glass, plastic and other light transmittance materials as a shell, ultrasonic equipment needs to avoid the shortcomings of the occlusion sensor when using, millimeter wave radar limiting factors are much less, it does not have to have a specific shape setting like the infrared sensor, nor does it have to be installed in a wide viewing angle like a smart camera, with penetratable characteristics It can be integrated into different settings as a basic hardware to play a function. Some health monitoring products can even be designed as non-contact, which also makes the design and development of products more diverse.

As part of Huawei's Hongmeng intelligent ecosystem, Huawei's millimeter-wave AI supersensitive sensors have more than 1900+ brand support, including traditional large electricity, kitchen small electricity, living appliances, personal care cosmetics, furniture, lighting shading, electrician HVAC, security sensing, balcony bathroom audio and video entertainment, education, office, travel, medical and health, sports equipment, robot toys and other categories, and it can also provide these brand products with iteration on sensors, so as to achieve more functions that have not been realized before. The open HarmonyOS gives partners more research and development directions, and also gives users more customized and personalized customization options, and promotes the evolution of intelligent life together with upstream and downstream.

Huawei millimeter wave AI supersensitive sensor based on Huawei ecology (image source from the network)

Millimeter wave radar technology for smart homes is a leap-forward completion of smart devices and usage patterns. Help people build a smart home system more comprehensively. At the same time, for the field outside the smart home, the significance of the commercialization of millimeter wave radar technology is more important, through the iteration of technology, affect people's work, living habits, and finally realize the whole society, different fields of the whole scene of intelligence, millimeter wave radar may be the first step.