
What is mmWave and what does it mean for your smart home?
You’ll Hear a Lot More About Millimeter Wave Sensors – Here’s What You Need to Know
Millimeter wave (mmWave) technology is rapidly gaining traction in the smart home market, which is not surprising as it offers a variety of benefits over traditional motion sensors.
If you’ve been keeping up with smart home news over the last few years, you’ll have heard of Meross and Aqara launching smart sensors, and it’s also likely to be the smart sensing technology that Samsung has been developing. lyrical about the new SmartThings Home AI platform.
But even then, you’d be forgiven (unless you’re an electrical engineer with a passion for high frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum) for not knowing exactly what mmWave is and how it will change the smart home in the very near future.
But fear not, as this guide will give you a decent overview, without getting too bogged down in the science, of what mmWave is, its benefits and how we’re likely to see brands use it for innovative, futuristic and smart home solutions. .
What is mmWave technology?
Millimeter wave (mmWave) operates in the extremely high frequency (EHF) area, as defined by the International Telecommunication Union, and covers the radio frequency range of 30 to 300 GHz.
This means that it lies within the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, located between the super high frequency (SHF) and the terahertz band.
It is most commonly used, at least in recent years, for the 5G cellular network as it offers high speeds and higher bandwidths, making it ideal for what our media- and speed-intensive smartphones need. .
However, in smart home terms, we’re seeing mmWave radar technology that uses those radio waves to detect motion and, more precisely, presence.
This technology is very sensitive and can detect even the slightest movement, making it ideal for a variety of smart home applications.

How does mmWave detection work?
Unlike traditional motion sensors, such as PIR motion sensors, newcomers to the mmWave sensor market not only look for a basic movement to start an automation, but are capable of detecting even subtle movements, such as breathing, making them more reliable than traditional motion sensors; and that is why they are often called presence sensors, rather than motion sensors.
Take Aqara’s flagship FP2 sensor for example. It is capable, using a single mmWave radar sensor, of monitoring rooms up to 430 square feet.
But it’s not just a wider area for motion detection. In that room you can create up to 30 zones and configure individual automations for each zone. And you can do all this for up to five people at a time. This means you can be very detailed about what type of movement triggers what actions.
So you could have an automation where someone sits on a couch at night and a TV-watching routine goes into effect (think lights dimmed, Netflix on, 5.1 on) and at the same time turns the lights on. the kitchen, and turn on the heating in that room, if someone approaches the kitchen door.
You can then have the TV and AV system turn off if it detects that you have fallen asleep on the couch.
I’ve been using an Aqara FP2 in my garden office for a while and have it set up to do a lot of different things, depending on where I am in the room and at what time.
For example, if I sit at my desk in the morning, it will turn on my computer and tell my smart speaker to play my favorite morning radio station (KEXP, in case you care).
If I’m still at my desk writing after dark, it will turn on some lights, but if I’m sitting on the couch after dark, it will turn on my Fire TV.
Your routines and automations are only limited by your own imagination. However, brands like Aqara offer some suggestions, building automations like fall detection right into their devices and accompanying apps.
However, Samsung wants to go further with the recently announced SmartThings Home AI, which aims to create a smarter, more intuitive home that adapts to your lifestyle with very little effort on your part.
The big idea is to have your smart home work for you, in the background, using sensors in everyday devices (think TVs, speakers, and kitchen appliances) without you even needing to know they’re there.
The best mmWave sensors

As mentioned, Aqara is already in the mmWave game and in fact has a trio of mmWave sensors on the market.
The first to land, the FP2, remains the leader despite its launch in 2023. However, for a smart sensor, it is expensive: $80.
And that’s where the FP1E sensor came into play; It is a scaled-down version of the FP2, which still has mmWave technology but at a price less than $50.
A third mmWave presence sensor from Aqara, the Presence Multi-Sensor FP300 (pictured above) was revealed at CES 2025, and unlike the FP2 and FP1E, it’s battery-powered and doesn’t need to be plugged in.
Aqara rival Meross also launched the MS600, with mmWave, and its makers described it as “the first Matter-compatible presence sensor.”
That statement rings true as Aqara’s presence sensors are not native Matter devices; They live in an Aqara smart home system and need a native hub to function.
The LifeSmart mmWave Human Presence Sensor was actually released before all of these and sits on the ceiling like a kitchen/bathroom spotlight and if you look in the usual Chinese electronics stores you’ll find plenty of knock-offs of this too, all apparently compatible with the Tuya smart home system.
For now though, I would recommend sticking with Aqara or Meross, but the list of brands in the mmWave space will definitely expand rapidly over the next year.
Frequently asked questions
While mmWave sensors offer significant advantages, traditional motion sensors, such as PIR sensors, are still cost-effective and suitable for many applications. Both technologies are likely to continue to coexist in the smart home market.
Brands such as Aqara and Meross offer a range of mmWave sensors. Please note that mmWave sensors can be more expensive than traditional motion sensors.
Like any connected technology, mmWave occupancy sensors can work with Alexa or HomeKit, but it depends on the specific model and its configuration. Aqara and Meross mmWave sensors work with a variety of smart home systems.