Xandem Home creates a movement-detecting sensing web around the house

Xandem Home creates a movement-detecting sensing web around the house

If you've ever fancied securing your home with one of those cool invisible sensor webs that you see in movies, now's your chance. The new Xandem Home system detects motion through walls and furniture. It uses a number of nodes that plug into wall outlets and create a wireless web of sensor connections.

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We've seen a wealth of home security devices launched over the last year or so, many of which focus on two-way audio and video between the user's home and a mobile app, such as the Angee, the Branto, the Flare and the Sentri. Not only can this level of monitoring feel intrusive, but the devices can typically only monitor one room at a time. Xandem Home is able to monitor whole floors at once without the need for intrusive video cameras.

"It is important to understand that this is not just a new product, it’s a completely new sensing technology," says Xandem founder Dr. Joey Wilson. "Xandem Home is like no other on the market because it is built on cutting-edge research and offers advantages that are not possible with other technologies."

The research that Wilson references, and the associated development, has been carried out over the last eight years. The technology to which he refers, meanwhile, is based on radio waves. This allows the nodes of the Xandem Home system to sense each other, detect movement when someone moves through a line-of-sight between two nodes and so locate/track movement.

The Xandem Home system comes with 10 or 15 nodes in a pack depending on what the user requires. Xandem says it can be set up in about 15 minutes by simply plugging the nodes into wall sockets around the home, plug the accompanying cloud-connected gateway device into an internet connection and using the set up tool to draw a map of the space in which the system is being used. Nodes can be dragged and dropped to their approximate locations on the map.

Once the system has been set up, users can access and control it via the web or via a mobile app for iOS and Android. The app allows users to arm and disarm the system, change its settings, grant access to other users and choose how to respond in the event of an actual intrusion.

In the event that movement is detected while the system is armed, the user will get an alert on their phone. A map will also be displayed that shows the location of the movement in real-time. The system is able to integrate with smart home devices and so can be configured to trigger sounds or lights to scare an intruder away. In addition to smart home integration, Xandem Home has an API with which developers can build applications.

A Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign is underway for the Xandem Home system. At the the of writing, pledge levels for one of the systems starts at US$475. Assuming all goes to plan with the campaign and roll-out, shipping is estimated to start in September 2016.