AKAMATIS Presence Sensor v2.2

It is still an LD2410B at heart, which tells you how it behaves:

• 24GHz radar that holds presence while you read, type or sleep, where a PIR sensor would time out.
• Detection of moving and stationary people up to 6m indoors.
• Distance-gate sensing, so it can be tuned to ignore the far end of a room.
• Radar that sees through thin plastic, so the case needs no window.

What the finished sensor adds over a bare module:

• A controller and firmware. The ESP32-C3 comes flashed with ESPHome, so there is no YAML to write and no board to flash.
• An external antenna. Wi-Fi reception is better than from a chip antenna buried next to the radar.
• A case and power. USB-C in, nothing to solder, and a wall mount in one version.
• Certified parts. Both main components, the LD2410B and the Seeed C3, carry FCC certification.

If you have never built an LD2410 node, this is the fastest way to see what mmWave presence does in your rooms. If you have, it is a tidier version of the build you already know, with the enclosure and antenna problems solved.

1. Plug the sensor into a USB-C power supply where it will live.
2. On your phone, join the sensor's Wi-Fi hotspot.
3. Enter your 2.4GHz network name and password on the page that opens.
4. Wait for it to reboot and join your network.
5. In Home Assistant, open the discovered-devices notice and add it through the ESPHome integration.

It must join a 2.4GHz network. The ESP32-C3 has no 5GHz radio, so a router that only broadcasts a combined or 5GHz-only network needs a 2.4GHz band enabled.

Once added, you get entities to build automations on:

• Presence, the main on/off occupancy state.
• Motion versus still detection, depending on firmware.
• Sensitivity controls, so you can adjust it from Home Assistant.
• Distance readings for the detected target, depending on firmware.

The exact set depends on the firmware version, so check the device page in Home Assistant rather than assuming a particular entity name.

A simple first automation: lights on when presence turns on, and off two minutes after it turns off. The delay covers the moments a still person's signal dips.

• Point it at where people stay. The sofa, the desk, the bed. Presence is about the still person, not the one walking past.
• Keep the doorway at the edge. A doorway in the middle of the cone catches every trip down the hall.
• Mind thin walls. 24GHz passes through plasterboard, so a sensor facing a shared wall may see the next room.
• Avoid fans and curtains. Ceiling fans and curtains moving in a draught read as a restless person.
• Leave the antenna clear. Metal shelves and mirrors next to the case hurt Wi-Fi and radar alike.

Then tune it with the room empty:

1. Leave the room and watch the presence entity for a few minutes.
2. If it stays on, lower the sensitivity or shorten the maximum distance.
3. Sit still in your usual spot and confirm presence holds for several minutes.
4. Adjust until both tests pass, then build your automations.

How the cone and distance gates behave across the family is on range and field of view. The wall-mount version saves drilling a custom bracket when the right spot is higher up the wall.

Pick the finished sensor if:

• Home Assistant is running and you want presence in one or two rooms quickly.
• You would rather not solder, flash or print.
• Wife, husband or housemate approval depends on it looking tidy.

Pick DIY if:

• You want a light sensor, temperature or a relay on the same board.
• You are covering many rooms and enjoy the build.
• You want to change every setting in YAML.

The two versions differ only in the mount. Take the sensor-only version if it will sit on a shelf or you already have a bracket in mind; take the wall-mount version if it is going high on a wall. For a finished sensor that also reports light level, the same maker's Litos v3 is the natural step up.

For DIY parts and cases, see LD2410 cases and ESP32 wiring.