I have a simualar topic, presence detection ! often you find article regarding to check it via mobile and WLAN, but what is if the mobile akku is empty or forgotten, wlan is off , … I doesn’t find any solution with really works. My idea is to use HMIP-SPDR. You have a homeatic ccu - maybe, could be a not so much expensive solution.
My idea is to use an Panasonic GridEye Sensor to track the heads going through a door frame.
I already have some data from these sensors in this position and I think it will work but didn’t had the time to write the code for it.
Which only shows when window is beeing open/closed. Not if anyone leave/enters through the window 
Hi @KenkiCK,
that was also something I found but it#s about 100€ each and I need about 16 of those. Read alot about it and yes, my Pi4 with OpenHabian is able to connect/read Homematic signales, bought an addon which works without CCU or whatever it is called.
How long does the battery last?
cheers
Hi @sapkra,
that looks promissing but I guess its way to complex for me.
Reading about the sensor makes me feel that this is the very perfect and most advanced solution but additional HW and SW is needed.
The Devkit already has USB and Bluetooth Support but costs much more. But yeah, it’s definitely complicated.
FYI: After hearing of some tests about the Homematic Sensor, telling that it is not working reliably for counting people, I’ve ask the Homematic team at a trade fair and they also said that it is just a hacky solution which was implemented later and will not work for this case because that’s not what the sensor was built for.
For such a huge of sensor I think you can get a good discount. By the way - batteries are not a issue - I have add a lot of HM components (motion, heating, door contacts, …) in the last 3 years and only for two sensors I must change the batteries. Here I’m very glad and it works pretty well.
Hi @sapkra,
no way… they said that, they said “…it is just a hacky solution which was implemented later and will not work for this case”. Wow.
@KenkiCK: You have it, you are using it (HMIP-SPDR). May I ask you to share your experience with that Sensor? I really need the ablity to say “Yes, at least one person is in the room”.
Never thought it’s so challenging
You might re-cast that requirement as -
“The room is unoccupied”
I think that illustrates the problem better. It’s really easy to detect motion, it’s easy to improve on that with multiple sensors, timers and wasp-in-box algorithms and so on.
It’s just plain difficult to detect someone sitting quietly reading, or dozing in the dark.
Nobody believes this until they try it.
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Yes, it works well for me - but I think there are other option if you don’t want count the number of persons. there are also other sensors for only presence detection (also from HM). My suggestion to use homematic was 1. the integration into a complete system and the integration in OH because I have a lot of sensor of differend manufactors. On the other hand I calculate my effort to setup it f.e. with a PIR and Raspberry zero solution. But … every solution works not to 100 % - 95 % you can reach with a “normal” effort, for the last 5 % you need a lot of more effort like the 95 % . Wish you you find a good solution, let us know which way you will go.
I’m reminded of a movie where characters turned up the heat in a room so that their heat signatures would blend in (can’t remember the title). I didn’t fully get it when I watched the movie, because I hadn’t tried it myself. Now I know that contrast is everything when it comes to infrared motion sensors.
I think the thing with occupancy detection is that people often go into it thinking of a very specific use case or a single trigger, only to find out that there are many more variables that they had no reason to consider before.
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The grideye sensor didn’t seem too bad but then maybe I know too little to know the effort needed.
The dev kit seemed easier and its wireless. There are examples of its use posted on the internet. Also, if building the grideye sensor directly connected to a pi I saw it supports i2c which is easilly enabled on a pi via config tool. Again plenty of examples posted.
I’ve used an older version of this before.
The Framework for Internal Navigation and Discovery ( FIND ) is like indoor GPS for your house or business, using only a simple smartphone or laptop.
Ich mach’s mal auf Deutsch:
Es guibt von HomeMatic einen Durchgangssensor, der die Richtung des Durchgangs registrieren kann. Mit dem sollte das gehen.
Hi @LeXLuther422,
that seems to be a rather “pro implementation” where you have to carry a device with you so that the framework can find you. That’s not what I’m looking for.
It should be more simple and everyone in my house should benefit from it without any extra HW and/or tools.
The framework is cool and huge, thanks for sharing it.
cheers
-J
Hi @DoMie,
yup, that one I saw but it’s not too cheap, about 100€ is a call.
To be honest, I don’t want to give a leg for this… 
cheers
-J
If you want to make your life a bit easier, room-assistant is capable of doing presence tracking through multiple avenues:
- Bluetooth (e.g. Apple Watch) or BLE
- Thermopile sensors (GridEYE or D6T-44L-06)
- GPIO stuff like simple PIR sensors
Bluetooth gives you count & identity, thermopiles give you a count (this will work better with the Grid-EYE due to resolution, needs good sensor placement). The sensors should be auto-discoverable by OpenHAB through the Home Assistant bindings.
The IRTC051 in this video is more suitable for you. It does not require a network and can work independently