First time trying mmWave sensor, confused a bit, got a few Questions

[kkossev]

@tj1

Q1:
I wanted to try to limit detection to 1m distance only and upon testing it it seems to be a hit or miss. Sometimes I'd be dancing near the sensor and motion isn't detected, or at least it takes a long way to trigger it - and SOMETIMES i was able to trigger it around 2.0m away! - which raises some reliability concerns. (I thought these mmwave sensors are super accurate)

I have never tried to limit the detection distance so much. Distance detection is not super accurate in my opinion, You can test this by disabling the option "ignore distance reports" - then in the current states, you will see the detected distance to the object that triggers the presence (motion).
Beware - the distance is sent every single second! If the distance is not used for any useful automation, my advice is to keep this function as it is by default ( no events are generated in HE).

@tj1

Perhaps I've got it on wrong settings? Have I set it correctly?

You will need to experiment more with these minimum/maximum settings in combination with the radar sensitivity, radar positioning, etc...

Where is the radar placed? Is it mounted on the ceiling or it sits on a table during your tests?

@tj1

Q2:
I'm not really sure what each setting means but are my following assumptions correct?

Mostly - yes. I have never had the time to experiment with all the possible combinations.
The Radar Sensitivity definitely works - you can lower it if your goal is to limit the detection in close proximity (2-3 meters as example), but you need higher sensitivity if the radar is to be triggered from longer distances.

@tj1

Q3
The problem I have is the lack of PET IMMUNE motion sensors for zigbee/zwave. (Motion sensors that get triggered only by large movements)

These radards have a relatively narrow directional detection pattern. Aqara P1 has a neat tilting mechanism, you can point the sensor toward the area you are interested in. With the Tuya mmWave sensors this adjustment is not so easy, especially with these ceiling-mounted types. As suggested by @user2701 , the best is to start with lowering the radar sensitivity.

@tj1

Q4:
I thought we're able to narrow down the field of detection of these sensors - where do I set this?

I think that the field detection for the mmWave radar depends mostly on the type of the antenna used inside the device. I have seen pictures of different types of PCB antennas used in the different radars. The Generic rule is : as simpler the antenna is, as wider the detection angle is and as lower the detection distance is. If the antenna is made as a complex phased-arrays design, then the detection distance is higher, but the detection angle is much narrower.

@tj1

Q5:
What is SetPar options for?

It is for dynamically changing the radars parameters. As example : you may want a maximum sensitivity during the day, so from RM5 or WebCoRE in the morning you can invoke "SetPar, radarSensitivity,9" custom command. At night time you can change the sensitivity parameter to a lower value, so that you lower the chance the sensor to be activated by a pet as an example..

In the current dev.branch version 1.1.1 the list of the possible commands is now shown in the device web UI page :