Ubiety, Ivani Debut AI and RF Presence Sensing in Halo Connect

The promise of true presence detection has been a frequent talking point in the security industry for years, but until now few have moved beyond concepts and prototypes. That changed with the announcement that Ubiety Technologies and Ivani have jointly developed a commercial integration that brings artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled presence verification and radio frequency (RF) activity sensing together in a single device: the Halo Connect.

The integration embeds Ivani’s sensify wireless network sensing technology directly into Ubiety’s compact, plug-in device, combining identity-based presence insights with real-time environmental awareness. The result is what the companies describe as a new standard for situational intelligence in the home,  and a potential leap forward for central station monitoring, dealer value propositions and homeowner trust.

Keith Puckett, co-founder and CEO of Ubiety Technologies, tells SecurityInfoWatch that the partnership with Ivani was designed to move beyond industry hypotheticals. “Rather than insist the security industry ‘imagine’ the value of different presence capabilities integrated,” he said, “Ubiety and Ivani decided to make the whole-home presence detection a reality. The benefit to this is that we can demonstrate the 1+1=3 value of integration, without large incumbents having to engage with different companies to make it happen.”

Closing the Gap Between Alerts and Awareness

Puckett said today’s alarm systems remain limited by their reliance on what he described as “blind, binary alerts,” such as motion detectors, door sensors or triggered sounds. “While the form factor might change — panels are now hubs — the value proposition is exactly the same,” he said. “Door open, motion detected, sound heard, motion from camera.”

He argued that this lack of contextual intelligence has diminished the effectiveness of traditional systems and set the stage for a more meaningful approach centered on “presence insights.”

“It is my fundamental belief that presence insights are the missing ingredient to a valuable alarm system,” he explained. “All actions in an alarm event for the homeowner, monitoring center, security dealer and law enforcement should be guided by actually knowing ‘who’s in your home.’”

Puckett also criticized the industry’s slow movement toward more intelligent detection models. “Exploration is years behind maniacal focus,” he said. While major players have explored presence detection at the conceptual level, Ubiety and Ivani are now demonstrating what fully integrated, real-time presence intelligence looks like in practice.

The Halo Connect’s dual-layer detection approach offers context that traditional devices lack,  combining Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and other signal intelligence with Ivani’s RF sensing, which detects changes in the ambient wireless environment caused by human presence. This makes it possible to confirm both who is home and whether meaningful activity is occurring, without relying on cameras or visual verification.

One of the more compelling use cases is what Ubiety calls “Adaptive Alarm Response,” which leverages real-time presence data to re-prioritize how and when notifications are sent during an alarm event.

Puckett illustrated this with a scenario involving a household with five individuals on an alarm call list. In a traditional model, the monitoring center simply follows the order,  starting with the husband, then wife and so on.

“In a standard alarm event, the monitoring center will... start calling the call list. They call the husband, if he isn’t home and picks up the phone, he is now panicked... and has no idea what is going on at the home,” Puckett said.

By contrast, with adaptive response enabled, “Ubiety immediately sees that husband, wife, grandma are not home, but the nanny is home,” he explained. “Our API data instantaneously allows the monitoring center to know to call the nanny first... she’d be the first person called, because it is highly likely that she’s better able to answer the threat question.”

That same insight is embedded in the outbound texts sent to recipients, providing valuable context to help homeowners make faster, more confident decisions. “Essentially, intelligence makes these experiences effective,” said Puckett.

He added that this presence data is made accessible to monitoring centers via a direct, real-time API integration, eliminating the need for complex back-end development or middleware.

A Software-Defined Sensing Platform

Ivani’s sensify technology is deployed as software running locally on the Halo Connect device, enabling what CEO and Co-Founder Justin McKinney described as a flexible, scalable, and privacy-conscious model for advanced sensing.

“Software-defined sensing opens up a transformative pathway for home and small business security by enabling systems to evolve and adapt in the field,” McKinney said. “With the capability to update and expand functionality via software, these systems can add new features and integrations over time, ensuring ongoing value and performance enhancements. Compatibility with other systems is easily facilitated through APIs, allowing for seamless integration with broader smart home ecosystems.”

That flexibility allows the same sensing platform to support different use cases. McKinney said outputs can be tuned to optimize for either high-reliability physical security, with a modest response time, or faster-reacting convenience applications where a slightly higher false-positive rate may be acceptable.

This software-first architecture also opens the door to broader smart home deployments. McKinney noted that sensify is designed to eventually operate on smart switches, Wi-Fi routers and access points through over-the-air (OTA) updates, dramatically increasing the scalability of presence intelligence across homes and small businesses.

“Smart switches could be upgraded to include both device detection and wireless network sensing,” he said. “Similarly, routers and access points could receive the same enhancements.”

Rethinking the Economics of Security Deployment

Ubiety and Ivani are also challenging the economic assumptions that have historically shaped security system design. Puckett pointed out that for decades, manufacturers and dealers have focused on selling costly hardware — panels, sensors, hubs — that often provide little in the way of contextual intelligence.

“[This] misses the value proposition by serving blind, binary alerts,” he said. “While the form factor might change — panels are now hubs — the value proposition is exactly the same … door open, motion detected, sound heard, motion from camera.”

McKinney added that the Halo Connect model shifts that equation by eliminating the need for a traditional panel while still delivering advanced intelligence. “By removing the need for costly hardware panels and hubs, the economic model shifts toward one centered on software and recurring revenue,” he said.

For integrators and monitoring centers, this opens the door to new service models with higher margins and more meaningful engagement. For homeowners, it reduces installation complexity — no truck rolls or installers required — and enhances perceived value through smarter alerting and faster, more accurate response.

Making Cameras Smarter, Not Redundant

While Halo Connect is designed to function independently of video systems, both companies view it as a force multiplier — not a replacement — for cameras. Puckett emphasized that most homeowner cameras are not professionally monitored, and even those that are tend to generate an overwhelming volume of low-value alerts.

“Technology is only as valuable as the quality of its alert in security,” Puckett said. “If a homeowner receives 20 useless alerts a day... they start to ‘tune that out.’”

He noted that Halo Connect can filter and prioritize video alerts based on real-time presence insights. “Halo Connect specifically makes the camera alerts more useful,” he said. “Now [the system] can determine whether or not a video clip should be served to the homeowner.”

Privacy is a core tenet of the system’s design. Ivani’s sensify technology does not rely on cameras or microphones, nor does it collect personally identifiable information. Instead, it detects changes in signal strength caused by the human body’s interaction with the wireless environment.

“This interaction is not unique to any individual and cannot be used to personally identify someone,” McKinney explained. “The sensify technology operates locally on the Halo Connect device, meaning no data is transmitted to a separate cloud.”

This architecture addresses growing consumer concerns over video surveillance while still delivering robust presence detection and activity awareness.

Ubiety and Ivani view the integration as more than a product launch — it’s a redefinition of what the security system of the future should be. With more than 25 million panels and hubs already deployed in U.S. homes, the companies see Halo Connect as a lightweight overlay that brings modern intelligence to legacy systems.

“This doesn’t require a truck roll. This doesn’t require an installer,” said McKinney. “We see the future alarm system being built around Halo Connect running sensify as the foundation.”