Engineering the WXI advantage
Ensuring effective outdoor security for large residential and commercial sites presents a series of challenges – wide areas to cover, varied landscapes and terrains, and ever-changing weather conditions all contribute to making it difficult to ensure reliable detection.
Traditionally, to provide sufficient coverage of these large sites, security systems included deploying several sensors around the site. But ultimately, sufficient coverage is not enough, leading to frustrating blind spots, inconsistent detection, an increased likelihood of false alarms and increased installation costs and effort.
These long-standing pain points and installer feedback inspired the development of the OPTEX WXI PIR sensor series. It was clear that installers wanted a simpler solution, one that ensured stable, continuous outdoor detection that didn’t require stitching together several devices.
When we began exploring the concept, one message that came through clearly was that coverage gaps were a persistent issue. In regions, like South Africa for instance, where comprehensive property protection is paramount, this message was even more pronounced. Installers were regularly facing difficulties in aligning multiple devices, keeping them calibrated, and ensuring consistent performance against environmental factors like changes in temperature and light, as well as roaming small animals. For property owners, the result was often a patchwork solution exposed to significant vulnerabilities.
A 180-degree solution
Recognising these challenges, our engineering team set out to create a game-changing solution in the form of a unique 180-degree detection concept. While, technically, two 90-degree sensors could be used to achieve the same coverage, they also have obvious drawbacks – notably inconsistent detection performance where the two fields meet, more time needed to correctly align them and aesthetically, using more sensors means more visible clutter on buildings.
From an engineering perspective, the challenge became creating a design that could effectively maintain stability across the entirety of a 180-degree angle, especially at close range where reflections, sunlight and motion can introduce noise. This meant carefully refining the optical layout.
Reliability by design
Outdoor environments are unpredictable, and minimising false alarms was a core priority. The WXI’s optical design works in tandem with an intelligent movement-evaluation logic that we refined using real-world detection data. And it is this combination that helps the sensor to filter out triggers caused by small animals, fluctuations in temperature or light. Dual-layer detection further strengthens stability by requiring both layers to validate any movement before an alarm is raised.
Throughout product development we applied the same rigorous testing used across all of our external sensor ranges, exposing prototypes to sudden temperature changes, varied lighting and harsh weather conditions. We also used on-site detection data to train and improve the smart logic, helping the sensor to better differentiate between genuine threats and background triggers or noise. This rigorous testing phase with varying conditions helped to refine the logic and optics to ensure consistence performance across the 180-degree field.
Adaptable detection
A common comment from installers during the field research was the need for adaptable coverage. Not every site requires the full 180-degree detection field, but it was clear that installers still wanted a wide view with the flexibility to mask off specific areas. In response to this, we developed and created a streamlined, yet accurate, masking mechanism that fine-tunes the coverage area both quickly and simply. With a single WXI sensor capable of replacing multiple devices, the installation time is significantly reduced. And with a quick and simple set up across both residential and commercial sites, there’s less alignment work and fewer adjustments needed.
Filling the gap
Since launching the WXI sensors series, feedback from global installer partners has been consistently strong. Particularly when it comes to reliability and ease of setup – with installers noting a significant reduction in false alarms and reduced callouts due to the reliability of detection across the entire detection field. The WXI series has been deployed across thousands of sites residential and commercial sites worldwide.
From initial concept through to delivery, the story behind the launch of the WXI series is a true example of OPTEX developing solutions that solve the everyday problems of our partners and customers. By grounding development in direct customer feedback, rigorous testing using real-world scenarios, practical challenges and on-site data, OPTEX created a wide-area sensor that addresses key detection challenges with smarter engineering.
