AMG8833 Infrared Array Sensor

The amg8833 sensor platform allows you to use the Panasonic AMG8833 Grid-EYE (Datasheet) infrared array sensor with ESPHome.

This sensor measures temperature using 64 infrared sensors arranged in an 8x8 array, and can be used for motion and presence detection, to generate simple thermal heat maps, or as input to custom software detection algorithms using automations.

The I²C Bus is required to be set up in your configuration for this sensor to work.

# Example configuration entry
amg8833:
  interrupt_pin: True

binary_sensor:
  - platform: amg8833
    motion:
      name: Motion

Configuration variables

All threshold and hysteresis values are specified in degrees Celsius (°C).

• fps (Optional, enum): Frame rate of the sensor. Default is FPS_1. Options are:

  • FPS_10: The sensor updates the 8x8 array 10 times per second. This gives faster response but with more noise.

  • FPS_1: The sensor accumulates data and outputs one 8x8 frame per second. This reduces noise and provides more stable readings, but with slower updates. Internally, the sensor still runs with 10 FPS and averages 10 frames to produce the output.

• interrupt_pin (Optional, boolean): Enable or disable the interrupt pin. Default is False. When enabled, the sensor sets the interrupt output depending on the configured thresholds.

  • If at least one pixel is outside the thresholds, the output is set to a logical LOW level.
  • If all pixels are within the thresholds, the output is set to a logical HIGH level. When disabled, the output remains HIGH.

• filter (Optional, boolean): Enable or disable twice moving average output mode. Default is True. When enabled, the sensor applies a moving average filter twice to each pixel’s temperature readings. This reduces noise by averaging each pixel’s value with its previous and next readings, resulting in smoother output.

• mode (Optional, enum): Selects the method used to set the interrupt pin and the binary-sensor. Default is MOTION. Options are:

  • MOTION: The interrupt pin is set based on the temperature changes relative to the previous frame. Each pixel is compared to its value in the previous reading, and if the difference exceeds the maximum or minimum thresholds, the interrupt pin is set to a logical LOW level.

  • PRESENCE: The interrupt is triggered based on absolute temperature thresholds. Each pixel is compared to the configured lower and upper temperatures thresholds, and the interrupt pin is set to a logical LOW level if any pixel is outside these thresholds.

  Both modes use two separate sets for thresholds and for hysteresis.

• motion_maximum (Optional, float): Maximum temperature difference (ΔT) threshold in MOTION mode. Default: 0.5

• motion_minimum (Optional, float): Minimum temperature difference (ΔT) threshold in MOTION mode. Default: -0.5

• motion_hysteresis (Optional, float): Hysteresis value for thresholds in MOTION mode. Default: 0.25

• presence_upper (Optional, float): Upper temperature threshold in PRESENCE mode. Default: 25.0.

• presence_lower (Optional, float): Lower temperature threshold in PRESENCE mode. Default: 18.0.

• presence_hysteresis (Optional, float): Hysteresis value for thresholds in PRESENCE mode. Default: 0.5

• software_output (Optional, boolean): When set to False, the binary-sensor is updated based on the sensor’s interrupt register, which reflects the state of the interrupt pin. When set to True, the binary-sensor state is not tied to the interrupt logic. Instead, you can implement your own detection algorithm in YAML using the on_measurement trigger and call publsh_state() to control the binary-sensor. Default: False.

Binary Sensor

The amg8833 binary sensor reports motion or presence. The binary sensor is only updated when software_output is disabled, i.e when using the sensor’s hardware interrupt logic.

    binary_sensor:
      - platform: amg8833
        motion:
        name: Motion
        presence:
        name: Presence

Configuration variables

• motion (Optional): Reports ON if motion is detected according to the configured motion thresholds. All options from Binary Sensor.

• presence (Optional): Reports ON if presence is detected according to the configured presence thresholds. All options from Binary Sensor.

Number

The amg8833 number allows to set thresholds for motion and presence detection.

    number:
      - platform: amg8833
        motion_maximum:
          name: Maximum
        motion_minimum:
          name: Minimum
        motion_hysteresis:
          name: Motion Hyst.
        presence_upper:
          name: Upper
        presence_lower:
          name: Lower
        presence_hysteresis:
          name: Presence Hyst.

Configuration variables

• motion_maximum (Optional): Maximum temperature difference (ΔT) threshold in MOTION mode. All options from Number.

• motion_minimum (Optional): Minimum temperature difference (ΔT) threshold in MOTION mode. All options from Number.

• motion_hysteresis (Optional): Hysteresis value for thresholds in MOTION mode. All options from Number.

• presence_upper (Optional): Upper temperature threshold in PRESENCE mode. All options from Number.

• presence_lower (Optional): Lower temperature threshold in PRESENCE mode. All options from Number.

• presence_hysteresis (Optional): Hysteresis value for thresholds in PRESENCE mode. All options from Number.

Sensor

The amg8833 sensor reports ambient, maximum and minimum temperatures.

    sensor:
      - platform: amg8833
        ambient:
          name: Ambient
          filters:
          - offset: -4.0
        maximum:
          name: Maximum
        minimum:
          name: Minimum

Configuration variables

• ambient (Optional): Temperature of the internal thermistor. All options from Sensor.

• maximum (Optional): The maximum temperature of all 8x8 pixels. All options from Sensor.

• minimum (Optional): The minimum temperature of all 8x8 pixels. All options from Sensor.

Select

The amg8833 select allows changing of the frame rate and presence or motion mode.

    select:
      - platform: amg8833
        fps:
          name: FPS
        mode:
          name: Mode

Configuration variables

• fps (Optional): Frame rate of the sensor. All options from Select.

• mode (Optional): The method used to set the interrupt pin. All options from Select.

Switch

The amg8833 switch controls the output filter and the interrupt pin.

    switch:
      - platform: amg8833
        filter:
          name: Filter
        interrupt_pin:
          name: Interrupt Pin

Configuration variables

• filter (Optional): Enable or disable twice moving average filter. All options from Switch.

• interrupt_pin (Optional): Enable or disable the interrupt pin. All options from Switch.

Automations

• on_measurement (Optional): Triggered each time the sensor has completed a new measurement of the 8x8 array. The trigger provides access to all 64 temperature values as a two-dimensional array (float[8][8]) which can be processed in a lambda:

# Example Simple Presence Detector
amg8833:
  fps: FPS_10
  filter: True
  software_output: True
  on_measurement:
    then:
    - lambda: |-
        static std::array<std::array<float, 8>, 8> background;
        static bool init_once = true;
        float decay = 0.05f;
        float threshold = 1.0f;
        if (init_once) {
          init_once = false;
          for(int y = 0; y < 8; ++y) {
            for(int x = 0; x < 8; ++x) {
              background[y][x] = measurement[y][x];
            }
          }
          return;
        }
        int changed_pixels = 0;
        for(int y = 0; y < 8; ++y) {
          for(int x = 0; x < 8; ++x) {
            float diff = fabs(background[y][x] - measurement[y][x]);
            if (diff > threshold) {
              ++changed_pixels;
            } else {
              background[y][x] = background[y][x] * (1.0f - decay) + decay * measurement[y][x];
            }
          }
        }

        ESP_LOGD("amg8833", "Changed Pixels: %i", changed_pixels);
        id(amg8833_presence).publish_state(changed_pixels > 0);

See Also

• FAQ
• Application Notes
• API Reference