Area Pro wins 2026 Australian Good Design Award

How Area Pro Stacks Up Against The Judging Criteria

Corporate real estate teams are under growing pressure to optimise space, reduce costs and improve the workplace experience. Yet many existing occupancy solutions fall short, relying on delayed data, dense sensor deployments or ongoing maintenance.

Area Pro changes that. Built on three years of dedicated R&D, it combines ultra-wide coverage, real-time accuracy and on-device intelligence. The result: organisations can monitor more space with fewer sensors, and with greater precision.  

“Our goal with Area Pro was to push beyond the capabilities of our original Area sensor and build a platform for the next generation of workplace intelligence. As workplaces evolve globally, we needed to develop a sensor with greater coverage, faster processing and support for new features and use cases. Delivering that required a trusted design and engineering partner, and Outerspace helped translate complex technical requirements into a product that is scalable, commercially viable and easy to deploy.

Area Pro extends far beyond occupancy sensing. It enables organisations to improve employee wellbeing, optimise space utilisation, reduce operational waste and lower building energy consumption through real-time occupancy intelligence.

We achieved this while staying true to our founding principle of 100% privacy-preserving design, proving advanced workplace analytics can be delivered ethically without compromising anonymity.

Area Pro has set a new benchmark for intelligent building technology by demonstrating that commercial performance, human wellbeing and environmental responsibility can work together.”

— Alex Birch, CEO & Co-Founder, XY Sense

 

To get there, we needed a wider field of view, higher resolution, faster sampling, on-board AI and no batteries, all in one small device. We ended up building a custom sensor with a quad-core processor and a dedicated Neural Processing Unit.

Here’s what it can do:

Specification	Area Pro
Coverage	Up to 9 m radius / 3,000 sq ft per sensor
Capacity	Up to 255 people tracked at once
Accuracy	~99%, locating people within 15 cm
Data refresh	Every 2 seconds
Low light	Operates down to 5 lux
Power	Power over Ethernet, no batteries
Size	140 mm diameter, 50 mm high, 250 g
Privacy	Anonymous X/Y coordinates only, no video or images

Criteria 1 – Good design: when form solves a real problem

Area Pro required engineering and design, in one piece

We had big ambitions for Area Pro: advanced features and serious on-device AI capability. But when you squeeze that much processing into a small, low-power sensor, you run into a tricky problem: heat.

Together with Outerspace, we solved it with a custom die-cast heat dissipator that keeps the sensor cool without a single fan. It also doubles as the device’s structural chassis, so the part that manages the heat is the part that holds everything together.

We also wanted it to look good. The casing carries a subtle surface pattern that feels refined and a little distinctive, so it sits quietly in any office environment.

The result is the best of both worlds: the performance we set out to achieve, in a form workplaces are happy to have on their ceiling.

Criteria 2 – Innovation: a big leap forward

Area Pro significantly raised the bar for occupancy sensor technology, including:

• 3x the coverage area making it the widest coverage on the market , covering up to 28+ desks or 255 people. This means you need far fewer sensors to cover a floor.
• 100x more frames per second, for smooth, accurate tracking.
• 3x the spatial resolution, with around 99% accuracy, even when the lights are low.

Having AI right on the device also opens up so many more advanced use cases, like dwell time, sit/stand detection, pathways visualisation and collaboration insights.

Criteria 3 – Impact: better buildings for people and the planet

Privacy has always mattered to us, so like its predecessor, Area Pro is private by design. It only captures anonymous X + Y coordinates, no images, videos or PII ever leave the sensor. You get rich insight, and your people can trust it.

We also made it  easier to install. Our SenseLink connection daisy-chains sensors over Power over Ethernet, cutting cabling by up to 80% and getting rid of battery changes for good. Less maintenance, less waste, more uptime.

And through our API, Area Pro data can help automate HVAC, lighting, cleaning and other building services. That adds up to workplaces that are healthier for people, cheaper to run and kinder to the planet. 

 

“Occupancy sensing in workplaces shouldn’t be treated like consumer electronics,” said Luke Murray, Co-Founder and CTO of XY Sense. “Enterprises need infrastructure-grade reliability, consistent performance, strong privacy and security protections, and ROI that holds up over years — not months. That’s exactly what Area Pro was designed to deliver.”

Want the full rundown? Head over to the Area Pro page.