MR60BHA2 – Is firmware development still active? Serious bugs remain in v1.6.12

Products & Technology
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I purchased the XIAO 60GHz mmWave Human Breathing and Heartbeat Sensor – MR60BHA2 directly from Seeed Studio and I would like to ask for a clear update regarding the future of its radar firmware.

As of September 2026, the latest radar firmware available on the official Seeed Wiki still appears to be v1.6.12.

What concerns me is that the Wiki itself states regarding v1.6.12 that:

  • breathing and heart-rate accuracy was not improved in that release,

  • further optimization and machine-learning training was still underway,

  • the previous breathing and heart-rate algorithm had fundamental issues,

  • and another firmware improving breathing and heart-rate accuracy was expected around the end of the month.

However, a long time has now passed and I cannot find any newer firmware.

There are also still reports from users about problems with the current firmware, including incorrect respiratory-rate calculation and other radar/algorithm-related issues.

I bought this product because the hardware itself is very interesting and has a lot of potential, especially for Home Assistant and ESPHome applications. Unfortunately, with this type of product, the quality of the radar firmware and its algorithms is just as important as the hardware.

Could someone from the MR60BHA2 product or firmware team please clarify the current situation?

  1. Is the MR60BHA2 radar firmware still actively being developed?

  2. Is a successor to v1.6.12 planned?

  3. Are the known breathing/heart-rate algorithm issues still being worked on?

  4. Is there any approximate roadmap or expected release timeframe?

  5. If firmware development has been discontinued, could Seeed please state this clearly as well?

I am not looking for basic troubleshooting of my individual setup. I would primarily like to know whether this product is still actively maintained and whether customers can expect the previously mentioned algorithm improvements.

I also tried contacting Seeed through Facebook but unfortunately received no response, which is why I am asking here publicly.

I would really appreciate an answer from someone directly involved with the MR60BHA2 product/firmware team.

Thank you.

2

Hi there,

So, I’m asking for some guidance on this question as well.
stay tuned , let’s see what comes back.
Hopefully it can be Updated and improved, seems others are?
Let’s move this tech along :+1:
TOF, LIDAR…

Let’s go :crossed_fingers:

GL :slight_smile: PJ :v:

3

SO after some discussion,
Here is the Cheat Code for success on these,
:grin:

Cheat code for making the “MR60BHA3”

So,focusing on architectural and platform-level upgrades—rather than just waiting on a black-box firmware patch—this will offer far more leverage.

The maker and smart-home radar space has evolved significantly, and several distinct hardware and ecosystem improvements can elevate their radar lineup.

Open Architecture & Raw Data Access

  • Expose Point Cloud / Doppler FFT Bins: Current MR60 modules run proprietary, closed-source DSP algorithms internally, outputting high-level parsed serial frames. When the algorithm struggles, developers are stuck. Releasing an open-access mode that streams raw point clouds or range-Doppler map data allows developers to run their own DSP, filtering, or edge TinyML models directly on the companion host MCU (such as an ESP32-S3 or NPU).

  • Adopt Developer-Friendly Radar Silicon: Consider reference designs around silicon with accessible tooling—such as Texas Instruments IWR6843, Infineon BGT60TR13C, or Acconeer’s pulsed coherent radar (A121)—which offer comprehensive SDKs rather than opaque vendor modules.

Sensor Fusion & Hybrid Topologies

  • Radar + Multi-Zone ToF (Time-of-Flight): Combine 60GHz mmWave with an 8x8 multizone optical ToF sensor (e.g., STMicroelectronics VL53L8CX). Optical ToF handles sub-centimeter close-range spatial gating and rapid gesture/edge detection without ghosting from fans or curtains, while mmWave handles stationary presence and micro-movement.

  • Radar + Low-Power PIR Wakeup: 60GHz radar draws considerable continuous current. Integrating a low-power digital PIR (or ambient light sensor) enables fast sub-microamp sleep/wake gating for battery-assisted or energy-conscious deployments.

Spatial Tracking & Multi-Zone Mapping

  • Multi-Target 2D/3D Trajectory: Single-target aggregate distance is falling behind. Competitors like Hi-Link (LD2450) and Aqara (FP2) provide simultaneous coordinate tracking $(X, Y, Z)$ and velocity vectors for 3+ targets.

  • Interactive Zone Definition: Provide out-of-the-box support for user-defined detection boxes and exclusion/interference masks (e.g., ignoring ceiling fans, AC vents, or doorways) rather than relying strictly on simple radial distance cutoffs.

Tooling & Calibration Toolkits

  • Gate-by-Gate Sensitivity Tuning: Emulate the gate-level threshold configuration pioneered by popular presence modules (e.g., LD2410), giving users individual control over motion and micro-motion trigger thresholds at specific distance bins.

  • Native Web-Serial / Web-BLE Heatmap Visualizer: Build an open-source visualizer tool that plots real-time noise floors, target vectors, and vital signal SNR. This eliminates guesswork during room placement and dramatically eases debugging for Home Assistant and ESPHome builders.

Other makers are gaining ground, Seeed was one of the first to offer it in such a clean package. We need WAY more!

HTH
:crossed_fingers:
Gl :slight_smile: PJ :v: