Researchers Use WiFi Devices for Boundary Sensing
WiBorder can accurately determine WiFi sensing boundaries by leveraging walls in our daily environments.
A paper presented at the ACM international joint conference on pervasive and ubiquitous computing outlines research done using WiFi for boundary sensing. The topic is related to localization and human sensing. This involves using WiFi signals to determine the presence as well as the location of a human in a room. Although this technology has been researched previously, any work done has been unable to detect a person crossing a boundary into a room. The work outlined in the paper above describes what the researchers call “WiBorder,” a technique for WiFi boundary sensing.
Boundary sensing is an essential part of localization. It allows a computer to know whether a human has crossed a boundary, such as entering a room. The researchers’ project aims to solve this by using walls as a source of information. This stems from the natural way that many rooms and areas are naturally separated by walls.
The science behind this method involves measuring the received signal strength of signals that reflect off humans. Between the transmitter and receiver, signals will bounce off walls, humans, and any other objects around. As a result, the receiver effectively sees a superposition of all these signals. By continuously monitoring the signals reflected off humans relative to others, not only were the researchers able to detect an accurate location of the humans walking around, they were able to precisely sense when they crossed a boundary or entered a room.
A couple WiBorder applications were demonstrated, including intrusion and area detection systems, both of which would find use in modern smart homes and alarm systems. Additional information can be found in the published paper.