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Tsinghua Science and Technology 2015, 20(1): 1-6 https://doi.org/10.1109/TST.2015.7040509
Open Access | Issue | Published: 12 February 2015

Sensorless Sensing with WiFi

Show Author's Information Zimu Zhou,  Chenshu Wu,  Zheng Yang( ),  Yunhao Liu
School of Software and TNList, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Keywords:
ubiquitous computing, activity recognition, Channel State Information (CSI), sensorless sensing, WiFi, indoor localization, device-free human detection, wireless networks
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Zhou Z, Wu C, Yang Z, et al. Sensorless Sensing with WiFi. Tsinghua Science and Technology, 2015, 20(1): 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1109/TST.2015.7040509
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Abstract Full text About this article

Can WiFi signals be used for sensing purpose? The growing PHY layer capabilities of WiFi has made it possible to reuse WiFi signals for both communication and sensing. Sensing via WiFi would enable remote sensing without wearable sensors, simultaneous perception and data transmission without extra communication infrastructure, and contactless sensing in privacy-preserving mode. Due to the popularity of WiFi devices and the ubiquitous deployment of WiFi networks, WiFi-based sensing networks, if fully connected, would potentially rank as one of the world's largest wireless sensor networks. Yet the concept of wireless and sensorless sensing is not the simple combination of WiFi and radar. It seeks breakthroughs from dedicated radar systems, and aims to balance between low cost and high accuracy, to meet the rising demand for pervasive environment perception in everyday life. Despite increasing research interest, wireless sensing is still in its infancy. Through introductions on basic principles and working prototypes, we review the feasibilities and limitations of wireless, sensorless, and contactless sensing via WiFi. We envision this article as a brief primer on wireless sensing for interested readers to explore this open and largely unexplored field and create next-generation wireless and mobile computing applications.


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About this article

Sensorless Sensing with WiFi

Show Author's information Zimu Zhou, Chenshu Wu, Zheng Yang( ), Yunhao Liu
School of Software and TNList, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.

Abstract

Can WiFi signals be used for sensing purpose? The growing PHY layer capabilities of WiFi has made it possible to reuse WiFi signals for both communication and sensing. Sensing via WiFi would enable remote sensing without wearable sensors, simultaneous perception and data transmission without extra communication infrastructure, and contactless sensing in privacy-preserving mode. Due to the popularity of WiFi devices and the ubiquitous deployment of WiFi networks, WiFi-based sensing networks, if fully connected, would potentially rank as one of the world's largest wireless sensor networks. Yet the concept of wireless and sensorless sensing is not the simple combination of WiFi and radar. It seeks breakthroughs from dedicated radar systems, and aims to balance between low cost and high accuracy, to meet the rising demand for pervasive environment perception in everyday life. Despite increasing research interest, wireless sensing is still in its infancy. Through introductions on basic principles and working prototypes, we review the feasibilities and limitations of wireless, sensorless, and contactless sensing via WiFi. We envision this article as a brief primer on wireless sensing for interested readers to explore this open and largely unexplored field and create next-generation wireless and mobile computing applications.

Keywords: ubiquitous computing, activity recognition, Channel State Information (CSI), sensorless sensing, WiFi, indoor localization, device-free human detection, wireless networks

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Received: 05 December 2014
Accepted: 28 December 2014
Published: 12 February 2015
Issue date: February 2015

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