Smartphone Used as Antenna to Accurate Outdoor Ap Location
Smartphone used as Antenna to Accurate Outdoor AP Location --Summary of “I am the Antenna: Accurate Outdoor AP Location Using
Smartphones” 1. Background
WiFi networks are universally used in our everyday lives. It provides wireless connectivity for a wide range of mobile networking devices. All digital devices can connect to the internet via a wireless network access point that has a range of about 20 meters indoors such as homes and offices and a greater range outdoors such as parks, schools and shopping centers. As Internet users become reliant on WiFi access points (APs) to connect their smartphones, tablets and laptops, the availability and performance of tomorrow’s networks will depend on well tuned and managed access points. A key part of managing access points is the ability to locate individual access points based on their signal. Current techniques (RSS Grandient, Signal Map, Directional Antenna) to locate outdoor WiFi access points require extensive wardriving measurements and low accuracy, determined by significant offline computation or complex hardware components that would cost several thousand dollars. In order to solve this problem, there is a commercial need for a cost and time-efficient alternative way to accurate outdoor WiFi AP location.
2. A key insight for Accurate AP location
A potential solution that focus on cost and time-efficient using common off-the-shelf hardware would make it available to home users and small business managing their local hotspots. So we propose a way to locate APs in real-time using smartphones. Our insight is that by rotating a standard wireless receiver (smartphone) around a blocking object, we can effectively emulate the sensitivity and functionality of a directional antenna. By “rotating” the receiver’s position with respect to the obstacle, and observing the received signal strength, we can determine the approximate direction of the transmitter. This process can be recognized as directional analysis. We
Smartphones” 1. Background
WiFi networks are universally used in our everyday lives. It provides wireless connectivity for a wide range of mobile networking devices. All digital devices can connect to the internet via a wireless network access point that has a range of about 20 meters indoors such as homes and offices and a greater range outdoors such as parks, schools and shopping centers. As Internet users become reliant on WiFi access points (APs) to connect their smartphones, tablets and laptops, the availability and performance of tomorrow’s networks will depend on well tuned and managed access points. A key part of managing access points is the ability to locate individual access points based on their signal. Current techniques (RSS Grandient, Signal Map, Directional Antenna) to locate outdoor WiFi access points require extensive wardriving measurements and low accuracy, determined by significant offline computation or complex hardware components that would cost several thousand dollars. In order to solve this problem, there is a commercial need for a cost and time-efficient alternative way to accurate outdoor WiFi AP location.
2. A key insight for Accurate AP location
A potential solution that focus on cost and time-efficient using common off-the-shelf hardware would make it available to home users and small business managing their local hotspots. So we propose a way to locate APs in real-time using smartphones. Our insight is that by rotating a standard wireless receiver (smartphone) around a blocking object, we can effectively emulate the sensitivity and functionality of a directional antenna. By “rotating” the receiver’s position with respect to the obstacle, and observing the received signal strength, we can determine the approximate direction of the transmitter. This process can be recognized as directional analysis. We