The next big Wi-Fi standard is for sensing, not communication (2021)
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Re: The next big Wi-Fi standard is for sensing, not communication (2021)
#2I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting old. It seems this, like a lot of new tech these days, will end up offering little benefit while providing new malicious capabilities.
Re: The next big Wi-Fi standard is for sensing, not communication (2021)
#3(2010) early public firmware for research on Wi-Fi sensing, https://dhalperi.github.io/linux-80211n-csitool/
(2012) military use case, https://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-07/seeing-thr...
(2017) industrial use case, https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/wi-fi-radiation-tran...
(2020) slide #20 on use cases for Wi-Fi 7 SENS, https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents...
(2021) HN threads on "seeing through walls" radar for human monitoring: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28479057 & https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27123493
(2021) IEEE working group, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2103.14918.pdf
> This paper reports ongoing efforts by the IEEE 802.11bf Task Group (TGbf), which is defining the appropriate modifications to existing Wi-Fi standards to enhance sensing capabilities through 802.11-compliant waveforms.
(2021) panel discussion on RF sensing, https://staceyoniot.com/what-you-missed-at-the-rf-sensing-ev...
> we could use terahertz spectrum to detect specific molecules and in turn use terahertz frequencies and radios as a way to track specific ingredients in food or pollutants in the air.
(2021) EU-funded CSI countermeasures research in privacy protection, https://ans.unibs.it/projects/csi-murder/
(2022) product launch ahead of the 2024 standard, https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/3/22864783/sengled-smart-hea...
> The Sengled Smart Health Monitoring Light is a dual Wi-Fi / Bluetooth bulb with built-in health monitoring using radar technology. It’s designed to track your sleep and certain biometric measurements, such as heart rate and body temperature, as well as other vital signs. The bulb can work alone, or multiple bulbs connected via a Bluetooth mesh network work together to create a virtual map that can help detect human behavior.
Re: The next big Wi-Fi standard is for sensing, not communication (2021)
#4Who is actually asking for this? It can't be for consumers just wanting to use the internet right? I don't get it.
Re: The next big Wi-Fi standard is for sensing, not communication (2021)
#5The only real practical example is fall detection, what's the real purpose of this?
Re: The next big Wi-Fi standard is for sensing, not communication (2021)
#6Who is actually asking for this? It can't be for consumers just wanting to use the internet right? I don't get it.
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Re: The next big Wi-Fi standard is for sensing, not communication (2021)
#7Who is actually asking for this? It can't be for consumers just wanting to use the internet right? I don't get it.
It's most probably meant for opportunistic sensing in industrial environments, where it might become quite useful. It's not something you're going to use at home.
Re: The next big Wi-Fi standard is for sensing, not communication (2021)
#8The only real practical example is fall detection, what's the real purpose of this?
Kept a lot of smart students busy
Re: The next big Wi-Fi standard is for sensing, not communication (2021)
#9Is it just me, or does this seems like a really, really bad idea? The privacy implications here seem… disturbing.
Re: The next big Wi-Fi standard is for sensing, not communication (2021)
#10The only real practical example is fall detection, what's the real purpose of this?
I worked briefly for a company working on WiFi sensing, and besides fall detection, nobody could give a compelling use case.
When pressed to come up with a motivating vision, the big idea was lights turning on automatically when you enter a room.
I guess? Like a lot of R&D, it seemed a solution in search of a problem.