Seamless WiFi Sensing

无缝 WiFi 感应

• 批准号: RGPIN-2021-02587
• 负责人: Abedi, Ali
• 金额: $ 1.75万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=742092
• 关键词: Seamless; WiFi; Sensing

In WiFi sensing, wireless signals transmitted by WiFi devices, such as smartphones, are exploited to infer information about surrounding environments. The human body changes wireless signals by absorbing, reflecting, and scattering them. For instance, movements of people in the vicinity of WiFi devices change WiFi signals. Monitoring these changes allows WiFi sensing techniques to infer different types of information such as localization, gesture recognition, and breathing rate estimation. WiFi sensing has the potential to revolutionize the smart home industry by eliminating the need for numerous Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and exploiting WiFi signals instead. As a result, WiFi sensing can provide cost effective and easy-to-install IoT solutions. Unfortunately, existing WiFi sensing technologies suffer from deployment and privacy issues. These technologies require extensive software modifications on WiFi devices which is typically difficult or even impossible, making the deployment of existing technologies challenging. Moreover, since wireless signals pass through walls, WiFi sensing techniques pose a significant threat to privacy. For instance, these techniques can be used by an attacker to infer information from inside a house by monitoring WiFi signals outside the house. The long-term goal of my research program is enabling seamless WiFi sensing which integrates with existing WiFi networks without any modifications to WiFi devices while preserving the privacy of users. The first objective of this proposal is room-level occupancy detection using WiFi sensing to eliminate the need for many motion sensors in smart home applications. Occupancy detection is one of important applications of seamless WiFi sensing envisioned in the long-term goal of my research program. I intend to design and implement a seamless room-level occupancy detection system that does not require software modifications on WiFi devices. This system detects if a room in a home or office is occupied or not just by utilizing existing WiFi signals. Since, this system does not require dedicated motion sensors, it significantly reduces the cost of deploying many IoT solutions. The second objective of this proposal is focused on privacy implications of seamless WiFi sensing. I intend to characterize to what extent an attacker can infer occupancy information and estimate breathing rate from outside a house. In addition, I will study how to prevent an attacker from obtaining such information. Focusing on occupancy and breathing rate information will be an important step towards protecting all privacy-sensitive information envisioned in the long-term goals. Seamless WiFi sensing will have immense social and economical impacts by providing low-cost and privacy-preserving IoT solutions ranging from motion and occupancy detection to vital signs monitoring.

在WiFi传感中，利用WiFi设备(如智能手机)传输的无线信号来推断周围环境的信息。人体通过吸收、反射和散射来改变无线信号。例如，WiFi设备附近的人的移动会改变WiFi信号。监测这些变化使WiFi传感技术能够推断不同类型的信息，如定位、手势识别和呼吸频率估计。WiFi传感通过消除对大量物联网(IoT)传感器的需求，转而利用WiFi信号，有可能给智能家居行业带来革命性的变化。因此，WiFi传感可以提供经济高效且易于安装的物联网解决方案。不幸的是，现有的WiFi传感技术存在部署和隐私问题。这些技术需要在WiFi设备上进行广泛的软件修改，这通常是困难的，甚至是不可能的，这使得现有技术的部署具有挑战性。此外，由于无线信号穿过墙壁，WiFi传感技术对隐私构成了重大威胁。例如，攻击者可以使用这些技术通过监控屋外的WiFi信号来推断屋内的信息。我的研究项目的长期目标是实现无缝WiFi感知，它可以与现有的WiFi网络集成，而不需要对WiFi设备进行任何修改，同时保护用户的隐私。这项提议的第一个目标是使用WiFi传感来检测房间级的占用情况，以消除智能家居应用中对许多运动传感器的需求。占用率检测是我的研究计划的长期目标中设想的无缝WiFi传感的重要应用之一。我打算设计和实现一个无缝的房间级入住率检测系统，不需要修改WiFi设备上的软件。该系统仅通过利用现有的WiFi信号来检测家庭或办公室的房间是否有人占用。由于该系统不需要专用的运动传感器，因此显著降低了部署许多物联网解决方案的成本。这项提案的第二个目标是关注无缝WiFi传感对隐私的影响。我打算描述攻击者在多大程度上可以从房屋外推断入住率信息和估计呼吸频率。此外，我还将研究如何防止攻击者获取此类信息。将重点放在入住率和呼吸率信息上，将是朝着保护长期目标中设想的所有隐私敏感信息迈出的重要一步。通过提供从运动和占用检测到生命体征监测的低成本和保护隐私的物联网解决方案，无缝WiFi传感将产生巨大的社会和经济影响。