Seamless WiFi Sensing

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。通过监测这些变化，WiFi传感技术可以推断出不同类型的信息，如定位、手势识别和呼吸频率估计。通过消除对众多物联网（IoT）传感器的需求，利用WiFi信号，WiFi传感有可能彻底改变智能家居行业。因此，WiFi传感可以提供具有成本效益且易于安装的物联网解决方案。不幸的是，现有的WiFi传感技术受到部署和隐私问题的困扰。这些技术需要在WiFi设备上进行大量的软件修改，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，攻击者可以利用这些技术通过监控房屋外的WiFi信号来推断房屋内部的信息。我的研究计划的长期目标是实现无缝WiFi传感，在不修改WiFi设备的情况下与现有WiFi网络集成，同时保护用户的隐私。本提案的第一个目标是使用WiFi传感进行房间级占用检测，以消除智能家居应用中对许多运动传感器的需求。占用检测是我研究项目长期目标中设想的无缝WiFi传感的重要应用之一。我打算设计并实现一个无缝的房间级占用检测系统，不需要在WiFi设备上修改软件。该系统通过利用现有的WiFi信号来检测家中或办公室的房间是否有人。由于该系统不需要专用的运动传感器，因此大大降低了部署许多物联网解决方案的成本。该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子外面推断居住者信息并估计呼吸频率。此外，我将研究如何防止攻击者获取这些信息。关注入住率和呼吸频率信息将是保护所有隐私敏感信息的重要一步，这是长期目标所设想的。无缝WiFi传感将提供低成本和隐私保护的物联网解决方案，从运动和占用检测到生命体征监测，将产生巨大的社会和经济影响。

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.