How to count number of people using wifi signal?

Researchers at the University of CA Santa Barbara have incontestable that a Wi-Fi signal will be accustomed count the amount of individuals during a given area, resulting in various applications starting from energy potency in sensible buildings to go looking and rescue.

To accomplish the accomplishment of people-counting, the researchers place 2 Wi-Fi cards at opposite ends of a target, a roughly 70-square-meter area. victim is ation solely the received power measurements of the link between the 2 cards, and not requiring folks to hold Wi-Fi-enabled devices, the approach will estimate the amount of individuals walking therein space. So far, the researchers have with success tested with up to and together with 9 folks in each indoor and outside settings.

"This is regarding count walking folks, that is extremely difficult," aforesaid Mostofi, a prof of electrical and pc engineering. "Counting this many folks in such alittle space with solely Wi-Fi power measurements of 1 link could be a laborious drawback, and also the main motivation for this work."

This people-counting methodology depends in giant half on the changes of the received wireless signal, consistent with the researchers. The presence of individuals attenuates the signal within the direct line of sight between the Wi-Fi cards if an individual crosses the road of sight, and human bodies conjointly scatter the signal - leading to a development referred to as multi-path attenuation - once they don't seem to be within the direct line-of-sight path. By developing a probabilistic mathematical framework supported these 2 key phenomena, the researchers have then projected how of estimating the amount of individuals walking within the area.




With the near-ubiquity of Wi-Fi in several settings, the researchers' findings have the potential for several various applications. as an example, the flexibility to estimate the amount of individuals during a given area may well be employed in sensible homes and buildings, thus air-con and heating may well be adjusted consistent with the extent of occupancy. "Stores will have the benefit of count the amount of shoppers for higher business designing," noted Mostofi.

Security and search-and-rescue operations may conjointly make the most of occupancy estimation. Previous add the science laboratory concerned imaging stationary objects/humans through walls with Wi-Fi signals, and Mostofi plans to eventually bring the 2 comes along within the future.