Upcoming Wi-Fi Standard Will Give Your Router Motion-Detection Superpowers

Wi-Fi is everywhere and we really can’t do without it. But the current generation Wi-Fi standard is limited to transferring data between devices, and with each new iteration, we only see better speeds and performance.

For IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), the body that oversees networking-related protocol formations, such as ethernetthe challenge is to improve the capabilities of the standard beyond data transfer. The goal of the upcoming 802.11 bf protocol is to allow devices like phones and laptops to detect things in the environment, for example, detect movement in a room and respond to gestures made in the air. That’s right, your Wi-Fi network will one day know where you are, when you move and even how you breathe.

Wi-Fi specifications that end up in routers and networking equipment have gone through a multi-year conceptualization and approval process.

Wi-Fi-based detection is now available on some devices. Traditional motion detection systems use radar or microwave technology to detect movement, such as an intruder in your home. But they need a special sensor for that system to work, and they can only monitor the area where they are installed.

2024 is the year that the IEEE has marked for the arrival of a new Wi-Fi standard, which will also bring with it WiFi Sensing technology or, simply, WiFi SENS. This is a development that will allow Wi-Fi emitting devices, mainly routers, to detect objects in the environment thanks to low-frequency emissions.

How does the current Wi-Fi work?

At this time, your router sends out waves at a specific frequency that your laptop or phone receives. These waves can be direct or indirect (bouncing off walls and other surfaces). The core concept of Wi-Fi detection is to accurately detect obstacles that block radio waves, such as walls or walking people and pets. With this, a router may be able to alert you to a person moving around your house after bedtime and ignoring your cat during the day.

How will the new 802.11bf Wi-Fi standard work?

The current proposal for this next-generation sensing technology is divided into two parts: using low-frequency waves (1 GHz to 7.125 GHz) to detect movement within a large space, such as a room; and use high-frequency waves (45 GHz and higher) to detect movements at close range, such as recognizing your gestures when you’re sitting in front of a laptop or on your phone.

The intention is to reconvert Wi-Fi signals forever. on his blog of arXivProfessor Francesco Restuccia, from Northestern University (Illinois. USA), explains that “Wi-Fi will cease to be an intelligent communication standard and will legitimately become a complete detection paradigm”, referring to the arrival of the 802.11bf standard in September 2024.

The protocol also wants to standardize the interface so that the different Wi-Fi components in the house can “talk” to each other.. Additionally, it will also allow connected devices to determine if the network is capable of detecting activity in its current state, and even simulate signals if necessary. With that, devices on the same network will be able to communicate what kind of movements are being detected.

This will create a detection infrastructure where everyone devices can tell you about movements and activities in different parts of the house, so you can act on them if necessary. For example, if an older member of her family has fallen in her room, she can be alerted immediately and help.

Benefits of the new standard

One of the main advantages of using the new standard will be that you will be able to use common devices, such as a router, without hardware dedicated motion detection monitor, to monitor your home for motion. IEEE notes that this could be used from security to home HVAC management, and from helping the elderly to heart rate detection.

With this new technology, for example, critically ill patients and the elderly will not have to use special devices to detect and transmit their condition to caregivers.

Also, since a range of Wi-Fi-enabled devices in our homes can cover a large area, we could reduce the need for other devices, such as indoor security cameras, which can be inconvenient for the privacy-conscious among us.

challenges

While the standard is being finalized, there are some technical challenges to overcome. For 802.11 bf-enabled devices to perform at their full capacity, high-bandwidth, high-resolution sensing is needed. Both will come from the widespread adoption of the Wi-Fi 6 and WiGig protocols, both of which are constantly being supported on more devices.

What’s more, component manufacturers will have to rely on advanced AI-based algorithms (artificial intelligence) to filter out noise from Wi-Fi signals and accurately detect various movements, ranging from a dog wagging its tail to a person walking through your home or office.

The new protocol will also need to ensure that by adding detection capabilities to devices, there is no disruption to core network traffic. No one will want internet speed to drop. The standard will also have to work on backwards compatibility so there is no need to buy hardware additional.

for now, the Wi-Fi Alliance (non-profit organization with the aim of promoting compatibility between technologies ethernet wireless under the IEEE 802.11 standard) already released the WiFi 7 standard, which will land on the market soon.