Wi-Fi Sensing deployment guidelines issued for smart homes

The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) has announced the publication of ‘Wi-Fi Sensing — Deployment Guidelines’, the latest in a series of guidelines designed to help the industry, WBA members and a wide range of enterprises in different vertical industries understand the technology, its use cases, market opportunities and more.

The WBA is the global organisation that connects people with the latest Wi-Fi initiatives. Founded in 2003, the vision of the WBA is to drive seamless, interoperable service experiences via Wi-Fi within the global wireless ecosystem. Its mission is to enable collaboration between service providers, technology companies, cities, regulators and organisations to achieve that vision.

Wi-Fi Sensing is a new and rapidly developing technology that aims to revolutionise how people use Wi-Fi networks around the world. Wi-Fi Sensing leverages existing Wi-Fi signals to sense motion, enabling a suite of new applications and revenue streams in markets such as home security, caregiving, enterprise, small business and hospitality.

Sensing enables Wi-Fi networks to become more interactive, apply new levels of automation and unearth meaningful new user benefits from broadband services, like convenience, peace of mind, health insights and privacy. Wi-Fi is a previously untapped source of artificial intelligence for preventive and analytics-driven solutions that could redefine our concept of the ‘smart’ home.

Wi-Fi Sensing — Deployment Guidelines focuses on residential applications in single-family homes and multi-dwelling units. The paper covers key topics such as:

• Technological benefits, relevant communication guidelines and constraints.
• Environmental and device factors that can impact sensing, such as how different types of construction materials affect signal strength and propagation in each Wi-Fi band.
• Experiments that provide insights into factors such as access point locations, interference, floor plans and more.
• General deployment guidelines including access point placement, network topology, floorplan considerations and sensitivity settings.
   

“Wi-Fi Sensing lays the foundation for Wi-Fi service providers to expand into a wide variety of exciting new markets, including health care, home security, building automation and more,” said WBA CEO Tiago Rodrigues. “Wi-Fi Sensing — Deployment Guidelines is the latest example of the WBA’s commitment to providing the marketplace with guidance for developing and deploying innovative sensing solutions.”

Image credit: ©lassedesignen/Dollar Photo Club

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