Proximity classification for mobile devices using wi-fi environment similarity

ABSTRACT

This paper describes an algorithm to compute lists of people and devices that are physically nearby to a mobile user based on the analysis of signals from existing wireless networks. The system evaluates proximity by classifying the degree of similarity of the Wi-Fi scan data through a statistical Gaussian Mixture Model. It recognizes when the devices are in the same area, and, in this case, it distinguishes three proximity levels: High (e.g. same room), Medium (e.g. same floor) and Low (e.g. same building). The algorithm can be deployed on a remote server that receives Wi-Fi scanning data (including MAC addresses and signal strength) from mobile devices. The server estimates proximity by extracting a set of features from each received pair of Wi-Fi data, feeding them to the GMM model and selecting the category with greatest probability. The method presented in the paper does not require calibration and leverages on existing Wi-Fi signals, while obtaining a percentage of correct discrimination among three levels near to 90%.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.m MISCELLANEOUS

General Terms:
Algorithms, Experimentation, Measurement

Keywords:
location-based services, proximiry measurement, wi-fi