Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) announced the publication of  “Wi-Fi Sensing — Deployment Guidelines,” the latest in a series of deployment 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.

Wi-Fi Sensing is a new and rapidly developing technology that aims to revolutionize 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 preventative 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.

Tiago Rodrigues, CEO of the WBA, said, “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. ‘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.”

Dr. Taj Manku, co-founder and CEO at Cognitive Systems, said, “The discussions and the testing facilitated through the WBA Wi-Fi Sensing group not only bring awareness to Wi-Fi Sensing but also improve the technology itself. The next major enhancement to Wi-Fi is Sensing. We hope our work serves as an initial starting point for more stakeholders to get involved in shaping this future as the community continues working toward enhancing Sensing applications and capabilities."