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Pi-NIC: indoor sensing using synchronized off-the-shelf wireless network interface cards and raspberry Pis

Pi-NIC: indoor sensing using synchronized off-the-shelf wireless network interface cards and raspberry Pis
Pi-NIC: indoor sensing using synchronized off-the-shelf wireless network interface cards and raspberry Pis

This paper presents an indoor joint communication and sensing system that consists of synchronized off-the-shelf wireless network interface cards (NIC) and Raspberry Pis. There exists a significant body of research that uses the channel state information (CSI) reported by wireless network interface cards for sensing, but only the amplitude and phase difference of the CSI between receiver antennas are processed. The raw phase of the CSI is contaminated by the carrier frequency offset, packet detection delay and other hardware imperfections, so it is too noisy to use. Our work introduces the raw phase of CSI into sensing by synchronizing the transmitter and receiver clocks to remove carrier frequency offset and using a new method to remove packet detection delay. We validate our design in a real-world scenario to detect breathing and walking and demonstrate that the raw phase of the CSI offers an evident improvement in Wi-Fi CSI-based sensing. Additionally, we are the first to use the Raspberry Pi and ATH9k wireless network interface card together for CSI data collection, which is cheap, portable and versatile.

Channel State Information (CSI), Joint Communications and Sensing (JCAS), Raspberry Pi, Synchronization
IEEE
Shi, Fangzhan
4272572e-25fa-4e77-be3e-953400f2278e
Li, Wenda
3a3026d2-6265-4fb9-9b4e-22082087909e
Amiri, Amin
eae17393-6303-4acb-8ca1-1c978bc139df
Vishwakarma, Shelly
c98f51e0-a07e-4b21-becd-75d7249643ea
Tang, Chong
9409c6d1-69d2-4598-8b43-bbb7f51f6fe2
Brennan, Paul
2c9f231d-8edb-43af-8de8-2ea4b4f71526
Chetty, Kevin
324e29d3-cdf5-4e2b-9b78-5fad57f4e4d0
Shi, Fangzhan
4272572e-25fa-4e77-be3e-953400f2278e
Li, Wenda
3a3026d2-6265-4fb9-9b4e-22082087909e
Amiri, Amin
eae17393-6303-4acb-8ca1-1c978bc139df
Vishwakarma, Shelly
c98f51e0-a07e-4b21-becd-75d7249643ea
Tang, Chong
9409c6d1-69d2-4598-8b43-bbb7f51f6fe2
Brennan, Paul
2c9f231d-8edb-43af-8de8-2ea4b4f71526
Chetty, Kevin
324e29d3-cdf5-4e2b-9b78-5fad57f4e4d0

Shi, Fangzhan, Li, Wenda, Amiri, Amin, Vishwakarma, Shelly, Tang, Chong, Brennan, Paul and Chetty, Kevin (2022) Pi-NIC: indoor sensing using synchronized off-the-shelf wireless network interface cards and raspberry Pis. In 2022 2nd IEEE International Symposium on Joint Communications and Sensing, JC and S 2022. IEEE.. (doi:10.1109/JCS54387.2022.9743512).

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

This paper presents an indoor joint communication and sensing system that consists of synchronized off-the-shelf wireless network interface cards (NIC) and Raspberry Pis. There exists a significant body of research that uses the channel state information (CSI) reported by wireless network interface cards for sensing, but only the amplitude and phase difference of the CSI between receiver antennas are processed. The raw phase of the CSI is contaminated by the carrier frequency offset, packet detection delay and other hardware imperfections, so it is too noisy to use. Our work introduces the raw phase of CSI into sensing by synchronizing the transmitter and receiver clocks to remove carrier frequency offset and using a new method to remove packet detection delay. We validate our design in a real-world scenario to detect breathing and walking and demonstrate that the raw phase of the CSI offers an evident improvement in Wi-Fi CSI-based sensing. Additionally, we are the first to use the Raspberry Pi and ATH9k wireless network interface card together for CSI data collection, which is cheap, portable and versatile.

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More information

Published date: 1 January 2022
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © 2022 IEEE.
Venue - Dates: 2nd IEEE International Symposium on Joint Communications and Sensing, JC and S 2022, , Seefeld, Austria, 2022-03-09 - 2022-03-10
Keywords: Channel State Information (CSI), Joint Communications and Sensing (JCAS), Raspberry Pi, Synchronization

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 503398
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/503398
PURE UUID: 9a0a1439-075a-4c08-959f-ececd24eaa06
ORCID for Shelly Vishwakarma: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1035-3259

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 30 Jul 2025 16:52
Last modified: 31 Jul 2025 02:03

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Contributors

Author: Fangzhan Shi
Author: Wenda Li
Author: Amin Amiri
Author: Shelly Vishwakarma ORCID iD
Author: Chong Tang
Author: Paul Brennan
Author: Kevin Chetty

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