Watching brief for Wi-Fi

Research into using Wi-Fi transmissions as an alternative radar technology could lead to low-cost tracking and surveillance systems, according to engineers at University College, London.

The UCL team claimed technical similarities between radar and Wi-Fi signals could open the way for new uses for the increasingly ubiquitous wireless networking standard.

The popularity of Wi-Fi local area networks (LANs) that allow wireless high-speed connection to the internet has meant that a growing number of buildings and public areas are being equipped with Wi-Fi access points.

According to Dr Ingemar Cox of UCL’s department of electronic and electrical engineering, this proliferation of Wi-Fi ‘hotspots’ could allow the radio system to be used for other purposes.

‘This has the potential to be very low cost, because many indoor areas, such as airports, already have Wi-Fi,’ he said. ‘What the radar will do is just piggy-back the Wi-Fi signal.’

The UCL research is at a very early stage, but Cox said that the technical obstacles should prove possible to overcome.