People Counting and occupancy Monitoring using WiFi Probe Requests and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Authors

Edwin George Vattapparamban, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Major/Program

Electrical Engineering

First Advisor's Name

Dr. Ismail Guvenc

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Dr. Kemal Akkaya

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Third Advisor's Name

Dr. Leonardo Bobadilla

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Dr. Arif Selcuk Uluagac

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Date of Defense

3-30-2016

Abstract

Smart phones have become an important part of our daily lives due to their capabilities of accessing the web using WiFi and mobile data networks. These WiFi equipment are constantly sending out packets referred as probe requests, which can be tracked using wireless sniffers. In this thesis, first we investigate capturing of WiFi probe request packets using the help of WiFi Pineapple devices, and analyze how we can use signal strength information of probe request data for indoor occupancy monitoring. Applications of such occupancy monitoring into building surveillance and building energy management are also discussed.

After completing the initial test indoors, research was moved to outdoor monitoring with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying in various trajectories and capturing probe request messages. The information captured from the probe requests is used to identify and localize WiFi users with a single UAV, which can be instrumental in search and rescue applications. Finally, we study in detail various security, privacy, and public safety issues related to drones equipped with wireless communications capabilities.

Identifier

FIDC000246

Recommended Citation

Vattapparamban, Edwin George, "People Counting and occupancy Monitoring using WiFi Probe Requests and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" (2016). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2479.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2479