Dynamic and Passive Mode Capturing of WLAN Packets of an Urban Locality

Abstract

Wi-Fi is among the major means of internet access for people. This can be a good source of information gathering and prediction in an urban system. Wi-Fi or WLAN packets can be captured and analyzed to gain many insights into a locality like population density estimation, establishments in the zone, etc. Among many different ways of packet capturing, ‘Passive Monitor Mode’ is often used. The passive monitor mode capturing is often done in an area by keeping the sensing device stationary/fixed at a point. However, capturing packets by moving the sensor in a predetermined path has not been done in available works of literature. In this paper scanning of an urban stretch was performed keeping the sensors or monitoring types of equipment moving while scanning. The experiment conforms to a dynamic capturing of Wi-Fi packets in passive mode. The captured packets were stored and analyzed for sensed information. The captured packets revealed lots of data that can be interpreted using data analytics and AI techniques to gain lots of insights into an urban setup for various purposes. The results are presented hereby in the paper and a few suggestive uses are also presented supporting the need for the proposed activity or methodology.