Device-free activity identification using fine-grained WiFi signatures

1. A system for identifying an activity of a person in an environment, comprising:

a communication device disposed within the environment and adapted to communicate over a radio frequency communication link;

a wireless access point disposed within the environment, said wireless access point including a wireless transceiver in communication with at least said communication device over a corresponding one of at least one radio frequency communication link, each of said at least one radio frequency communication link using a plurality of channels, said wireless access point being configured to record a channel state information data set, said channel state information data set being recorded for said one of said at least one radio frequency communication link at a corresponding time; and

a monitoring device including a memory storing a plurality of activity profiles, each of said activity profiles including an activity and at least one channel state information profile corresponding to said activity, and a processor receiving, from said wireless access point, said channel state information data set and determining, based on a comparison of said channel state information data set to each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said plurality of activity profiles, the activity of the person in the environment at said time corresponding to said channel state information data set,

wherein said monitoring device determines the activity by classifying the activity as one of a walking activity and an in-place activity; if the activity is classified as a walking activity, identifying the walking activity; and, if the activity is classified as an in-place activity, identifying the in-place activity; and

wherein said monitoring device classifies the activity as one of a walking activity and an in-place activity by determining a moving variance based on said channel state information data set and a further channel state information data set and comparing said moving variance to a threshold.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said monitoring device classifies the activity as a walking activity if said moving variance is greater than said threshold.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein said wireless access point is a WiFi access point.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein said WiFi access point is an 802.11n access point.

5. A system for identifying an activity of a person in an environment, comprising:

a communication device disposed within the environment and adapted to communicate over a radio frequency communication link;

a wireless access point disposed within the environment, said wireless access point including a wireless transceiver in communication with at least said communication device over a corresponding one of at least one radio frequency communication link, each of said at least one radio frequency communication link using a plurality of channels, said wireless access point being configured to record a channel state information data set, said channel state information data set being recorded for said one of said at least one radio frequency communication link at a corresponding time; and

a monitoring device including a memory storing a plurality of activity profiles, each of said activity profiles including an activity and at least one channel state information profile corresponding to said activity, and a processor receiving, from said wireless access point, said channel state information data set and determining, based on a comparison of said channel state information data set to each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said plurality of activity profiles, the activity of the person in the environment at said time corresponding to said channel state information data set,

wherein said monitoring device determines the activity by classifying the activity as one of a walking activity and an in-place activity; if the activity is classified as a walking activity, identifying the walking activity; and, if the activity is classified as an in-place activity, identifying the in-place activity; and

wherein said monitoring device identifies the in-place activity by comparing a histogram of said channel state information data set to a histogram of each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said plurality of activity profiles.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein said monitoring device compares said histogram of said channel state information data set to said histogram of each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said plurality of activity profiles using an earth mover's distance comparison.

7. A system for identifying an activity of a person in an environment, comprising:

a communication device disposed within the environment and adapted to communicate over a radio frequency communication link;

a wireless access point disposed within the environment, said wireless access point including a wireless transceiver in communication with at least said communication device over a corresponding one of at least one radio frequency communication link, each of said at least one radio frequency communication link using a plurality of channels, said wireless access point being configured to record a channel state information data set, said channel state information data set being recorded for said one of said at least one radio frequency communication link at a corresponding time; and

a monitoring device including a memory storing a plurality of activity profiles, each of said activity profiles including an activity and at least one channel state information profile corresponding to said activity, and a processor receiving, from said wireless access point, said channel state information data set and determining, based on a comparison of said channel state information data set to each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said plurality of activity profiles, the activity of the person in the environment at said time corresponding to said channel state information data set,

wherein said monitoring device determines the activity by classifying the activity as one of a walking activity and an in-place activity; if the activity is classified as a walking activity, identifying the walking activity; and, if the activity is classified as an in-place activity, identifying the in-place activity; and

wherein said monitoring device identifies the walking activity by comparing a time series of said channel state information data set to a time series of each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said activity profiles.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein said monitoring device compares said time series of said channel state information data set to a time series of each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said activity profiles using dynamic time warping.

9. A system for identifying an activity of a person in an environment, comprising:

a communication device disposed within the environment and adapted to communicate over a radio frequency communication link;

a wireless access point disposed within the environment, said wireless access point including a wireless transceiver in communication with at least said communication device over a corresponding one of at least one radio frequency communication link, each of said at least one radio frequency communication link using a plurality of channels, said wireless access point being configured to record a channel state information data set, said channel state information data set being recorded for said one of said at least one radio frequency communication link at a corresponding time; and

a monitoring device including a memory storing a plurality of activity profiles, each of said activity profiles including an activity and at least one channel state information profile corresponding to said activity, and a processor receiving, from said wireless access point, said channel state information data set and determining, based on a comparison of said channel state information data set to each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said plurality of activity profiles, the activity of the person in the environment at said time corresponding to said channel state information data set,

wherein said plurality of activity profiles are determined based on user feedback; and

wherein said determination of said plurality of activity profiles comprises clustering similar channel state information samples in an initial data set and receiving user input corresponding to said clustered channel state information samples to define one of said plurality of activity profiles.

10. A system for identifying an activity of a person in an environment, comprising:

a communication device disposed within the environment and adapted to communicate over a radio frequency communication link;

a wireless access point disposed within the environment, said wireless access point including a wireless transceiver in communication with at least said communication device over a corresponding one of at least one radio frequency communication link, each of said at least one radio frequency communication link using a plurality of channels, said wireless access point being configured to record a channel state information data set, said channel state information data set being recorded for said one of said at least one radio frequency communication link at a corresponding time; and

a monitoring device including a memory storing a plurality of activity profiles, each of said activity profiles including an activity and at least one channel state information profile corresponding to said activity, and a processor receiving, from said wireless access point, said channel state information data set and determining, based on a comparison of said channel state information data set to each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said plurality of activity profiles, the activity of the person in the environment at said time corresponding to said channel state information data set,

wherein said plurality of activity profiles are determined based on user feedback; and

wherein, when said monitoring device determines that no activity profile matches said channel state information data set, said monitoring device receives user input to define a new activity profile for said channel state information data set.

11. A system for identifying an activity of a person in an environment, comprising:

a communication device disposed within the environment and adapted to communicate over a radio frequency communication link;

a wireless access point disposed within the environment, said wireless access point including a wireless transceiver in communication with at least said communication device over a corresponding one of at least one radio frequency communication link, each of said at least one radio frequency communication link using a plurality of channels, said wireless access point being configured to record a channel state information data set, said channel state information data set being recorded for said one of said at least one radio frequency communication link at a corresponding time; and

a monitoring device including a memory storing a plurality of activity profiles, each of said activity profiles including an activity and at least one channel state information profile corresponding to said activity, and a processor receiving, from said wireless access point, said channel state information data set and determining, based on a comparison of said channel state information data set to each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said plurality of activity profiles, the activity of the person in the environment at said time corresponding to said channel state information data set,

wherein said monitoring device filters said channel state information data set before determining the activity; and

wherein said filtering comprises applying a dynamic exponential smoothing filter to said channel state information data set.

12. A system for identifying an activity of a person in an environment, comprising:

a communication device disposed within the environment and adapted to communicate over a radio frequency communication link;

a wireless access point disposed within the environment, said wireless access point including a wireless transceiver in communication with at least said communication device over a corresponding one of at least one radio frequency communication link, each of said at least one radio frequency communication link using a plurality of channels, said wireless access point being configured to record a channel state information data set, said channel state information data set being recorded for said one of said at least one radio frequency communication link at a corresponding time; and

a monitoring device including a memory storing a plurality of activity profiles, each of said activity profiles including an activity and at least one channel state information profile corresponding to said activity, and a processor receiving, from said wireless access point, said channel state information data set and determining, based on a comparison of said channel state information data set to each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said plurality of activity profiles, the activity of the person in the environment at said time corresponding to said channel state information data set,

wherein said monitoring device filters said channel state information data set before determining the activity; and

wherein said filtering comprises removing, from said channel state information data set, data points having a modulation and coding scheme index less than a threshold value.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein said threshold value is about 263.

14. A system for identifying an activity of a person in an environment, comprising:

a communication device disposed within the environment and adapted to communicate over a radio frequency communication link;

a wireless access point disposed within the environment, said wireless access point including a wireless transceiver in communication with at least said communication device over a corresponding one of at least one radio frequency communication link, each of said at least one radio frequency communication link using a plurality of channels, said wireless access point being configured to record a channel state information data set, said channel state information data set being recorded for said one of said at least one radio frequency communication link at a corresponding time;

a monitoring device including a memory storing a plurality of activity profiles, each of said activity profiles including an activity and at least one channel state information profile corresponding to said activity, and a processor receiving, from said wireless access point, said channel state information data set and determining, based on a comparison of said channel state information data set to each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said plurality of activity profiles, the activity of the person in the environment at said time corresponding to said channel state information data set; and

a further communication device disposed within the environment, said wireless transceiver of said wireless access point being in communication with said further communication device over a corresponding further one of said at least one radio frequency communication link, said wireless access point being configured to record a further channel state information data set for said further one of said at least one radio frequency communication link at a corresponding time,

wherein said determining the activity of the person in the environment comprises determining the activity of the person in the environment based on a comparison of said further channel state information data set to each of said at least one channel state information profile of each of said plurality of activity profiles; and

wherein the activity is determined based on a sum of a similarity measurement of said channel state information data set and a similarity measurement of said further channel state information data set.