Practical questions about WiFi CSI sensing and Wavey. For technical depth, see how it works , the sensing pipeline , the detection ladder , and technical deep-dives .
Frequently Asked Questions
What is WiFi CSI sensing?
Measuring how WiFi signals travel across OFDM subcarriers and inferring environmental changes — occupancy, motion, presence — from those measurements. See how it works for the physics.
What is Wavey?
An open-source WiFi CSI sensing system: ESP32 nodes capture CSI, a Python pipeline processes it, and the Console visualizes results. Code at github.com/waveyhq.
Can WiFi really detect people without a camera?
Yes — bodies perturb multipath, which shifts CSI amplitude and phase. What you can detect depends on the task; see the detection ladder for feasibility by task type.
Does WiFi sensing work through walls?
Partially. Interior drywall allows zone-level motion detection in adjacent rooms. Concrete and metal block most signal. Precise through-wall mapping is not realistic on commodity hardware.
Is WiFi CSI sensing private?
Wavey captures no images and no device identifiers. It reads radio channel measurements, not appearance or MAC addresses.
What is the difference between CSI and RSSI?
RSSI is one power number. CSI is amplitude and phase per subcarrier — dozens of measurements per packet. See the glossary.
What hardware do I need?
CSI-capable ESP32 modules plus a host for the Python pipeline. Any ESP32 family chip works. Details in getting started and the GitHub repo.
Does the person need to carry a device?
No. Wavey is device-free — it senses the body’s effect on WiFi, not phones or wearables.
How accurate is WiFi CSI sensing?
Occupancy and motion are robust with good node placement. Presence and HAR need preprocessing and often per-site tuning. Pose, identity, and headcount are research-frontier tasks.
Can Wavey tell multiple people apart?
Not reliably. Multipath superposition from multiple bodies is ambiguous without dense spatial sampling.
How does Wavey handle multiple floors?
Each floor needs its own nodes and baseline. WiFi attenuates heavily through concrete floors.
What about busy or crowded spaces?
Occupancy and coarse motion remain strong. Per-person separation and exact counts degrade. See the detection ladder.
Can WiFi sensing measure breathing?
CSI can detect periodic chest motion after phase sanitization, but reliability depends on range and environment. Awareness, not medical vitals.
How is this different from WiFi MAC tracking?
MAC tracking follows device identifiers. Wavey reads CSI — how bodies disturb the signal — producing anonymous occupancy without tracking phones.
Is Wavey open source?
Yes. github.com/waveyhq, Discord community, [email protected] .
What is IEEE 802.11bf?
The WiFi standard amendment for native sensing. Signals that WiFi sensing is becoming a first-class capability.
How do I get started?
Read how it works, the sensing pipeline, and getting started. Follow the GitHub repo for current setup steps.