Wireless sensing without sensors - An experimental approach

Motion and intrusion detection are often cited among various Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) applications. A typical configuration comprises clusters of wireless nodes equipped with motion sensors to detect human motion. Currently, the performance of WSN is subject to several constraints, mainly the phenomenon of radio irregularity and finite onboard computation/energy resources. In Radio Frequency (RF) propagation, radio irregularity rises to a higher level in the presence of human activity due to the absorption effect of the human body. In this paper, the feasibility of monitoring RF transmission for the purpose of intrusion detection is investigated. With empirical data obtained from the Crossbow TelosB platform in several different environments, the impact of human activity on the signal strength of RF signals in a WSN is evaluated. This paper offers a novel approach to intrusion detection by turning a constraint in WSN, namely radio irregularity, into an advantage for the purpose of intrusion detection. Unlike most related work, the “intruders” neither transmit nor receive any RF signals. By enabling existing wireless infrastructures to serve as intrusion detectors instead of deploying numerous costly sensors, this approach shows great promise for providing novel solutions.