Some Smart Appliances Disconnect

Just bought a major appliance in this list. At first the idea of it being 'smart' attracted me, but I did think about having a major need depending on an external complex resource.    Despite my background, decided not.   Now am exploring the domain further.

LG, Whirlpool Target Customers Disconnected from 'Smart' Appliances   By The Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2023    in ACM

Using the LG ThinQapp, customers can connect their LG smart appliances to their Amazon accounts for automatic reordering and delivery of supplies such as dishwasher soap, laundry detergent, or fabric softener.

Appliance manufacturers LG Electronics and Whirlpool are trying to entice customers whose "smart" appliances are not connected to the Internet to embrace the technology.

The manufacturers' continued development of smart devices hinges on consumers keeping them connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi.

Connected appliances provide manufacturers with data and insights about how customers use their products.

Henry Kim at LG platform ThinQ said the company is striving to better inform consumers on the sales floor about connectivity's perks; it also is working with delivery agents to ensure they connect appliances during installation.

Whirlpool's Murat Genc said the firm is exploring "self-healing" capabilities so appliances can automatically reconnect to the Internet in the event of Wi-Fi outrages.

From The Wall Street Journal

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WiFi Signal Identifying Breathing Issues

 Novel use. 

An algorithm can use WiFi signal changes to help identify breathing issues

NIST says it works with existing routers and devices., Kris Holt|@krisholt|December 20, 2022 2:10 PM

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers have developed a way to monitor breathing based on tiny changes in WiFi signals. They say their BreatheSmart deep-learning algorithm could help detect if someone in the household is having breathing issues.

WiFi signals are almost ubiquitous. They bounce off of and pass through surfaces as they try to link devices with routers. But any movement will alter the signal's path, including how the body moves as we breathe, which can change if we have any issues. For instance, your chest will move differently if you're coughing.

Other researchers have explored the use of WiFi signals to detect people and movements, but their approaches required dedicated sensing devices and their studies provided limited data. A few years ago, a company called Origin Wireless developed an algorithm that works with a WiFi mesh network. Similarly, NIST says BreatheSmart works with routers and devices that are already available on the market. It only requires a single router and connected device....  ' 

The scientists changed the firmware on a router so that it would check "channel state information,” or CSI, more frequently. CSI refers to the signals that are sent from a device, such as a phone or laptop, to the router. CSI signals are consistent and the router understands what they should look like, but deviations in the environment, such as the signal being affected by surfaces or movement, modify the signals. The researchers got the router to request these CSI signals up to 10 times per second to gain a better sense of how the signal was being modified.

The team simulated several breathing conditions with a manikin and monitored changes in CSI signals with an off-the-shelf router and receiving device. To make sense of the data they collected, NIST research associate Susanna Mosleh developed the algorithm. In a paper, the researchers noted that BreatheSmart correctly identified the simulated breathing conditions 99.54 percent of the time.   ... ' 

Seeing Through Walls with WiFI

 Security Issue reported in ACM. technical abstract, related issues previously reported. 

Seeing through Walls with Wi-FI   in ACM.

ABSTRACT

We present Wi-Peep - a new location-revealing privacy attack on non-cooperative Wi-Fi devices. Wi-Peep exploits loopholes in the 802.11 protocol to elicit responses from Wi-Fi devices on a network that we do not have access to. It then uses a novel time-of-flight measurement scheme to locate these devices. Wi-Peep works without any hardware or software modifications on target devices and without requiring access to the physical space that they are deployed in. Therefore, a pedestrian or a drone that carries a Wi-Peep device can estimate the location of every Wi-Fi device in a building. Our Wi-Peep design costs $20 and weighs less than 10 g. We deploy it on a lightweight drone and show that a drone flying over a house can estimate the location of Wi-Fi devices across multiple floors to meter-level accuracy. Finally, we investigate different mitigation techniques to secure future Wi-Fi devices against such attacks.  ...  '

Streetlights as Wi-Fi Hotspots

Generally useful?  Ultimately automotive application?

Streetlight Wi-Fi Hotspots: A Bright Idea

in IEEE Spectrum,  Charles Q. Choi, August 30, 2022

A new algorithm could help telecommunication companies determine the optimal deployment of Wi-Fi hotspots in streetlights. Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology have created a model for tracking 60-gigahertz signals that account for variances in light pole height, with the algorithm analyzing transmission paths to include receiver sites. The researchers tested the model in Boulder, CO, with a stationary transmitter on a mast and a mobile receiver on a van, measuring signals at four-, six-, and nine-meter elevations. The model successfully predicted real-world measurements with an accuracy comparable to that of more complex methods. ... '

Anti-Reflective Coating Allows Wi-Fi Through Walls

Could be useful in homes, offices.

 'Anti-Reflective' Coating Allows Wi-Fi Through Walls

In  TechRadar,  Steve McCaskill,  August 18, 2022

Scientists at Austria's Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) and France's University of Rennes have enabled Wi-Fi signals to pass through walls more effectively. The method calculates an anti-reflective invisible structure to a wall, which TU Wien's Stefan Rotter likened to "the anti-reflective coating on your pair of glasses." The researchers transmitted microwaves through a labyrinth of obstacles, then calculated a matching anti-reflective structure that almost completely removed the signals' reflection. "We were able to show that this information can be used to calculate a corresponding compensating structure for any medium that scatters waves in a complex way, so that the combination of both media allows waves to pass through completely," explained TU Wien's Michael Horodynski.  ....

Ready for WiFi-7?

 Not really, until my supplier wants to invest in the upgrade.   But sounds good, much more below

NEWS

What Is Wi-Fi 7? Great capacity, less latency—here's how IEEE 802.11be achieves both 

Michael Koziol, 27 May 2022  in Spectrum IEEE Spectrum

New generations of Wi-Fi have sprung onto the scene at a rapid pace in recent years. After a storied five-year presence, Wi-Fi 5 was usurped in 2019 by Wi-Fi 6, only for the latter to be toppled a year later in 2020 by an intermediate generation, Wi-Fi 6E. And now, just a couple years later, we’re on the verge of Wi-Fi 7.

Wi-Fi 7 (the official IEEE standard is 802.11be) may only give Wi-Fi 6 a scant few years in the spotlight, but it’s not just an upgrade for the sake of an upgrade. Several new technologies—and some that debuted in Wi-Fi 6E but haven’t entirely yet come into their own—will allow Wi-Fi 7 routers and devices to make full use of an entirely new band of spectrum at 6 gigahertz. This spectrum—first tapped into with Wi-Fi 6E—adds a third wireless band alongside the more familiar 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz bands.   .... ' 

Wifi Attack Vulnerabilities

 Had cause to take a closer look at IOT, and other often Wifi enabled systems.   So their vulnerabilities is of concern.   Good intro piece in Wired:

Decades-Old Flaws Affect Almost Every Wi-Fi Device

The so-called Frag Attack vulnerabilities could let hackers steal data or compromise connected gadgets.

A SET OF vulnerabilities in how Wi-Fi is designed and used in practice expose virtually every Wi-Fi-enabled device to some form of attack. A handful of those flaws have been around since the original Wi-Fi standard debuted in 1997. 

The findings, publicly disclosed this week by New York University Abu Dhabi researcher Mathy Vanhoef, show that an attacker within Wi-Fi range of a target network could potentially exfiltrate data from a victim and compromise their devices. But while the sheer scale and scope of the exposure is staggering, many of the attacks would be difficult to carry out in practice, and not all Wi-Fi devices are affected by all of the flaws.  ... " 

WIFI Object Sensing

Schneier reports on Wi-Fi Devices as Physical Object Sensors in the new 802.11bf standard.   He mentions this is reported in TheRegister, but also that there is as yet no security standard involved. 

" .. In three years or so, the Wi-Fi specification is scheduled to get an upgrade that will turn wireless devices into sensors capable of gathering data about the people and objects bathed in their signals. ... " 

Sensing aspect of this is technically reported on here:  WiFi Sensing Project (SENS). 

Underwater WiFi

Was unaware of this possibility, of course devices will have to be redesigned to make it readily available.  Only works for a 'few' meters, so the capability narrow and limited.

Angling for Underwater Wi-Fi
KAUST Discovery
June 10, 2020

Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia built an underwater Wi-Fi system that could enable divers to transmit footage from underwater to the surface instantly by sending data through light beams. Researchers tested the Aqua-Fi system by simultaneously uploading and downloading multimedia between two computers located a few meters apart in static water, recording a maximum data transfer speed of 2.11 megabytes per second. The goal is to use radio waves to send data from a diver's smartphone to a "gateway" device attached to their gear, which would then send the data via a light beam to a computer at the surface connected to the Internet via satellite. Said King Abdullah University’s Basem Shihada, “This is the first time anyone has used the Internet underwater completely wirelessly.  .... " 

MIT Smart Surface Improves WiFi

From the images , seems it may be difficult to install, but having a more universal surface could be quite useful for smart home and business installations.

MIT's 'Smart Surface' Could Improve Your Wi-Fi Signal Tenfold   By Engadget

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have designed a prototype "smart surface" that can concentrate wireless radio signals to maximize reception.

The RFocus device has more than 3,000 minuscule antennas arranged by software into optimal receptive configurations, with control enabled via central beamforming rather than through transmitters and client devices. RFocus can improve signal strength nearly 10-fold without any signal amplification, and could potentially strengthen longer-ranged connections for Wi-Fi as well as high-band 5G.

The CSAIL researchers hope to find a way to produce the smart surface at scale, preferably as a thin, wireless "wallpaper." ..... '

From Engadget 

New Wifi Standard 6 Released.

Detailed piece.  Apple mentioned Wi-Fi 6 being supported in the latest phones.   Claims to be faster, and be more efficient for multiple users on a single network, promising for the smart home.   But you will need to get new hardware to get the advantages.

Faster Wi-Fi officially launches today   By Jacob Kastrenakes in theVerge

The next generation of Wi-Fi has been trickling out over the past year, but this week, its launch is going to accelerate. The Wi-Fi Alliance, the organization that oversees implementation of the Wi-Fi standard, is launching its official Wi-Fi 6 certification program. That might sound boring, but it means the Wi-Fi 6 standard is truly ready to go, and tech companies will soon be able to advertise their products — mostly brand new ones — as certified to properly support Wi-Fi 6.

Wi-Fi 6 includes a bunch of new technologies that combine together to make Wi-Fi more efficient. This is particularly important because of just how many devices we all have these days — it’s not unusual for a family to have a dozen or more gadgets all connected to a Wi-Fi network at once. “The home scenario today looks like the dense deployment of yesterday,” says Kevin Robinson, marketing leader for the Wi-Fi Alliance.  .... "

Wireless Networking for Everywhere

What are the implications for new infrastructure of Wifi Networking Everywhere?

Enterprise Networks in Cisco Blog
Next Generation Wireless Infrastructure for Intent-based Networking Everywhere   By Anand Oswal

We’ve come to expect that our mobile devices are always connected to our favorite applications and data sources via Wi-Fi and LTE. As enterprises move more resources to multiple domains—data center, campus, branch edge, and mobile cellular—always-available wireless connectivity for devices is not just a convenience, it’s essential for keeping business operations running. With many business processes dependent on cloud data storage and processing, there is no tolerance for network latency, congestion, or down-time from maintenance upgrades. Waiting for applications to respond because of overloaded Access Points (APs) hinders employee productivity and degrades customers’ experience. The explosive growth of IoT devices is adding yet another layer of complexity for ubiquitous Wi-Fi connectivity at a scale that will only grow over time.

To meet the demand for always-available connectivity for business and personal applications—especially those using rich, visual content—organizations will rely on the new Wi-Fi 6 standard for campus and intra-branch connectivity and LTE/5G for mobile and field connections to enterprise resources. The new technologies and improvements in Wi-Fi 6 are one reason we re-engineered Cisco Aironet Access Points, creating the new Catalyst 9100ax AP and the Catalyst 9800 series wireless controllers with augmented Wi-Fi 6 capabilities to provide always-available wireless connectivity coupled with always on-guard security for a multi-domain world of data and applications. ... " 

Network for Natural Disasters

Good idea, when will it move further, though also polluting.

IBM-Backed Project Creates Wi-Fi Network For Natural Disasters in SupplychainBrain

From a cramped living room in Brooklyn, New York, a handful of young computer nerds has developed a new way to use technology to help save lives in natural disasters.

They have designed tiny electronic nodes inside baseball-sized rubber casings that create a special Wi-Fi network spanning more than 100 square miles that can be used to connect victims and first responders. It’s a simple and relatively cheap concept, but during a natural disaster when cell towers topple, technology fails and entire communities fall into darkness — communication can be the difference between life and death.

The five young men met competing against each other at computer hackathons. They joined together to compete in a contest sponsored by International Business Machines Corp. last year called Call for Code, which asked developers to use cloud, artificial intelligence and other technologies to amplify preparedness for natural disasters. Their entry, Project Owl, which stands for Organization, Whereabouts, and Logistics, uses a “clusterduck” network made of hubs that resemble rubber ducks, which can float in flooded areas. Once deployed, civilians are able to get on their cellphone to connect with first responders. Emergency workers are also able to learn about weather and get information data analytics through the cloud. .... "

Improving Wifi Security

Wifi is so commonly used, it needs to be secure in its basic defaul tuse.

Enterprise Wi-Fi: We Need Devices That Are Secure by Default
By Alberto Bartoli, Eric Medvet, Andrea De Lorenzo, Fabiano Tarlao , Communications of the ACM, May 2019, Vol. 62 No. 5, Pages 33-35
10.1145/3319912  

Would you trust security technology that makes it possible (that is, quite likely) to steal the single sign-on enterprise credentials of any specific person in your enterprise by merely walking within 30 meters from that person? The attacker does not need to do any visible activity that might raise suspicions: a 50-euros device in a bag and a few seconds of physical proximity is all that is needed. Active cooperation of the target is not required and Internet connectivity is not required either. Thus, the attack may occur anywhere and the target would not notice anything. The attacker could steal the single sign-on credentials of a large fraction of people of your enterprise that happen to pass within 30 meters from the attacker. Perhaps at the office lunchroom, near a mass-transportation hub, or anywhere outside of the enterprise.  .... (Abstract)

WiFi as Hospitality, Retail Value

Now having experienced Wifi in Hospitality since its inception, I recall having a conversation with a Hotel Chain innovation group.  At the time they were unconvinced that Wifi had value, and there too many dangers.    Things have changed and continue to evolve.  Incentivizing repeat business.  Now a days I mostly wander through retailers checking stocking and possible product use, and the Wifi experience could be much better.  They need to make it very clean, and incentivize repeat business and value with the right data.  You are an edge of the retail IOT.  And how about making the edge more intelligent as an assistant?

Wi-Fi Without Reservations   By McCall Bunn in Cisco Blog

Partner Success Story

Providing high-quality Wi-Fi is an IT investment most businesses incur. Customers expect Wi-Fi at every destination. It is crucial to post pictures of appetizers, split checks, and look up the difference between ‘bucatini’ and ‘fettuccini’. It has become a necessity when dining out.

And a large hospitality group, previously known as Batali and Bastianich (B&B), with locations around the world, already knew this. Yet they had a problem offering quality connection in several of their Las Vegas restaurants. And, they were struggling to identify their customers. So, they came to a Cisco Solution Partner iValu8 for help.

B&B agreed to a one-month trial with iValu8 to pilot VivaSpotTM, a marketing campaign platform that runs over Wi-Fi, which then implements Cisco Meraki as the reliable and scalable way to power the solution.

Not only were their customers now able enjoy high-quality Wi-Fi during the trial, but they began to collect customer data to incentivize repeat business, gather feedback, and amplify the hospitality group’s social media presence. They could track the results in real-time and launch campaigns on any device from any location. And, free Wi-Fi became a key marketing assets.

With multiple locations around Las Vegas, VivaSpot also cross-promoted other properties of the hospitality group when customers logged-on to their current Wi-Fi. And the results? An overall increase in spend from customers’ during their stay at all of the properties.

The hospitality group found so much success with the pilot, they’re ordering more. They are bringing Cisco Meraki and iValu8’s VivaSpot to eleven different locations from NYC to LA. Taking the group from a one-month trial to over $100,000 in revenue.  ... "

Converting Wifi to Electricity

Converting Wi-Fi signals to electricity with new 2-D materials
Device made from flexible, inexpensive materials could power large-area electronics, wearables, medical devices, and more.

By Rob Matheson | MIT News Office 

Imagine a world where smartphones, laptops, wearables, and other electronics are powered without batteries. Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have taken a step in that direction, with the first fully flexible device that can convert energy from Wi-Fi signals into electricity that could power electronics.

Devices that convert AC electromagnetic waves into DC electricity are known as “rectennas.” The researchers demonstrate a new kind of rectenna, described in a study appearing in Nature today, that uses a flexible radio-frequency (RF) antenna that captures electromagnetic waves — including those carrying Wi-Fi — as AC waveforms. .... " 

5G is Here from AT&T

Been reading much about 5G. To what degree will it replace Wifi?   Its in parts of some cities this week in test.

AT&T flips the switch on mobile 5G in 12 cities this week
But you can only use it with a mobile hotspot for now. ....  

In Engadget.  Jon Fingas, @jonfingas

Use WiFI to See Behind Walls

An expected privacy ploy.  More presence rather than details?

Using Wi-Fi to 'See' Behind Closed Doors Is Easier than Anyone Thought 
Technology Review

University of California, Santa Barbara researchers have developed a technique to see through walls using ambient Wi-Fi signals and an ordinary smartphone. The team said the new method allows for an unprecedented invasion of privacy, as bad actors using smartphones can localize and track individuals in their homes or offices from outside by leveraging reflections of ambient Wi-Fi transmissions. The system looks for changes in an ordinary Wi-Fi signal that reveal the presence of humans, which can be detected by walking near a room or building several times. The researchers said that "with more than 2 Wi-Fi devices in a regular room, our attack can detect more than 99% of the user presence and movement in each room we have tested."   ... '

Roomba Beta Advances

iRobot Launches Beta Program to Test Smarter Home Features for Roombas  By Evan Ackerman  in IEEE Spectrum

Robots like the 900 series Roomba, which have the ability to make detailed maps of your home while they do chores, are poised to become much more useful than they've ever been. These maps are in the process of enabling all kinds of new features, most of which we can only guess at, but iRobot will be giving us a peek at what they're working on with a late Christmas present: a new beta program for Roombas.

In a next step to make the smart home smarter, iRobot today announced a new Beta feature that allows customers to view a Wi-Fi Coverage Map created by Roomba. The Wi-Fi Coverage Map feature is the first to be available as part of iRobot Beta, a program that enables a limited number of iRobot customers to trial unreleased product features for the company’s consumer robots. iRobot Beta is accessed through the iRobot HOME App and will be available in mid-January (US only).

WiFi Map
Wi-Fi Coverage Mapping is a Beta feature that enables Roomba 900 Series vacuums to detect WiFi signal strength throughout a user’s home to highlight areas that may have poor connectivity. Users can then work to determine ways to fix Wi-Fi issues, resulting in an improved customer experience when using connected devices within the home. Users simply start a Roomba cleaning job, and the robot will collect Wi-Fi signal information as it cleans. Upon completion, users will receive a notification to view the Wi-Fi Coverage Map that was generated. The user will be able to toggle between the familiar Clean Map™ Report, which shows where Roomba cleaned, and the Wi-Fi Coverage Map. ... "

Gigabit Wifi System from ATT Labs

Continued expansion of fast internet.

" .. AT&T Labs (Recently) announced a new wireless technology called Airgig, designed to transmit data at gigabit speeds over existing power infrastructure. The system would move the data between routers at the top of utility poles, transmitting data wirelessly over the millimeter waveband, also known as "gigabit wifi." AT&T expects the first field trials of the system to begin next year.

The announcement comes after a number of major investments in millimeter wave systems. Google is actively exploring the technology as a last-mile replacement for Google Fiber, and Facebook is planning to deploy its own version of the technology in San Jose later this year. In January, Aereo founder Chet Kanojia revealed a system called Starry that would use the same technology to provide home internet at gigabit speeds. ... "