IDG Contributor Network: Wi-Fi-based positioning improves access point security

Imagine if your router could detect a user’s location to within a few inches? For one thing, hotspot password protection becomes redundant because geographic authentication takes over—the router can be configured to only allow access from within a location, an apartment, say. In-café users could be allowed access without passwords, yet freeloaders on the street get blocked.

Researchers think they’ve worked out how to do it.

The system “locates users by calculating the ‘time-of-flight’ that it takes for data to travel from the user to an access point,” says Adam Conner-Simons in a recent MIT News article. And it does it with a single access point. That’s unlike other setups that require four or five access points for triangulation-like measuring. One access point determining a user’s position means costs should be lower, and individuals or small businesses can take advantage of the tech.

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