IEEE 802.11bf WLAN Sensing Procedure: Enabling the Widespread Adoption of WiFi Sensing

Abstract

In recent years, WiFi has been shown to be a viable technology to enable a wide range of sensing applications, such as device-free localization, motion recognition, or human identification. Due to the growing interest in WiFi sensing, Task Group IEEE 802.11bf (TGbf) was formed to develop an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 standard that will enhance its ability to support WiFi sensing and applications. In this article, we identify and describe the main definitions and features of the IEEE 802.11bf amendment as defined in its D0.5 draft. Our focus is on the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) sensing procedure, which supports bistatic and multistatic WiFi sensing in license-exempt frequency bands below 7 GHz. We also present an overview of basic sensing principles, and provide a detailed discussion of features defined in the IEEE 802.11bf amendment that enhance client-based WiFi sensing.