Year: 2024
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Wi-Fi is one of the most notable and prevalent wireless technologies today. Smartphones and other Wi-Fi-enabled devices find nearby networks using management frames known as probe-requests. In this paper, we infer the state of smartphones by passively monitoring their transmitted probe-requests. We leverage the differential behaviour of probe-request bursts and their content, based on their device states such as active/static screen and Wi-Fi/power-saving mode ON/OFF. We use a Random Forest based approach that can successfully predict smartphone states just leveraging individual bursts. Based on an evaluation using a real-world dataset of more than 200 smartphones (having a variety of operating systems), with ground truth data available, we show that our model reliably predicts states with accuracy ≥ 98%.
Authors: Abhishek Kumar Mishra, Mathieu Cunche
Institutions: Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique, PRIVATICS: Modèles, architectures et outils pour la protection de la vie privée dans la société de l'information, Center of Innovation in Telecommunications and Integration of Service, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon
Language: English
Topic: Green IT and Sustainability
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4400221423