WI-FI Tracker: an Organization WI-FI Tracking System

Abstract

Path and location tracking are one of the main interesting and fast growing applications in mobile and wireless communications. The developments of such systems have interested many research, industrial and government bodies with solutions that range in scale and accuracy. The GPS system, cell based tracking in cellular networks are just few examples. However such technologies have their limitations. GPS does not work inside buildings, cellular systems are not owned by organizations and only work with mobile phones and have high subscription fees. The prototype implemented in this paper illustrates a simple path and location tracking system within an organization based on its available infrastructure Wi-Fi network. By using signal strength and histories of access points used by a mobile node we can provide an approximate determination of the location in the services area and also the moved path of the mobile node. In our work we use Web services for location services to enable queries and manage the path and location of the mobile node. The system has shown impressive results that enable software developers to provide useful types of location based service applications for organizational tasks