Wi-Fi Multilateration - Passive Tracking of Wireless Devices

Wireless devices constantly send signals in search of access points or routers proactively. These signals can be measured according to the strength of the signal and, depending on the position of the access points, they can be triangulated to determine an estimated position of the device. In the case of the addition of more than three access points, multilateration is used to triangulate the position of the devices between the access points. There are, however, several factors that can influence the captured signal that make tracking a task not straightforward.

This thesis requires the study and evaluation of multilateration techniques to verify their accuracy (simulated or tested in real devices - which can be made available), as well as to identify relevant factors that influence the determination of the positioning of the tracked devices.