CODEWITHSUNDEEP
securityscapyrssiwifi
C1837
C1837

Reputation: 23

Analysing RSSI on Wi-Fi Networks

I am using scapy and a Wi-Fi card in monitor mode to extract data from probe requests and beacon frames travelling across a Wi-Fi network. Is it possible to use the RSSI to estimate distance of the device sending packets from the device I am using to pick them up? How does the value given in RSSI work - does it decrease over the life of the packet?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 489

Answers (2)

Krzysztof Sawicki
Krzysztof Sawicki

Reputation: 414

You can use RSSI to estimate position of the access point but you need to have more information, for example angle of arrival (AoA) or direction of arrival (DoA). In fact RSSI will be only additional information in that case :-)

To estimate the position you need to have good directional antenna (not omnidirectional), much time to do many measurements, good knowledge of math and physics, and patience. And the results will be still not so good :-)

Upvotes: 0

jmlemetayer
jmlemetayer

Reputation: 4952

The RSSI is a measurement of the power present in a received radio signal.

It is not a protocol mechanism (like the TTL).

Moreover, the value you will get is related to a physic variable (the radio signal power) which is not related to the distance. By example, a far radio station with a high radio power could have a stronger RSSI than a close radio station with a low radio power.

Upvotes: 1

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