Visualizing Wireless Signals
This is the documentation for the flash application I made that visualizes wi-fi networks in the area. The desired output device is a mobile phone or portable handheld projector. I’ve organized this post into different sections which document my process.
PROPOSAL
The image below is a mock-up of how I initially envisioned the project. My initial concept was a fully immersive experience using goggles with an attached camera. However I quickly realized that a fully immersive Augmented Reality experience carries with it some problems. Clunky goggles with a mounted camera and the need to carry around the attached computer or be wired to one. I’ll be publishing a more in depth post about my experience with Augmented Reality later.
WIRELESS DETECTION
OsXDaily reports about a hidden feature in Terminal that allows full control over the GUI Airport menu utility. From this point I was able to make a cron job that generated an XML file of the data every minute.
airport -s -I -xml
SSID BSSID RSSI CHANL. SECURITY (auth/unicast/group)
vawolfman 00:12:0e:72:90:00 -80 9 WEP
RISD-SETUP 00:11:88:44:09:06 -70 6 NONE
RISDWIFI 00:11:88:d1:f1:a2 -73 1 WPA2(802.1x/AES/AES)
RISD-ROAMABOUT 00:11:88:d1:f1:a0 -72 1 WEP
RISD-GUEST 00:11:88:d1:f1:74 -75 1 NONE
RISD-SETUP 00:11:88:41:e0:c6 -77 1 NONE
RISDWIFI 00:11:88:d1:f1:72 -76 1 WPA2(802.1x/AES/AES)
RISD-GUEST 00:11:88:41:e0:c4 -71 1 NONE
RISDWIFI 00:11:88:41:e0:c2 -71 1 WPA2(802.1x/AES/AES)
RISD-ROAMABOUT 00:11:88:41:e0:c0 -71 1 WEP
xRISD-GUEST 00:1a:1e:92:03:80 -70 1 NONE
RISD-GUEST 00:11:88:43:dc:44 -60 11 NONE
RISDWIFI 00:11:88:d1:f0:d2 -72 11 WPA2(802.1x/AES/AES)
RISD-ROAMABOUT 00:11:88:43:dc:40 -60 11 WEP
RISD-SETUP 00:11:88:d1:f0:d6 -72 11 NONE
RISD-GUEST 00:11:88:d1:f0:d4 -72 11 NONE
RISD-ROAMABOUT 00:11:88:d1:f0:d0 -72 11 WEP
RISDWIFI 00:11:88:43:dc:42 -60 11 WPA2(802.1x/AES/AES)
VISUALIZATION
Once I had an XML feed of the data I had Adobe Flash parse the file to retrieve the wireless SSID and RSSI info. The data is then used to create particle systems in flash that represent the wireless network. I chose cubes for a number of reasons. I liked the reference to bit packets that they seemed to conjure. The three dimensional cube shape allows me to easily change the perspective using data from an accelerometer like that built into an iPhone or laptop which is directly inspired by Johnny Lee’s Ted Talk.
FINAL
The final is a work in progress flash application. A video of the application is below.
INSPIRATION
- Outside Lies Magic: John R. Stilgoe
- This American Life: True ghost story that appeared in a medical journal in 1921. After a “Mrs H” and her family moved into an old rambling house, strange apparitions started appearing…until her brother-in-law figured out the real cause of the ghostly presences… Carbon Monoxide.
- frequencies that can not be seen…
- H+ Magazine [fall 2008]
- Spiritualism – Art + Technology in the 19th Century.
- Symbolism
- Johnny Lee’s Ted Talk
REFERENCES