I want to ask about the possibility for getting the channel state information CSI of the surrounding WiFi APs using developing an android application in a smartphone.
As you know that the CSI information is more preferable than RSSI values for the indoor localization and positioning services. CSI provides the PHY wireless communication information from the WiFi, including CSI values for the channel subcarriers, detailed payload records, the channel frequency, the time stamp the packet is received, the transmitted payload length, the payload error type, the data rate, the channel bandwidth, the subcarrier number, the number of transmitting and receiving antenna, the RSSI of the combination of all active receiving chains and the detailed RSSI of each chain.
I know this is possible using laptop device equipped with WiFi Intel 5300 NIC module and using many types of CSI tools.
I have already developed an android app to scan the surrounding wifiAPs and gathering the MAC, SSID and RSSI information of each visible APs using android APIs platforms.
But, now my aim is to get these above mentioned PHY wireless communication information programability through developing an android application on the smartphones through periodic scanning, is it possible and supported by android API platforms?
Please, any can give me links, insights or android code example about this issue??
Probably no current smartphone API allows the Wi-Fi PHY layer information (CSI) to deliver to the application layer. However, using some sort of pilot signal and covert channels by hacking the AP can give some insights into the channel information. Fetching CSI using COTS AP and smartphone is still a matter of further research.