Preamble-based detection of Wi-Fi transmitter RF fingerprints

A correlation detection technique based on the steady-state part of the preamble is presented for the detection of the reference instants of the received Wi-Fi signal. The reference instants are detected by a sliding correlator, which estimates the time instant when the transmitter finished power ramp-on and is entering the first complete period of its preamble. The proposed technique is demonstrated by experiments on the Wi-Fi DSSS preamble and it is shown that the separability of Wi-Fi transmitter RF fingerprints detected by the sliding correlator outperforms that of the Bayesian ramp detector and threshold-based detectors.