A prototype of an in-situ radio sensing and visualization device

In this work we present a first evaluation of a prototype for visualizing radio propagation in space. Thereby the developed device presents a novel approach in the way radio signal information is captured and visualized to the user. The work is based on the rationale that humans are good at discovering patterns and detecting changes even in complex data. Therefore we also aim to visualize information which is not extensively preprocessed. Thus, the described device presents a research tool using which we hope to investigate our hypotheses that by employing an appropriate visualization a human may draw conclusions on the position of a radio source or gain an understanding on the waves´ spatial distribution. Besides this motivation the work is especially driven by ongoing research in which an ad-hoc wireless sensor network (WSN) to support indoor navigation of firefighters[3] was developed. The nodes of this WSN are deployed by the firefighters. As ad-hoc WSNs still pose a challenge for localization or tracking algorithms e.g.[5], different approaches seem worthwhile exploring. Furthermore, a device which is able to illustrate radio propagation in a descriptive manner could also provide a powerful didactic tool and supply novel research questions for the field of networked sensing systems and ubicomp.