Context by signal

Context By Signal℠ is an observation framework. We offer a web service to extract and analyze information from wireless packet captures. We use packet analysis to reveal the wireless environment. This is wireless context.

Most network analysis tools are built for use by professionals in corporate environments. These tools are costly, they require professional training, and their use is generally restricted to site planning and monitoring. Packet analysis is highly specialized, narrowly scoped, and expensive. The greater the transmission speed, the greater the volume of data. The data overhead adds to the complexity. Density and opacity constrain use.

Context By Signal analyzes packet captures to construct context and enlarge the scope of what we know about the wireless world around us. This world is our environment.

The services we offer are useful at home and on the job. If you can do a wireless packet capture, we can use that capture to tell you about your context.

The point of capture is the observation point. The more packet captures you collect, the more observation points you make them from, the greater the visibility of the wireless environment.

Site planners need context to provision networks. WiFi users need context to network at home and on the go. Greater context makes it easier to differentiate typical patterns of use from those that are anomalous. At home or at work, wireless context makes it easier to create usable networks.

Try It

Try Context By Signal℠. All you need is an 802.11 (WiFi) frame capture. A capture file represents the WiFi data within range of the collection point over a period of time. The collection point is the device that operates the frame collection application.

To learn about how you can collect WiFi frames, see Get Started.

• The file must be formatted as a .pcap or .pcapng file.
• There is no charge to use this early release of Context By Signal℠.
• Submit one file at a time.
• For now, the maximum file size is 100 MB.
• Batch capabilities will be added in the near future.