Distance detection may help secure Wi-Fi

Intel Corp. is developing a way to locate a Wi-Fi user by timing how long it takes for packets to travel to and from a wireless access point, which could prevent users outside a house or office from accessing a Wi-Fi network indoors.

Precision location technology is one of several key ideas for the next few years that Justin Rattner, Intel senior fellow and director of the company's Corporate Technology Group, showed off during a keynote presentation on the last day of the Fall Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco Thursday.

Knowing where a system is located could also be an invaluable aid in finding and fixing hardware problems in data centers and for informing mobile device users of places or services nearby, Rattner said. The satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) works well outdoors but generally not indoors, he said. Triangulation among Wi-Fi access points based on signal strength is available today indoors but isn't precise enough for many uses, Rattner said. This led Intel to study other systems.