{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T04:10:27Z","timestamp":1760242227662,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,1,13]],"date-time":"2017-01-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1484265600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Science Foundation of China (NSFC)","award":["61601180","61601181"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["61601180","61601181"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012226","name":"Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2016MS17"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2016MS17"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012226","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Program for Innovation Team Building at colleges and universities in Chongqing, China","award":["CXTDX201601006"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CXTDX201601006"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Tracking people\u2019s behaviors is a main category of cyber physical social sensing (CPSS)-related people-centric applications. Most tracking methods utilize camera networks or sensors built into mobile devices such as global positioning system (GPS) and Bluetooth. In this article, we propose a non-intrusive wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi)-based tracking method. To show the feasibility, we target tracking people\u2019s access behaviors in Wi-Fi networks, which has drawn a lot of interest from the academy and industry recently. Existing methods used for acquiring access traces either provide very limited visibility into media access control (MAC)-level transmission dynamics or sometimes are inflexible and costly. In this article, we present a passive CPSS system operating in a non-intrusive, flexible, and simplified manner to overcome above limitations. We have implemented the prototype on the off-the-shelf personal computer, and performed real-world deployment experiments. The experimental results show that the method is feasible, and people\u2019s access behaviors can be correctly tracked within a one-second delay.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s17010143","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,1,13]],"date-time":"2017-01-13T10:08:37Z","timestamp":1484302117000},"page":"143","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["A Non-Intrusive Cyber Physical Social Sensing Solution to People Behavior Tracking: Mechanism, Prototype, and Field Experiments"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yunjian","family":"Jia","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Communication Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3344-4463","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhenyu","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fei","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Communication Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Peng","family":"Duan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Communication Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zhen","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guoxin Tendering Group Co., Ltd., Beijing 100044, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shahid","family":"Mumtaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Telecomunica\u00e7\u00f5es, Campus Universit\u00e1rio de Santiago, Aveiro 3810-193, Portugal"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,1,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.comcom.2012.09.006","article-title":"Cyber-physical systems: Milestones and research challenges","volume":"36","author":"Park","year":"2012","journal-title":"Comput. Commun."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"375","DOI":"10.1049\/iet-com.2014.0337","article-title":"Game-theoretic approach to energy-efficient resource allocation in device-to-device underlay communications","volume":"9","author":"Zhou","year":"2014","journal-title":"IET Commun."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.1109\/MCOM.2015.7120046","article-title":"Cloud Assisted HetNets toward 5G Wireless Networks","volume":"53","author":"Zhang","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Mag."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1116","DOI":"10.1109\/JSAC.2016.2520244","article-title":"Energy-Aware Traffic Offloading for Green Heterogeneous Networks","volume":"34","author":"Zhang","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE J. Sel. Area Commun."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85","DOI":"10.1109\/MIS.2010.104","article-title":"The Emergence of Intelligent Enterprises: From CPS to CPSS","volume":"25","author":"Wang","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Intell. Syst."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1145\/2834119","article-title":"A System-Level Modeling and Design for Cyber-Physical-Social Systems","volume":"15","author":"Zeng","year":"2016","journal-title":"ACM Trans. Embed. Comput. Syst."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"609","article-title":"Analytic challenges in social sensing","volume":"Volume 2","author":"Ammari","year":"2014","journal-title":"The Art of Wireless Sensor Networks"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Huang, C., Marshall, J., Wang, D., and Dong, M.X. (2016, January 23\u201327). Towards Reliable Social Sensing in Cyber-Physical-Social Systems. Proceedings of the IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium, Chicago, IL, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/IPDPSW.2016.132"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"225","DOI":"10.1109\/TPDS.2015.2388482","article-title":"Joint Optimization of Lifetime and Transport Delay under Reliability Constraint Wireless Sensor Networks","volume":"27","author":"Dong","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Parall. Distr."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2010","DOI":"10.1587\/transinf.2015INP0005","article-title":"MDMA: A Multi-Data and Multi-ACK Verified Selective Forwarding Attack Detection Scheme in WSNs","volume":"E99-D","author":"Liu","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEICE Trans. Inf. Syst."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"30942","DOI":"10.3390\/s151229835","article-title":"PHACK: An Efficient Scheme for Selective Forwarding Attack Detection in WSNs","volume":"15","author":"Liu","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1145\/2818183","article-title":"Mobile Crowd Sensing and Computing: The Review of an Emerging Human-Powered Sensing Paradigm","volume":"48","author":"Guo","year":"2015","journal-title":"ACM Comput. Surv."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"78","DOI":"10.1109\/MC.2015.83","article-title":"People Tracking in Camera Networks: Three Open Questions","volume":"48","author":"Thakoor","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Comput."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Kulkarni, P., Ganesan, D., Shenoy, P., and Lu, Q.F. (2005, January 6\u201311). SensEye: A multi-tier camera sensor network. Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Multimedia, Singapore."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1699","DOI":"10.1007\/s00779-012-0604-4","article-title":"RFID-based indoor location tracking to ensure the safety of the elderly in smart home environments","volume":"17","author":"Kim","year":"2012","journal-title":"Pers. Ubiquit. Comput."},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Jin, S.C., and Zhou, M.C. (2012, January 11\u201314). Design issues in ZigBee-based sensor network for healthcare applications. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Networking, Sensing and Control, Beijing, China."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Thiagarajan, A., Biagioni, J., Gerlich, T., and Erikssonet, J. (2010, January 3\u20135). Cooperative transit tracking using smart-phones. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems, Zurich, Switzerland.","DOI":"10.1145\/1869983.1869993"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.1109\/MWC.2010.5416353","article-title":"Bluetooth-enabled in-home patient monitoring system: Early detection of Alzheimer\u2019s disease","volume":"17","author":"Cheng","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Wirel. Commun."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.5120\/17499-8039","article-title":"GPS and GSM based Passenger Tracking System","volume":"100","author":"Dalip","year":"2014","journal-title":"IJCA"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gember, A., Akella, A., Pang, J., Varshavsky, A., and Caceres, R. (2012, January 14\u201316). Obtaining in-context measurements of cellular network performance. Proceedings of the Internet Measurement Conference, Boston, MA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/2398776.2398807"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wu, F.J., Luo, T., and Liang, J.C.J. (2015, January 7\u20139). A crowdsourced WiFi sensing system with an endorsement network in smart cities. Proceedings of the IEEE Tenth International Conference on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing, Singapore.","DOI":"10.1109\/ISSNIP.2015.7106968"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"219","DOI":"10.1007\/s11416-013-0196-1","article-title":"I know your MAC address: Targeted tracking of individual using Wi-Fi","volume":"10","author":"Cunche","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Comput. Virol. Hack. Tech."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"Luo, C., Cheng, L., Chan, M.C., and Gu, Y. (2016). Pallas: Self-bootstrapping Fine-grained Passive Indoor Localization Using WiFi Monitors. IEEE Trans. Mob. Comput., 1\u201314."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Schwab, D., and Bunt, R. (2004, January 7\u201311). Characterising the Use of a Campus Wireless Network. Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Communications, Hong Kong, China."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Balachandran, A., Voelker, G.M., Bahl, P., and Rangan, P.V. (2002, January 15\u201319). Characterizing User Behavior and Network Performance in a Public Wireless LAN. Proceedings of the ACM Sigmetrics Performance Evaluation Review, Marina Del Rey, CA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/511334.511359"},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Henderson, T., Kotz, D., and Abyzov, I. (October, January 26). The Changing Usage of a Mature Campus-wide Wireless Network. Proceedings of the International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking, Philadelphia, PA, USA."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Balazinska, M., and Castro, P. (2003, January 5\u20138). Characterizing Mobility and Network Usage in a Corporate Wireless Local-area Network. Proceedings of the International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services, San Francisco, CA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/1066116.1066127"},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Hsu, W., and Helmy, A. (2005, January 13\u201317). Impact: Investigation of mobile-user patterns across university campuses using WLAN trace analysis. Proceedings of the IEEE INFOCOM, Miami, FL, USA."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1734","DOI":"10.1109\/TMC.2011.254","article-title":"Structural Analysis of User Association Patterns in University Campus Wireless LANs","volume":"11","author":"Hsu","year":"2012","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Mob. Comput."},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Blinn, D.P., Henderson, T., and Kotz, D. (2005, January 6\u20138). Analysis of a Wi-fi Hotspot Network. Proceedings of the International Workshop on Wireless Traffic Measurements & Modeling, Seattle, WA, USA."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"Hsu, W., and Helmy, A. (2006, January 3\u20136). On Modeling User Associations in Wireless LAN Traces on University Campuses. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad-Hoc and Wireless Networks, Boston, MA, USA."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"Chinchilla, F., Lindsey, M., and Papadopouli, M. (2004, January 7\u201311). Analysis of Wireless Information Locality and Association Patterns in a Campus. Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Communications, Hong Kong, China."},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Ojala, T., Hakanen, T., Makinen, T., and Rivinoja, V. (2005, January 27\u201330). Usage Analysis of a Large Public Wireless LAN. Proceedings of the International Conference on Wireless Networks, Las Vegas, NV, USA."},{"key":"ref_34","unstructured":"Hutchins, R., and Zegura, E.W. (May, January 28). Measurements from a Campus Wireless Network. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Communications, New York, NY, USA."},{"key":"ref_35","unstructured":"Papadopouli, M., Shen, H., and Spanakis, M. (2005, January 10\u201313). Characterizing the duration and association patterns of wireless access in a campus. Proceedings of the 11th European Wireless Conference, Nicosia, Cyprus."},{"key":"ref_36","unstructured":"Monitor Mode. Available online: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Monitor_mode."},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"IEEE Computer Society (2012). Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, IEEE."},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"TCPDUMP\/LIBPCAP. Available online: http:\/\/www.tcpdump.org."},{"key":"ref_39","unstructured":"MySQL. Available online: http:\/\/www.mysql.com."},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"The GTK+ Project. Available online: http:\/\/www.gtk.org."},{"key":"ref_41","unstructured":"Vanhoef, M., Matte, C., and Cunche, M. (June, January 30). Why MAC Address Randomization is not enough: An Analysis of Wi-Fi Network Discovery Mechanisms. Proceedings of the Computer and Communications Security, Xi\u2019an, China."},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"Rgaard, M.B., and Nurmi, P. (2012, January 25). Challenges for social sensing using WiFi signals. Proceedings of the ACM Workshop on Mobile Systems for Computational Social Science, Low Wood Bay, Lake District, UK."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/17\/1\/143\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T18:26:09Z","timestamp":1760207169000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/17\/1\/143"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,1,13]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,1]]}},"alternative-id":["s17010143"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s17010143","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1424-8220"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,1,13]]}}}