The researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have nailed it. They might have just discovered the new-age Wi-Fi that renders passwords redundant and paves the way for safer drones and smarter Internet-equipped homes.

Named Chronos, the system simply needs one Wi-Fi access point to detect people "within tens of centimeters" without the assistance of any external sensors. This means it can automatically adjust the cooling and heating of a space by sensing the number of people in a room. Where an existing device will typically determine a person's position with the help of multiple Wi-Fi points, Chronos provides 20 times more accurate localization with the help of a single point.

Venkat Padmanabhan, who's a principal researcher at Microsoft Research India, said, "By devising a method to rapidly hop across these channels that span almost one gigahertz of bandwidth, Chronos can measure time-of-flight with sub-nanosecond accuracy, emulating with commercial WiFi what has previously needed an expensive ultra-wideband radio. This is an impressive breakthrough and promises to be a key enabler for applications such as high-accuracy indoor localization."

A test conducted by the researchers in a two-bedroom apartment showed 94 percent accuracy in detecting which room was occupied by an individual. A similar test in a café differentiated the "out-of-store" intruders from in-store customers with 97 percent accuracy – a remarkable way of eliminating Internet theft from such small spaces and businesses. Another usefulness of this system comes in the form of the drones maintaining a safe distance from its operator with a mere 4-centimeter (1.5-inch) margin error.

PhD student Deepak Vasisht, who's co-authoring the paper with the research lead Dina Katabi and former PhD student Swarun Kumar, summed up their findings with this statement: "From developing drones that are safer for people to be around, to tracking where family members are in your house, Chronos could open up new avenues for using Wi-Fi in robotics, home automation and more. Designing a system that enables one Wi-Fi node to locate another is an important step for wireless technology."

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