How can I enable real detection on my laptop using its Wi-Fi adapter?

[yruson]

This is an interesting project, and I'm trying to test it using Docker on my laptop running Ubuntu 24-bit.

It started successfully as instructed, but it always uses simulated data. How can I use real human detection data to verify the results? Thank you.

$ docker run -p 3000:3000 -p 3001:3001 ruvnet/wifi-densepose:latest
2026-03-01T15:11:19.108589Z INFO sensing_server: WiFi-DensePose Sensing Server (Rust + Axum + RuVector)
2026-03-01T15:11:19.108756Z INFO sensing_server: HTTP: http://localhost:3000
2026-03-01T15:11:19.108787Z INFO sensing_server: WebSocket: ws://localhost:3001/ws/sensing
2026-03-01T15:11:19.108789Z INFO sensing_server: UDP: 0.0.0.0:5005 (ESP32 CSI)
2026-03-01T15:11:19.108805Z INFO sensing_server: UI path: /app/ui
2026-03-01T15:11:19.108824Z INFO sensing_server: Source: simulated
2026-03-01T15:11:19.108834Z INFO sensing_server: Data source: simulated
2026-03-01T15:11:19.108845Z INFO sensing_server: Vital sign detector sample rate: 10.0 Hz
2026-03-01T15:11:19.109296Z INFO sensing_server: Simulated data source active (tick=100ms)
2026-03-01T15:11:19.109828Z INFO sensing_server: WebSocket server listening on 0.0.0.0:3001
2026-03-01T15:11:19.110210Z INFO sensing_server: HTTP server listening on 0.0.0.0:3000
2026-03-01T15:11:19.110218Z INFO sensing_server: Open http://localhost:3000/ui/index.html in your browser

[ruvnet]

Thanks for trying it out. The Docker image defaults to --source simulated because it can't access the host's WiFi hardware from inside the container. To get real human detection data, you need CSI-capable hardware — here are your options from most to least capable:

Option 1: ESP32-S3 mesh (recommended — full CSI, ~$24-54)

This gives you real 56-subcarrier CSI at 20 Hz — the only path to actual pose estimation and vital signs.

# Flash 3x ESP32-S3 boards with pre-built firmware
# https://github.com/ruvnet/wifi-densepose/releases/tag/v0.1.0-esp32

# Run the server in ESP32 mode (--network host so UDP:5005 reaches the container)
docker run --network host ruvnet/wifi-densepose:latest --source esp32

The ESP32 nodes stream binary CSI frames over UDP to port 5005. See Tutorial #34 for the full flashing + provisioning walkthrough.

Option 2: Intel 5300 or Atheros AR9580 NIC (~$15-20, Linux native CSI)

If you have one of these research NICs with the CSI-extraction firmware/driver patch installed (iwl-csi for Intel 5300, ath9k patched for Atheros), you can feed CSI data to the ESP32 ingestion path. These are Linux-native and would work on your Ubuntu machine.

Option 3: Linux RSSI scanning (not yet implemented)

You're on Ubuntu, so the Windows netsh RSSI path (ADR-022) doesn't apply directly. A Linux equivalent using iw dev wlan0 scan or nmcli would follow the same subprocess pattern, but this adapter doesn't exist yet. It's a natural follow-up to:

• ADR-022 (Windows netsh RSSI adapter — implemented)
• ADR-025 (macOS CoreWLAN RSSI adapter — proposed, #56)

A Linux iw-based adapter would be the third platform in the same pattern: subprocess → parse → BssidObservation → 8-stage RSSI pipeline. This would give you presence and motion detection from your laptop's built-in WiFi (no extra hardware), but not pose estimation or vital signs — RSSI is too coarse for that.

What you can verify right now (no hardware)

The deterministic reference signal proves the signal processing pipeline is real:

# Inside the repo
python v1/data/proof/verify.py

This runs the full CSI → phase sanitization → feature extraction → motion detection chain on a known input and verifies the output matches expected values.

---

TL;DR: Simulated mode is expected without CSI hardware. For real detection: ESP32-S3 mesh ($24-54) is the recommended path. A Linux RSSI adapter (iw dev based) would let your laptop do coarse presence/motion detection — that's a good candidate for a future PR if you're interested in contributing.

[ruvnet]

Update: Linux WiFi adapter now available!

Good news — we just merged cross-platform RSSI support. You now have a native Linux path:

Linux iw adapter (new)

# Build from source
cd rust-port/wifi-densepose-rs
cargo build --release -p wifi-densepose-sensing-server

# Run with Linux WiFi (requires root for active scanning)
sudo ./target/release/sensing-server --source linux --http-port 3000 --ws-port 3001 --tick-ms 500

The LinuxIwScanner adapter parses iw dev wlan0 scan output. It supports:

• Active scan (iw dev <iface> scan) — requires CAP_NET_ADMIN / root
• Cached scan (iw dev <iface> scan dump) — reads cached results, may work without root

Note: This gives you RSSI-only sensing (presence/motion detection). For full pose estimation you still need CSI-capable hardware (ESP32-S3 at ~$8 is the cheapest path).

See the updated User Guide for setup instructions.

[qhyou11]

I have just build the new rust code, but it still actived with simulated data source.
$ sudo ./sensing-server --source linux --tick-ms 500 --ui-path ./ui --http-port 3000 --ws-port 3001

2026-03-02T09:40:40.401242Z INFO sensing_server: WiFi-DensePose Sensing Server (Rust + Axum + RuVector)
2026-03-02T09:40:40.401279Z INFO sensing_server: HTTP: http://localhost:3000
2026-03-02T09:40:40.401289Z INFO sensing_server: WebSocket: ws://localhost:3001/ws/sensing
2026-03-02T09:40:40.401304Z INFO sensing_server: UDP: 0.0.0.0:5005 (ESP32 CSI)
2026-03-02T09:40:40.401309Z INFO sensing_server: UI path: ./ui
2026-03-02T09:40:40.401316Z INFO sensing_server: Source: linux
2026-03-02T09:40:40.401326Z INFO sensing_server: Data source: linux
2026-03-02T09:40:40.401335Z INFO sensing_server: Vital sign detector sample rate: 2.0 Hz
2026-03-02T09:40:40.401382Z INFO sensing_server: Simulated data source active (tick=500ms)
2026-03-02T09:40:40.401417Z INFO sensing_server: WebSocket server listening on 0.0.0.0:3001
2026-03-02T09:40:40.401582Z INFO sensing_server: HTTP server listening on 0.0.0.0:3000
2026-03-02T09:40:40.401589Z INFO sensing_server: Open http://localhost:3000/ui/index.html in your browser
^C2026-03-02T09:40:41.041667Z INFO sensing_server: Shutdown signal received
2026-03-02T09:40:41.041806Z INFO sensing_server: Server shut down cleanly

The prompt of the cli show that --source only accept: auto, wifi,esp32,simulate

      --source <SOURCE>
          Data source: auto, wifi, esp32, simulate [default: auto]

And in the main.rs:

    match source {
        "esp32" => {
            tokio::spawn(udp_receiver_task(state.clone(), args.udp_port));
            tokio::spawn(broadcast_tick_task(state.clone(), args.tick_ms));
        }
        "wifi" => {
            tokio::spawn(windows_wifi_task(state.clone(), args.tick_ms));
        }
        _ => {
            tokio::spawn(simulated_data_task(state.clone(), args.tick_ms));
        }
    }

[utrack]

I just hit the same issue.
It seems like the whole project is full of promises made into facts by AI agents, jfyi. https://github.com/ruvnet