PicoScenes Wi-Fi ISAC Platform

PicoScenes is a middleware for Wi-Fi integrated sensing and communication (Wi-Fi ISAC) research. It addresses key barriers in the field by providing comprehensive hardware support and advanced software functionality for CSI measurement and analysis.

What PicoScenes Does

PicoScenes enables researchers to extract and analyze Channel State Information (CSI) from a wide variety of hardware platforms, from commercial Wi-Fi cards to software-defined radios. It provides unified APIs and tools that simplify complex Wi-Fi sensing tasks.

Hardware Support

Commercial Wi-Fi NICs

Intel Wi-Fi 6E/6 Cards:

AX210: First platform to enable CSI extraction for 802.11ax frames using commodity hardware, supports up to 160 MHz bandwidth and Wi-Fi 6 GHz band access (5945-7125 MHz)
AX200: Full 802.11ax support with CSI measurement capabilities

Legacy Support:

QCA9300 (Qualcomm Atheros AR9300): Arbitrary frequency tuning, 2.4 GHz spectrum availability, manual Rx gain control (0-66 dB)
IWL5300 (Intel Wireless Link 5300): Classic research platform support

Software-Defined Radio (SDR)

Supported SDR Devices:

USRP Series: All USRP models with full Wi-Fi NIC functionality
HackRF One: Complete SDR-to-Wi-Fi transformation capabilities

SDR Capabilities:

Full protocol compliance up to Wi-Fi 7 (802.11a/g/n/ac/ax/be)
All bandwidths (20/40/80/160/320 MHz) and coding schemes (LDPC, BCC)
Up to 4x4 MIMO support
Real-time CSI measurement up to 1 kHz at 20 MHz bandwidth

Key Technical Features

Multi-Format CSI Extraction

PicoScenes supports CSI measurement across all Wi-Fi standards:

802.11a/g/n/ac/ax/be: Complete format compatibility
Monitor Mode: CSI measurement from overheard frames using surrounding Wi-Fi devices
Multi-Stage Information: Raw I/Q streams, L-LTF CSI, HT/VHT/HE/EHT-LTF CSI, CFO/SFO estimation

Advanced Capabilities

Multi-NIC Concurrent Measurement: Simultaneous CSI collection from multiple devices
Packet Injection: All-format, all-bandwidth packet transmission
Real-Time Processing: High-performance real-time CSI measurement and analysis
Signal Record/Replay: Capture and replay functionality for timing-tolerant research

Software Architecture

Plugin System

PicoScenes uses a plugin-based architecture that encapsulates hardware controls into unified APIs:

EchoProbe Plugin: Provides round-trip CSI measurement and spectrum scanning
Custom Plugins: Framework for developing specialized measurement tasks
Mission-Focused Development: Simplified prototyping of complex CSI applications

MATLAB Integration

PicoScenes MATLAB Toolbox (PMT): Native MATLAB parsing for .csi files
Drag-and-Drop: Simple file import into MATLAB environment
Versioned Format: Forward-compatible data structure across platform updates

System Management

Debian Packaging: Easy installation via .deb packages
Automatic Updates: Platform updates through standard apt commands
Quick Setup: Fresh installation possible in ~10 minutes

Research Applications

PicoScenes enables various Wi-Fi sensing research areas:

Array-Based Sensing: Multi-antenna CSI measurement simplified through multi-NIC support
Spectrum Analysis: Wide-band spectrum scanning and analysis
Protocol Research: Full access to PHY-layer information across Wi-Fi standards
Real-Time Applications: High-performance processing for time-sensitive applications

Upcoming Features (Q1 2025)

The platform is undergoing major refactoring with planned features including:

Multi-Thread Processing: Enhanced robust Rx decoding
Multi-Pipeline Decoding: Simultaneous decoding across multiple channel bandwidths
Carrier Aggregation: High-performance 160/320 MHz channel processing
Radar Implementation: Up to 320 MHz bandwidth radar capabilities
Windows Support: Platform porting for NI USRP devices

Getting Started

PicoScenes is available with documentation and installation guides at ps.zpj.io .