Wi-Fi Beamforming Tech Can Identify Individuals by Gait

Pedestrians Uniquely Refract Directional Radio Signals Greg Sirico • November 10, 2025

The way you use your walk - specifically when striding through a Wi-Fi field shaped by directional antennae - can reveal who you are, found a clutch of German researchers who investigated the surveillance potential of wireless routers.

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Wi-Fi networks now saturate cities, and more of those wireless access points can direct signals toward users through technology known as beamforming. The technology itself is not new. It's how underwater sonar works. But it's becoming ubiquitous in urban settings as the share of access points built for beamforming grows. It became part of the official Wi-Fi standard in 2013 with publication of the Wi-Fi 5 standard, technically known as 802.11ac.

Any device connected to a beamforming access point must regularly send ...