Robust In-Car Child Presence Detection using Commercial WiFi

In-car child presence detection (CPD) has become a crucial vehicular safety measure to prevent heat-related injuries or fatalities of unattended children. However, existing CPD solutions based on sensors and cameras have limitations in accuracy, coverage, and additional cost. To address these challenges, leveraging existing in-car WiFi facilities has emerged as a promising solution. Nevertheless, current WiFi-based CPD solutions are not robust against environmental impacts and often generate unnecessary detection alerts when an adult is present in the car. In this demonstration, we propose a novel, robust CPD architecture designed to enhance performance under various conditions while minimizing false alarms. Our design incorporates three main systems: presence detection, seat localization, and child vs. adult classification. To validate the system's performance, we developed a prototype using existing WiFi devices operating at 5 GHz and conducted a series of experiments. Please find the project page with the URL: https://sites.google.com/originwirelessai.com/in-car-cpd.