Position Aware Services

Client location tracking is designed to manage a wireless environment and its resources. The Positioning Engine works in conjunction with the ExtremeCloud IQ Controller floor plans to define specific areas for Position Aware Services.

The Positioning Engine determines location based on measured Received Signal Strength (RSS) of the client stations at the AP. The location algorithm uses RF fingerprinting based on a Path Loss model and determines location by triangulating RSS reported from one or more APs.

To improve efficiency of external location related applications, ExtremeCloud IQ Controller exposes a notification event conveying significant changes in the X/Y positioning of an associated device relative to the site floor plan. When you have a Positioning Profile configured, Location Update messages are available as a subscribe-able event. Programmers can leverage the ExtremeCloud IQ Controller Python SDK as a method to access and subscribe to such events. Each station event contains the following information:

MULOG_TYPE_LOCATION
AP MAC address
Floor ID
EID_LOCATOR_POINT_SET (This binary payload contains one set of X/Y coordinates and the probability as 32-bit integers.)

Python SDK is required to access the Location Update messages. For programmable access to ExtremeCloud IQ Controller Python SDK, see Python SDK. The messages are not visible in the ExtremeCloud IQ Controller user interface.

To suppress Location Update messages, access the Positioning Profile within the device group configuration Profile, and set the Collection setting to Off.

Client Location Tracking is supported on:

AP39xx
Wi-Fi 6 AP models

Estimating location using readings from multiple APs provides a more accurate location estimate. Estimating location using RSS from a single AP is sufficient to determine the location of client in terms of proximity to the associated AP. The client location is indicated on the map with an icon that is representative of the specific client type. The Positioning Engine tracks location of multiple clients simultaneously and returns position relative to the floor plan. The Positioning Engine can be configured to track associated users (active clients) or all users. When Positioning is configured for all clients, Location Update messages are sent for all tracked MAC addresses — both associated clients and non-associated clients.

Associated User. An associated user is an authenticated client. An associated user joins the SSID provided by the AP by simply associating to the open or protected SSID. Positioning Engine can track location for every associated client up to the ExtremeCloud IQ Controller model limit of associated clients.
Un-Associated User. An unassociated user is a client that is not authenticated but is in the designated area. Positioning Engine can track these clients.