Ricky Hill: GeoLocation of Wireless Access Points and "Wireless GeoCaching"

GeoLocation of 802.11b Access Points is not a trivial task. As wardrivers who?ve stumbled various networks with a GPS unit will attest, "Netstumbler doesn't provide the real location of access points". Instead, it provides an estimate of where the software thinks they are. Why should this be so? In a comparative sport made popular by the proliferation of portable GPS units, GeoCachers routinely find their "caches" or treasures with amazing accuracy. The Wardrving community should be able to do the same... This talk is about 802.11b Access Point location. The project's primary goal is to build a novel hardware & software configuration that can be used with wardriving gear and Netstumbler to geoLocate AP's as they?re encountered. Various methods of radio location are discussed along with a new game we'll call "Wireless GeoCaching." The Presentation will include details of the hardware - construction of a rotating, stepper-motor driven directional antenna, and the software: Netstumbler and Visual Basic. Video and photos of the actual GeoLocation/ GeoCaching sessions will be shown. No prerequisite - only an interest in Network Stumbling, GeoCaching and Wireless Technology. Rick Hill, CISSP, CWSP works as an information systems security engineer for Tenacity Solutions, Inc., an IT consulting firm based in Reston, VA. Specializing in Wireless Security, his day job involves certification and accreditation of govt. networks, site survey, and network security assessment. Mr. Hill's been involved in hardware and electronics for most of his career including a 10 year stint for ITT Automotive where he designed and built equipment including ABS brake systems, image processing, and robotic control applications. A previous speaker at DEFCON ("WarRocketing - Network Stumbling 50 square miles in less than 60 seconds"), Rick's after work interests include powerboating, netstumbling, and shooting high power rockets. He also holds a technician class amateur radio license (KG4BSY), which he uses primarily for telemetry and investigating new wireless applications.