Abstract
Abstract
Radio is a local-first system for inventorying nearby signals that the host may lawfully and passively observe. It combines desktop receiver workflows, optional local hardware adapters, user-controlled mobile ingest, salted local profiles, and evidence packages for authorized site surveys and personal environments. The product does not claim that ambient radio observations identify a person, and it excludes active interference, credential collection, forced pairing, spoofing, packet injection, and jamming. This paper explains the evidence model and why a consent-bounded observation system must preserve uncertainty.
Introduction
Nearby radio signals can be useful operational evidence without being identity proof. A site survey may need to inventory an access point, a lab may need to verify a receiver workflow, and an authorized environment may benefit from a local history of observed signal conditions. Radio treats these tasks as local observation, not surveillance. The distinction is central because modern devices randomize identifiers and radio strength alone is not a reliable distance or identity measure.
The desktop system can collect permitted Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and local-network observations where platform support and user permissions allow. It can accept additional observations from explicitly connected hardware or mobile applications. It stores salted fingerprints and summaries by default instead of preserving raw device identifiers in the profile database.
System Design
Radio organizes observations into local signal profiles, co-occurrence profiles, scan sessions, and optional event evidence packages. The local runtime stores its salt, profiles, session summaries, and mutable receiver-app data under a dedicated application state directory. Operators can label profiles for authorized equipment or environments and can reset the local dataset by removing that state.
The system includes receiver-oriented workflows for supported radio hardware, including receive configuration, sweep and scanner preparation, signal and audio diagnostics, and decoder handoff where a separate decoder is required. Those workflows remain distinct from claims of decoding every radio service. A receiver can report readiness or route to an external decoder without turning a dashboard control into proof that a protected or encrypted transmission is accessible.
Use Cases
Appropriate uses include authorized device inventory, site surveys, lab receiver testing, local environmental comparison, and review of a known receiver or adapter setup. A Vision-triggered event can attach a nearby signal context to an event window, but that context is evidence about observed conditions, not a conclusive identity assertion. The design goal explicitly separates co-presence, location support, and identity hypotheses from a claim that an ambient signal proves who a person is.
The tool is also useful for learning and maintaining local receiver workflows. A user can prepare an analog or data receiver profile, review required components, and retain scanner settings without relying on a cloud dashboard. The user remains responsible for antenna choice, local law, receiver licensing, and the meaning of an observation.
Privacy and Operational Boundaries
Radio is limited to legal, passive observation in authorized settings. It does not include active probing, deauthentication, packet injection, spoofing, credential cloning, jamming, or attempts to bypass operating-system privacy controls. The product does not promise direction finding from a single Mac, reliable distance from received signal strength, or person identification from infrastructure-only observations.
Mobile and hardware ingest are optional and user initiated. Platform restrictions matter: general Wi-Fi inventory is not available to ordinary iOS applications, while Android capabilities depend on runtime permissions and device policy. These distinctions prevent the product from promising a uniform observation surface across devices.
Limitations and Implications
The core limitation is epistemic. A profile describes a repeated emitter or environment under the recorded conditions; it does not establish a human identity. Hardware, antenna placement, receiver gain, environmental changes, and operating-system privacy behavior all affect what a scan can show. Evidence packages should preserve the mode, time, source status, and comparison context that make a result reviewable.
The implication is that local signal tools are most responsible when they surface their uncertainty. By retaining local summaries, avoiding raw identifier retention by default, and drawing a hard line against active interference, Radio supports practical observation without converting ambient data into a claim it cannot justify.
References
- Radio package documentation. Local passive observation, data layout, receiver workflows, and boundaries. Accessed July 2026.
- Radio design goal. Self-contained radio and visual presence-unit evidence model and limits. Accessed July 2026.
- Radio distribution documentation. Desktop packaging, dependencies, and receiver notices. Accessed July 2026.