---
license: gpl-3.0
tags:
- wifi
- mimo
- wireless-sensing
- CSI
- Beamforming-Feedback-Information
pretty_name: BeamSense
size_categories:
- 100B<n<1T
---

# BeamSense: MU-MIMO Beamforming Feedback Dataset for Wi-Fi Sensing
## Dataset Summary

BeamSense is a large-scale MU-MIMO Wi-Fi sensing dataset built upon Beamforming Feedback Information (BFI) and Channel State Information (CSI) collected from commodity 802.11ac devices.
The dataset corresponds to the research presented in:

- **BeamSense: Rethinking Wireless Sensing with MU-MIMO Wi-Fi Beamforming Feedback (Computer Networks, 2025)**

- **BFA-Sense: Learning Beamforming Feedback Angles for Wi-Fi Sensing (PerCom Workshops, 2024)**

BeamSense contains synchronized BFI, BF angles, and CSI samples from multiple Wi-Fi stations (STAs) under different environments and orientations. It is designed for:

- Human activity recognition with Beamforming Feedback Information (BFI) and CSI
- Gesture recognition with Beamforming Feedback Information (BFI) and CSI
- Device-free sensing with BFI
- Cross-domain generalization
- Beamforming Feedback analysis
- Beamforming Feedback-based attacks
- Wi-Fi sensing algorithm development

## Dataset Contents

- Raw Beamforming Feedback Packet Captures: Contains BF report packets (BFI), and PHY metadata
- Synchronized CSI: Extracted from PCAPs using Nexmon-modified pipelines
- Synchronized BFI and CSI 


## Multi-Environment, Multi-Day Collection: 

- Includes data from: Office, Classroom, and Kitchen environments
- LOS and NLOS cases
- Multiple days of data collection
- 3 Different human subjects perform 20 different activities in multiple environments and orientations
- Spatially diverse data from multiple STAs

## How To Use

### Download the Dataset

Download the dataset with 
```
hf download foysalhaque/BeamSense \
  --repo-type dataset \
  --local-dir your_directory/BeamSense_HF
```

You will have a directory structure like
```
your_directory/BeamSense_HF/
    BeamSense_Dataset_aa
    BeamSense_Dataset_ab
    BeamSense_Dataset_ac
    ...
    README.md
    data.json
```

**These BeamSense_Dataset_aa, BeamSense_Dataset_ab, … files are split parts of one large ZIP file.**

Move into the download directory with ```cd your_directory/BeamSense_HF/``` and Combine all pieces into one ZIP with 
``` cat BeamSense_Dataset_* > BeamSense_Dataset.zip ```. This produces a large file which is around 180 GB.

Extract the combined ZIP with ``` unzip BeamSense_Dataset.zip -d BeamSense_Data```


### MATLAB BFI Extraction

```
./Feedback_split_STAs.sh
cd BFI_Extraction
matlab -nojvm -nosplash -r "pcap_to_bfa; exit"
matlab -nojvm -nosplash -r "bfa_to_batches; exit"
```

### MATLAB CSI Extraction

```
cd CSI_Extraction
matlab -nojvm -nosplash -r "Extract_CSI; exit"
matlab -nojvm -nosplash -r "CSI_to_batches; exit"
```

## Citation

If you find our work and the dataset useful, please cite the following works:

```
@article{haque2025beamsense,
  title={BeamSense: Rethinking wireless sensing with MU-MIMO Wi-Fi beamforming feedback},
  author={Haque, Khandaker Foysal and Zhang, Milin and Meneghello, Francesca and Restuccia, Francesco},
  journal={Computer Networks},
  pages={111020},
  year={2025},
  publisher={Elsevier}
}
```
```
@inproceedings{haque2024bfa,
  title={BFA-Sense: Learning Beamforming Feedback Angles for Wi-Fi Sensing},
  author={Haque, Khandaker Foysal and Meneghello, Francesca and Restuccia, Francesco},
  booktitle={2024 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops},
  pages={575--580},
  year={2024},
  organization={IEEE}
}
```

## Contact

For dataset questions or access issues:

K. Foysal Haque </br>
Northeastern University </br>
Email: haque.k@northeastern.edu