can a router detect client device without inntiating something from the devices

Question

my questions is this:

can a router detect other wifi clients (such as smartphones PDA, etc...), from his side, without doing any router search at the device?

the operational scenario is: plurality of wifi devices, and one router. the devices are not activly trying to connect to a router. the router needs to preform some sort of scan and provide a list of wifi devices aorund it - but without creating a network with them.

forgive me if i am not using the proper technical terms.

we are sart-up company with a novel RF technology, and we need to understand how to apply it to the wifi world.

any help is highly appreciated.

thanks!

Answer 1

By definition, no, a wireless router does not "scan" for devices: it (usually) broadcasts it's SSID for other devices to be able to connect to it's wireless access point/network.

There's likely some high-end radio frequency scanning equipment out there that can detect the presence of non-broadcasting wi-fi devices (and maybe get a MAC address), but I can't comment much further on that as I have no experience with wi-fi at that level.

It's not really clear what you're trying to do, perhaps you can describe the ideal scenario for your product and we can help you determine what will work, what won't, etc.