On Dropping Needles and WiFi Link Crossing

Abstract

In a general simulation of random walking (with the angle of motion picked uniformly), it can be seen that the probability of crossing a WiFi TX-RX link is directly proportional to the per-step distance and inversely proportional to the lateral dimension of the room. The asymptotic value of the said crossing probability is derived using Perron-Frobenius theory to determine the limit distribution of the said Markov model. Surprisingly, we can establish a bijection to a scenario explored nearly 300 years ago by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon to get the result. Furthermore we can use the generalizations of the latter problem to ascertain some interesting observations about the original one.