WiFiSim: Simulating WiFi Probe Requests via AOSP Analysis and Device Behavior Modeling

Abstract

WiFi probe request (PR) frames encode fine-grained device interactions and serve as a critical basis for mobility and crowd analytics. However, pervasive MAC address randomization and the scarcity of labeled datasets hinder progress in PR-based studies. We introduce WiFiSim, a simulation framework that reconstructs PR generation through Android Open Source Project (AOSP) protocol analysis and finite-state device behavior modeling. WiFiSim identifies the key determinants of PR structure and timing while capturing realistic user-driven state transitions. Experiments show that WiFiSim achieves less than 5% deviation from real measurements in both distributional and temporal dynamics, scales to large-scale dataset synthesis, and enables reliable evaluation of downstream applications. Source code and sample datasets are publicly released to foster reproducible research.