Support for location-based services

FortiOS supports location-based services by collecting information about WiFi devices near FortiAPs, even if the devices do not associate with the network.

WiFi devices broadcast packets as they search for available networks. The FortiGate WiFi controller can collect information about the interval, duration, and signal strength of these packets. Through FortiPresence, you can use this information to track and analyze the movements of the device owner. FortiPresence processes the data and displays it in an analytics dashboard. The device owners are not personally identified, each is known only by the MAC address of their WiFi device.

After enabling location tracking on the FortiGate unit, you can confirm that the feature is working by using a specialized diagnostic command to view the raw tracking data.

Pole Star location-based services

Managed FortiAP units can be configured to scan Pole Star BLE asset tags and send the scanned data to the Pole Star's NAO Cloud. This enables wearable devices with BLE asset tags to communicate with FortiAPs via their built-in Bluetooth radios. The data forwarded to the cloud service is processed by Pole Star and analytics are generated to map the location of each asset.

For more information, see Pole Star NAO Cloud service integration