How to convert WIFI RSSI to Wii Strength level in the menu bar on Mac OSX?

Question

I can get the WIFI RSSI value. but I don’t know how to convert it to a Wi-Fi power level, as we can see in the menu on Mac OSX (if I get strong Wi-Fi, the wifi status will be in bold on all 4 lines of the Wi-Fi icon).

Are there any methods or libraries that I can use for this? thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I don’t think you will find anything in the API for this.

I think you might have to use Science ™ and do a manual test, literally moving away from the WiFi access point with a laptop in your hand, noting the RSSI values ​​on which the WiFi signal indicator icon changes. Do this several times, and you will most likely find a correlation. I cannot imagine that it would take more than ten or fifteen minutes to get a good range of sample values.

It might be worth a try with several types of Macs, if possible.

Answer 2

There is no public API for this. You will have to figure it out yourself. Perhaps you can use something simple (RSSI + 100) / 8, and then pin the result between 0 and 4 bars. In addition, you will want to use a moving average for several seconds so that the bars do not jump if the signal ends in a boundary case or jumps around. PS: AFAIK, Apple uses a more sophisticated algorithm that takes into account the transmission speed.