Method and apparatus for proximity sensing on a communication device

A method comprising:

• generating, by a first transmitter of a communication device, a first electromagnetic wave that propagates along and is guided by a physical transmission medium of the communication device;
• generating, by a second transmitter of the communication device, a second electromagnetic wave that propagates along the transmission medium;
• detecting, by a processing system of the communication device, a first disturbance in the first electromagnetic wave;
• detecting, by the processing system, a second disturbance in the second electromagnetic wave;
• and
• determining, by the processing system, a position of a physical object in proximity to the physical transmission medium according to the detecting of the first and second disturbances and according to a determination that the first and second electromagnetic waves were transmitted to a first receiver and a second receiver of the communication device, respectively.

A non-transitory machine-readable storage device, comprising instructions, wherein responsive to executing the instructions, a processing system of a communication device performs operations, the operations comprising:

• detecting a first disturbance in a first electromagnetic wave of a first group of electromagnetic waves that propagates along and is guided by a physical transmission medium of the communication device;
• detecting a second disturbance in a second electromagnetic wave of a second group of electromagnetic waves that propagates along the transmission medium;
• identifying a first receiver that received or was intended to receive the first electromagnetic wave, the first receiver being identified from among a group of first receivers of the communication device;
• identifying a second receiver that received or was intended to receive the second electromagnetic wave, the second receiver being identified from among a group of second receivers of the communication device;
• and
• determining a position of a physical object in proximity to the transmission medium according to the identifying of the first and second receivers.