System and method for phase manipulation attack protection and detection in AoA and AoD

A method of detecting a malicious attack during an Angle of Departure operation, comprising:

• using a network device having a wireless network interface, wherein the wireless network interface comprises an antenna array having a plurality of antenna elements and an analog multiplexer, to generate an antenna switching pattern;
• using the network device to transmit a packet to a tag device that includes a constant tone extension (CTE), wherein the CTE comprises a tone having a known frequency and wherein the CTE comprises a plurality of switch slots and a plurality of sample slots, wherein the antenna element used to transmit the CTE during each sample slot is determined from the antenna switching pattern;
• transmitting the antenna switching pattern from the network device to a position engine;
• receiving, at the position engine, data indicative of the CTE signal received by the tag device;
• and
• performing an action, based on phase information obtained from the data indicative of the received CTE, in response to a detected malicious attack.

A software program, comprising a first portion and a second portion, disposed on a non-transitory storage media, comprising instructions, wherein,

• when the first portion is executed by a processing unit disposed on a network device comprising a wireless network interface, wherein the wireless network interface comprises an antenna array having a plurality of antenna elements, enables the network device to:
• generate an antenna switching pattern;
• transmit a packet that includes a constant tone extension (CTE) to a tag device, wherein the CTE comprises a tone having a known frequency and wherein the CTE comprises a plurality of switch slots and a plurality of sample slots, wherein the antenna element used to transmit the CTE during each sample slot is determined from the antenna switching pattern;
• and
• transmit the antenna switching pattern to a position engine;
• and
• wherein, when the second portion is executed by a processing unit disposed on the position engine comprising a wireless network interface, enables the position engine to:
• receive the antenna switching pattern from the network device;
• receive data indicative of a received CTE signal from the tag device;
• perform an action, based on phase information obtained from the data indicative of the received CTE, in response to a detected malicious attack.