802.11 wireless has truly blossomed in the past decade, moving from a technology that was primarily a productivity enhancement for verticalized industries to one now pervasive in the modern technology aware society. The wide-spread acceptance of Wi-Fi networks has fueled this dramatic adoption, from deployments in offices and distribution centers to homes and ever-multiplying wireless metropolitan areas. Maturing rapidly and reaching critical mass, this widespread adoption has driven down the cost of wireless infrastructure dramatically and has resulted in the availability of higher quality equipment at lower cost.

The rapid increase in the adoption rate of Wi-Fi coupled with the availability of high quality infrastructure at reasonable cost are key factors behind the flurry of commercial and academic activity regarding Wi-Fi location-based services. Not to be confused with passive RFID solutions or solutions using non-802.11 active RF tags and readers, research and development progress in Wi-Fi location prediction techniques have facilitated the emergence of indoor RF location tracking systems based entirely on IEEE 802.11 infrastructure. In combination with the frenetic race to implement RFID systems in the consumer and distribution supply chains, these have all combined to form a perfect storm of sorts, transforming what was once a general market passing interest in location-based services into one that looks upon 802.11-based Location-Based Services (LBS) as potentially the next killer" application for Wi-Fi wireless.