WiFi imaging sees through walls …
p2pnet news view | Cool:- How about this for Ãber Cool?
Wi-Fi X-Ray!
Researchers at the University of Utah says they’ve found a way to image, localize, and track motion behind walls in real-time.
In other words, they say they can see through solid matter.
And they’re using WiFi to do it.
Say Joey Wilson and Neal Patwari in their abstract »»»
The method takes advantage of the motion-induced variance of received signal strength measurements made in a wireless peer-to-peer network.
Using a multipath channel model, we show that the signal strength on a wireless link is largely dependent on the power contained in multipath components that travel through space containing moving objects.
A statistical model relating variance to spatial locations of movement is presented and used as a framework for the estimation of a motion image.
From the motion image, the Kalman filter is applied to recursively track the coordinates of a moving target. Experimental results for a 34-node through-wall imaging and tracking system over a 780 square foot area are presented.
“In a mission-critical application, we envision a building imaging scenario similar to the following,” they say in Through-Wall Motion Tracking Using Variance-Based Radio Tomography Networks, going on »»»
Emergency responders, miltary forces, or police arrive at a scene where entry into a building is potentially dangerous. They deploy radio sensors around (and potentially on top of) the building area, either by throwing or launching them, or dropping them while moving around the building. The nodes immediately form a network and self-localize, perhaps using information about the size and shape of the building from a database (e.g., Google maps) and some known-location coordinates (e.g., using GPS).
Then, nodes begin to transmit, making signal strength measurements on links which cross the building or area of interest. The RSS measurements of each link are transmitted back to a base station and used to estimate the positions of moving people and objects within the building.
Now you know. 
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
October, 2009
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October 5th, 2009 at 10:18 am
another privacy killer… how can that be “cool”? We all know what’s that going to be used for… SURVEILLANCE. Can’t the human mind actually invent something for a true benefic goal? I only hear about more big brother, more spying, more weapons, more censorship,…
October 5th, 2009 at 10:21 am
@ kylekatarn
“how can that be ‘cool’?”
Locating people in fires, hostage situations, collapsed buildings, earthquakes, etc, etc … ?
Cheers!
October 5th, 2009 at 10:31 am
vid of it in use.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifQkbMJ_sXM
October 5th, 2009 at 10:34 am
paint your walls with layers of this stuff should do the trick.
http://www.engadget.com/2004/08/12/it-was-only-a-matter-of-time-defendair-radio-shield-paint/
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=block+wifi
wasn’t so hard.
October 5th, 2009 at 11:27 am
…finding masterbaters to post on the internet, locating incriminating silhouettes of cheating celebrities, checking ahead to see if a house’s occupants are asleep or out…
October 5th, 2009 at 11:30 am
…Yes, like a lot of ideas that CAN be used for good (remember “the internet”?), it will be end up yielding even more “creative” uses.
October 5th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Guess the paranoid people who wrapped their houses up in tin foil because they where being watched, did not have it wrong.
The newer method is now zinc-oxide paint; blocks the signal better than the foil and is easier to apply.
October 5th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Development of this technology to the point of usability is guaranteed to be a tool for government to spy on people.
Although only yet developed to the point of being able to detect movement, in time there’s no reason why it could not be refined into a system for “photographing” through walls.
In theory, it’s not much different from the decades-old science of geophysical well-logging, which enables the ability to “see” sub-surface geology remotely.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
The idea of taser-toting police was sold to the public based on the promise that tasers would save lives by serving as a less-lethal subsitiute for a firearm. But guess what? Police now routinely use tasers in everyday situations in which they would never have even considered using a gun, while the death toll from tasers keeps rising.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
So, we should never invent anything with potential beneficial uses because
it will be used for ‘bad’ purposes.
Hmmm, we’re starting to sound like the RIAA.
P2P should be destroyed because some people don’t use it for
good.
Sorry, I have got to go along with any invention has a right to exist as long as it
has ’substantial legal uses’.
Sound familiar ?
No ? Don’t feel bad. Most lawmakers couldn’t tell you where that quote comes
from either.
Every invention ever conceived can be used for good OR ill.
Knives, guns ,sticks, VHS, P2P .. Google Earth ( had to slip that in ; ) ).
If inventing must be banned because of potential bad uses we might
as well have just stayed in our caves and never come out.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Any cool technology will be abused, the matter is not to let the state abuse it.
October 5th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
If someone wants to spy on you, they will probably choose one of the multitude of other technologies available. Thermal imaging, cameras, eavesdropping on communications…… This doesn’t seem to give any new capabilities for surveillance purposes.
That being said….. it is really cool.
October 5th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
We’ll need oversight committees to monitor those using the technology. Anything invasive should have restricted access to materials to build it. It’s like weapons or drugs, who cares if you read up on how it is made, nothing wrong with that, some people are curious. But if you start ordering materials to produce said illegal/dangerous good, then you will (hopefully) be caught and punished.
People should be educated about how the technology works and if they want to paint their house with zinc-oxide paint or wrap it in tinfoil or whatever, it’s their right to do so. However, the use of the technology still has to be regulated, no paparazzi or “security” guys can have it. Any time police use it, extensive documentation, non-erasable/modifiable memory of everything (location, video, audio), full disclosure to the public inquiry committee is a must! Basically, if you’re going to use it for anything, we want to make sure if you’re using it for bad, you’re hung out to dry! Especially if you are a government agency or police force.
As always, accountability MUST accompany anything relating to invasion of any sort of privacy. And not a wrist slap either, if a civilian used the technology to catch a cheating wife, they would be severely punished. If it were police abusing the technology, they MUST be severely punished as well (paid days off is NOT a punishment!).
October 5th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Yes, but is anyone considering what DAMAGE high powered wi-fi might cause to the people
who are being watched using it??? might be a great tool, might be a BAD WAY to die!!
October 5th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
@Jon
“Locating people in fires, hostage situations, collapsed buildings, earthquakes, etc, etc ⦠?”
ppl in fires?; thermal imaging — for the departments that can afford it.. and thats a mature tech… i can only imagine what this would cost…
hostage situations?; strategic positions of well trained snipers among many other tools (sometimes including.. you guessed it… thermal imaging…)
collapsed buildings?; ppl sniffing dogs… teeny tiny cameras that can be snaked through the rubble… how would you get the transmitter/reciver to see through a collapsed building anyway? its -collapsed- … where do you plan to stick the transmitter(s)?
earthquakes?; see above unless you had another idea since detecting them is the territory of yet another very mature tech
its an interesting idea with a high cool and geek factor… but honestly not a practical one… 34 ‘nodes’ for 780 sq feet to get a pixelated image? only time will tell what becomes of this… (if anything)
October 5th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Those of you who painted the house with zinc-oxide – are you getting hallucinations now?
It looks like humans need Earth’s magnetic field to function.
October 5th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Even if it isn’t practical now, it’s a new technology. My guess is that someone will at least use the wave properties/math from this invention to improve something else. Or, it could be improved to function as a practical tracking device.
Keep the new technology articles coming.
October 5th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
“Or, it could be improved to function as a practical tracking device.”
triangulation with cellphone towers (already used by police) or existing wifi hotspots whose location was known (was an app that did this… cant remember its name now tho… but while it worked it wasnt reliable…) and of course the all-encompasing GPS…
and of course thermal imaging comes into play when looking for a someone who does not have an electronic device of their own…
this type of tracking for home automation perhaps(for a -very- smart house)? im lost for ideas of what this could be used for that doesnt already have a ‘finished’ alternative…
October 5th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
“i’m lost for ideas of what this could be used for that doesn’t already have a âfinishedâ alternative⦔
Exactly, it’s new. No one knows what advantages or disadvantages a ‘finished’ (I’m using that word loosely because no technology is ever finished until it’s completely obsolete) form of this technology might have over existing alternatives. Can it be made to be more efficient than something else? Does the fact it relies on electromagnetic waves instead of photons make it more attractive than thermal imaging for some applications?
We cannot dismiss a technology completely just because its proof of concept doesn’t “wow” everyone.