New technology can track movement behind walls - Indian Express

PTI : Washington, Sun Jun 30 2013, 13:00 hrs Scientists are developing a new technology that could give us 'X-ray' vision with the ability to track moving humans hiding in closed rooms or behind walls. Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory are using low-cost wi-fi technology to develop the system that spots movement of people in rooms or behind walls. "We wanted to create a device that is low-power, portable and simple enough for anyone to use, to give people the ability to see through walls and closed doors," said Dina Katabi, a professor in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Researchers have long attempted to build a device capable of seeing people through walls. However, previous efforts to develop such a system have involved the use of expensive and bulky radar technology that uses a part of the electromagnetic spectrum only available to the military. The new system, called "Wi-Vi", is based on a concept similar to radar and sonar imaging. But in contrast to radar and sonar, it transmits a low-power wi-fi signal and uses its reflections to track moving humans. It can do so even if the humans are in closed rooms or hiding behind a wall. As a wi-fi signal is transmitted at a wall, a portion of the signal penetrates through it, reflecting off any humans on the other side. However, only a tiny fraction of the signal makes it through to the other room, with the rest being reflected by the wall, or by other objects. "So we had to come up with a technology that could cancel out all these other reflections, and keep only those from the moving human body," Katabi said. To do this, the system uses two transmit antennas and a single receiver. The two antennas transmit almost identical signals, except that the signal from the second receiver is the inverse of the first. ... contd. ALSO READ Acer unveils Iconia W3 tablet at Rs 27,999 Nervous Indian IT industry hopes for changes to US immigration Bill Cyrus Mistry assures TCS AGM on US visa rejection issue Facebook to pull ads from pages with sex, violence Please read our terms of use before posting comments TERMS OF USE: The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s). via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEAx0s1iZxaFttJ8E2GkBGaKVIkbA&url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/new-technology-can-track-movement-behind-walls/1135788/

Put the internet to work for you. via Personal Recipe 2598265