Altcoins Talks - Cryptocurrency Forum
Further Discussions => Economics , Sociology & Politics => Topic started by: Adrian on September 23, 2018, 04:45:13 PM
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X-ray vision, a comic book fantasy for decades, is becoming a reality in a US lab.
A group of researchers led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Dina Katabi has developed software that uses variations in radio signals to recognize human silhouettes through walls and track their movements.
Researchers say the technology will be able to help health care providers and families keep closer tabs on toddlers and the elderly, and it could be a new strategic tool for law enforcement and the military.
"Think of it just like cameras, except that it's not a camera," said Fadel Adib, a researcher on the MIT team developing the device.
"It's a sensor that can monitor people and allow you to control devices just by pointing at them," he said.
Work began in 2012 to determine how wireless signals could be used to "see" what's happening in another room, said Katabi, who directs the MIT Wireless Center.
"At first we were just interested ... can you at all use wireless signals to detect what's happening in occluded spaces, behind a wall, couch, something like that," Katabi said.
"It turned out that we were able to detect that. And when we figured out we could detect that, we started asking more advanced questions: Could we use it to detect exactly how people are moving in a space if they are behind a wall?"
The device displays the signal on a screen, where the person's movements can be tracked in real time. It depicts the target as a red dot moving around the room, occupying a chair and speeding up or slowing down.
The wireless signals used to track a person's motions also can measure the individual's breathing and heart rate - and potentially identify the person based on the shape of his or her skeleton, said researcher Zach Kabelac.
"The person won't be wearing anything on them, and the person it's tracking doesn't even need to know the device is there," Kabelac said.
"If something unfortunate happens to them, like a fall, the device will contact the caregiver that they chose to alert" by generating a text message or an email, he added.
That makes health care applications especially interesting, Katabi said. But she also sees military and law enforcement possibilities - particularly in hostage situations.
"You don't want to send the police inside without knowing where the people are standing or where the hostages are," she said. "If there is someone with a gun, where they are standing?"
A company set up to market the technology, now dubbed Emerald, will spin out of the MIT lab next year, with a goal of marketing the device early in 2017, and it's expected to sell for $US250-$US300 ($A348-$A418), Adib said. The team is working to make the device smaller and to develop an interface that will let users configure it through a smartphone app, Katabi added.
http://www.skynews.com.au/culture/offbeat/2015/12/22/us-scientists-developing--x-ray-vision-.html
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How safe is that technology? Since it's using radio waves it should have no impact on human health, I assume?
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X-ray vision should be a technology that will not be available to the public as a lot of nefarious people will use it negatively to commit crimes and have an alibi that will prove they are innocent while they are guilty. How safe can they be on humans? I think it will be of more use on artificial intelligence
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So is any legal ramifications going to come out of this? Because at the moment I see this as like Bill Cosby before his guilty verdict, suspicious but I am not going to say they are guilty unless there is a court case.
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This technology, sadly, has a great potential to be abused.
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Last year's news, but still cringeworthy! :o
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It looks like some kind of video game and not reality. I don’t know why in ordinary life such a skill, but I hope that this will benefit humanity.