Science

Wi-Vi system uses Wi-Fi to see through walls

A new Wi-Fi-based "Wi-Vi" system can track people moving behind walls (Image: Christine Daniloff/MIT)
A new Wi-Fi-based "Wi-Vi" system can track people moving behind walls (Image: Christine Daniloff/MIT)

Researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed what could become low-cost, X-ray vision. The system, known as "Wi-Vi," is based on a concept similar to radar and sonar imaging, but rather than using high-power signals, this tech uses reflected Wi-Fi signals to track the movement of people behind walls and closed doors.

When a Wi-Fi signal is transmitted at a wall, a portion of that signal penetrates through and reflects off any humans that happen to be moving around in the other room. Since only a tiny fraction of the signal passes through the wall, with the rest being reflected, the researchers had to devise a technology that could could cancel out the arbitrary reflections, and keep only those reflecting from moving human bodies.

Dina Katabi, a professor in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and her graduate student Fadel Adib have tuned a system that uses two transmission antennas and a single receiver. The two antennas transmit almost identical signals, except the second antenna's signal is the inverse of the first, resulting in interference.

This interference causes the signals to cancel each other out. Since any static objects that the signals hit create identical reflections, they are also cancelled out by this effect. Only the reflections that change between the two signals, like moving bodies on the other side of the wall, arrive back at the receiver, allowing the system to track the moving people.

Adib says, "So, if the person moves behind the wall, all reflections from static objects are cancelled out, and the only thing registered by the device is the moving human."

Previous attempts to see through walls in this manner have done so using an array of spaced antennas, which capture the signal reflected off of moving people in the room. Such systems, though effective, would be too cumbersome and expensive for use in a handheld device. By using just one receiver, the new system effectively measures the time it takes for signals to reflect, leading to a calculation of location.

Relying on low-cost Wi-Fi technology, the Wi-Vi system could be utilized in everything from disaster recovery to gaming. Because the device can detect action behind a wall, the system could be used as a gesture-based interface for controlling appliances or lighting.

Venkat Padmanabhan, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, says the possibility of using Wi-Vi as a gesture-based interface that does not require a line of sight between the user and the device itself is perhaps its most interesting application of all.

Source: MIT

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16 comments
TechHead
That's kinda creepy! Say your neighbour comes over to your house and plants one of these antennae somewhere, he would be able to know which room you were in!
Observer101
I'm waiting on a hand-held, portable device that can scan the human body, and identify any irregularities, with no harmful side effects. (kinda like StarTrek stuff).... It's coming...
Bruce H. Anderson
Nowhere to hide.
yourmomthinksimcool
I have one question. Do you have a warrant? I'm sure this may have a very limited constitutional useful purposes but more than likely used for nefarious purposes and continued breakdown of our fourth amendment and constitution in general. The science is cool but how it will be used surely won't be.
Mivoyses
Oh, I can see the Dept. of Homeland Security just eating this up.
Paulo Monteiro
Que perigo isso não! Qual o propósito verdadeiro desta tecnologia, fala sério....
Mr. Jim
TechHead -- as I read this no planting of an antenna in your property would be required. Just two transmitters of an inverted signal which could be on his/her property. As I think about it you might even be able to use a typical cable broadband connections which are shared amoungst a block of subscribers, as your transmitters. That is you could probably induce multiple wifi routers on your street to emit packets and with a little bit of DSP use those packets to probe the whole neighborhood. . . .
nutcase
Wow low-cost interferometry for all. 8*) Once again we must trade some privacy for the many good things it brings.
The Skud
Should sell like hotcakes to P.I.s everywhere! "Here is the recording Judge, subject enters, meets plaintiff, proceeds to... well you get the picture"
nutcase
This technology onboard a uav yeah thats the next step i fear