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September 16, 2007

Sense Through The Wall Technology

From BBC NEWS:
A roundup of smart camera technology by the BBC has something new:

"Each individual has a characteristic profile," explained Ian, holding a green rectangular box that looked like a TV remote control. Using radio waves, you point it a wall and it tells you if anyone is on the other side. His company, Oceanit, is due to test it with the Hawaiian National Guard in Iraq next year, and it turns out that the human body gives off such sensitive radio signals, that it can even pick up breathing and heart rates.

"First, you can tell whether someone is dead or alive on the battlefield," said Ian. "But it will also show whether someone inside a house is looking to harm you, because if they are, their heart rate will be raised. And 10 years from now, the technology will be much smarter. We'll scan a person with one of these things and tell what they're actually thinking."

I found out a bit more on the Oceanit web site in another news story by KGMB9:

Local company Oceanit has a two-year, $1 million contract to develop technology to keep soldiers safe as they sweep through a town or go house to house. It will be a hand-held unit that looks something like the tricorders "Star Trek Next Generation" troops used. "You go out there and you hit your buttons, and you kind of wait, take a reading of the building and then based on that, you do something," Sullivan said.

The technology uses radio waves, "so it bounces off them and from that we can determine heart rate, respiration and where they are," he added.

The company used similar technology in an earlier project to develop a sort of "Star Trek" bed, where a patient's vital signs are taken, without even touching the patient. Firefighters could also use the technology in a rescue to determine if there's anyone alive in a burning building.

Posted by rshah at September 16, 2007 08:58 PM

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