Scientists in the United States have created software to see between walls

Seeing through the walls as Superman was always a science fiction thing. But it is already a reality

At least, within the laboratory of the prestigious MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), in the United States.

A group of scientists has developed software that can identify with great precision if someone is on the other side of an opaque wall and how he is moving.

The team, led by researcher Dina Katabi, of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), created a system based on the Artificial intelligence capable of identifying and recreating human movements

The power of radio frequency

But how does it work and how to make sure it is not used to spy on others?

The name of the software was given the name of RF-Pose and the technology that governs it the RF-Capture, because it uses radiofrequency (RF) waves.

"We use a camera and we take pictures of people in One place, and we broadcast there radio signals," Katabi told the BBC.

Little by little, computer scientists were learning to machine how to "see" using several examples to identify people.

The neural network can analyze signals and generate a 3D skeletal figure that walks, smells, runs, dances or gestures like a human, imitating the movements the person is doing at that time.

MIT expects this software to help doctors identify early signs of diseases such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis or muscular dystrophy, particularly in the elderly.

The idea is to better understand the progression of diseases that affect the movement of the body, but also help older people to have more independence.

In fact, MIT ensures that its team is currently working with physicians to begin applying the system in the field of medicine.

Technology is able to effectively identify a person in a row of 100 people in 83% of cases.

"You do not see the details of the person's face or fingers, but you can get an idea of ​​the height and width of the person," he told BBC Fadel Adib, another Scientists involved in the project

"In the future we will be able to see through walls even in high definition," he added. "And probably also through the bodies of people using signals without wire. "

The development was not easy: it took more than a decade and thousands of images of people in motion.

The system creates what is known under the name of "images of heat" and transforms them into figures that move in space, identifying the different parts of the body and showing the movements in a natural way.

Beyond the medicine, the system could be used in the

But it could also have applicatio malice or present ethical dilemmas.

Only with Consent

One of the main points for this to work is to protect people's privacy. users.

"If someone wants to use this technology to monitor someone without his consent, we have a test that allows the device to check if the person gave his" [Nous] must to separate any identifiable information and encrypt it. "

" There must be policies that regulate the way technology is used. "

Will this be the first step in a technology that will be it ubiquitous in a few years?

Via BBC