Asked by: Tom Willis, Canterbury
The idea of ‘X-ray goggles’ that allow us to see through solid walls has been around for decades, but they’re a non-starter – not least because X-rays are surprisingly easily absorbed by brick and concrete. A cheaper, safer and more effective approach has now been developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology using wireless signals.
We’ve all experienced the annoyance of radio reception changing as we move around a room. But Prof Dina Katabi and colleagues at MIT have found a way of exploiting this effect using software that converts the changing strength of wireless signals into images.
Because the wavelength of the signals is relatively large, the resolution is poor, so it’s not possible to create realistic images of people. But the team claim the technique is good enough to distinguish individuals based on their physical shape.
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