Slashdot Mirror
New Radar Sees Through Walls
artemis67 writes "A small Israeli company has developed a radar system that uses ultra-wideband technology to produce three-dimensional pictures of the space behind a wall from a distance of up to 20 meters. The pictures, which reportedly resemble those produced by ultrasound, are relatively high-resolution and are produced in real time. Wow, it sounds like the potential benefits of this device are huge, saving lives of soldiers, firemen, or police; the potential for privacy invasion, however, is similarly large."
On behalf of the Peeping Tom Society I say thanks, RadarVision!
If it's not already Slashdotted, you can download the sample video off of the RadarVision website. The display doesn't give you Superman see-everything-in-detail-through-walls kind of powers (Lois Lane: "what kind of underwear am I wearing?"), but it's still pretty cool that this kind of thing can be done without using heat signatures and whatnot.
... next time I read the newest Playboy mag at home - LOL
Now if we can just condense this technology into a pair of glasses ...
This stuff will never penetrate my Tin Foil Apartment!
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
When I was a kid, I ordered the X-Ray vision glasses advertised in the back of my comic book. I was not pleased with the results.
Isn't this similar to the terahertz imaging previously discussed? Also seen here and here?
I could see this being especially useful for counter-sniper sweeps. If you can see through buildings, you can do a helicopter sweep of the area and verify that no snipers are waiting to kill a VIP on the move.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Seriously, this sort of thing might be great for our soldiers in the field, and in my little optimistic heart I'd really like to think that something like this could exist in our country without being abused by the "Total Law Enforcement" crowd. I mean, the US *should* be able to operate that way, what with having Constitutional protections and all that.
Given what's been going on recently, however, it seems like only a matter of time before somebody justifies using it on Americans on the grounds of terrorism prevention (after which, of course, everything will become terrorism of one kind or another). I mean, the USA is suddenly in the business of above-the-law prison camps, war without end and other awful little things like abusing the prisoner (in a non-masterbatory context), and all it took to get us to this point was the deaths of 3000 Americans.
Does anyone really doubt that looking through the walls of people's homes will be next?
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
I saw a demo of this at FPED '03, I was marginally impressed. The resolution is no where near what they lead you to believe.
Note that the small Israeli company mentioned above is not Radarvison/Time Domain. Radarvision is based out of Huntsville Alabama.
The Israeli company is called Camero and the product they are developing is superior to the Radarvision product as you don't need to hold it up to a wall. It can be used up to 20 meters away from a wall, and will give more detail on the items/activity behind the wall...
Camero does not appear to have a web site, as far as I could find in my brief googling.
Urge to post... fading... fading... RISING!... fading... fading... gone.
The material the wall is made out of has a marked impact on the permeability of EM waves. And the frequency you select to get through the wall may pass straight through your intended target of viewing as well.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
Can't see through aluminium foil, if it is truly Al.
My guess is that within 10 years we will see new homes / apartments boasting of how they form Faraday cages, to prevent all kinds of remote monitoring.
the Department of Homeland Security advises citizens to stop using walls.
Take this story with a huge grain of salt. WND is not a very reliable news source. It's right up there with NewsMax and Washington Times as lunatic fringe pseudojournalism.
Railguns + Wallhacks = those spiffy guns from Eraser...
There is no mod option "-1: Disagree" for a reason. "Overrated" is not an acceptable substitute. Post something instead.
Just as long as it lets me see where this pipe/conduit/wire goes in my wall. (And where the studs are...)
Or looky here, we've got termites in this wall.
So when does the hand-held consumer version of this come out?
New technology is quite amazing..
I can see it being used when the military is doing raids on houses, bunkers, etc. They can see how many people are in the room and where they are, so they can come in gunning and not take so many casualties.
Another use might be that when they are searching houses for weapons and stuff, they can see into the rooms before hand.
But, like other technology of this nature, it opens limitless possiblities for abuse, so the government will have to keep a cloe eye on how it is used
What the radiation exposure to people on the other side of the wall would be. Operators of this type of equipment rarely understand the implications of its use. Just ask your xray tech what your equivalent whole body dose will be next time you get a chest xray.
I know TimeDomain was pushing pretty heavliy into the Ultra Wide Band technology before it was fairly well known.
Last I heard they were in litigation with one of the national labs over IP. I'm not sure what the outcome is, but from the look of their website it looks like they've been pushing ahead in their research for more than just radar, but also for comms systems.
Its been a while since I've done any RF, but theres some things in that article that are a little bit, odd, to say the least.
Camero developed a certain kind of ultra radio wave that can be emitted to generate a high-definition image and also invented the technology that allows the enhanced wave to pass through virtually any wall.
How exactly does one develop a "certain kind of ultra wadio wave", and how does one "allow it to pass through any wall". Perhaps they have a valid technology, but the person who translated this to layman's terms should be shot for creating a document that makes it sound like the company is selling smoke and mirrors.
Actually, the part of the article that I found most interesting was
Seeing inside a room is one thing, but realistically, the potential for invasion of privacy is much larger with the wiretap field.
Next thing you know, the gamers will want devices to let them see through walls.
wallhackers!
You modded this funny, but just wait till the police get their hands on this and start busting highschool and college parties. Think of the next generation. Think of the children. No more underage drinking, no more makeout sessions at the movies... what about when your mom gets one of these and catches you jerking off in the basement from outside the house. Yea, that's when the /. crowd will start saying "ummm... maybe this wasn't so cool"
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
If that big army is the US Army, it's going to put a premium on avoiding civilian casualites, and the bad guys can, will, and do exploit that doctrine. We can't just carpet-bomb the whole city, and it's very casualty-intensive to thoroughly search through urban centers looking for a handful of people.
This is a problem that will occupy the best minds in the Pentagon, in other armies, and in defense companies for the next two decades. If we can find some good answers, we can prevent unnecessary casualties all around. If we can't, we'll continue to see bloodletting every time an urban warfare situation is encountered. For now, the best doctrine is simply to avoid urban warfare at all costs, and make do when it is forced upon you.
...there have been court decisions that would affect using this without either an 'active situation' (hostages, &c) or a court order. There was a case in Oregon where police were using passive IR monitoring to generate enough information on a potential pot growing operation inside a house. Their subsequent raid / arrest was thrown out as a violation of privacy. Somehow, I can't see *active* methods of surveillance being any less monitored.
What?
Did I hear someone in the audience mutter "Patriot Act"?
We are the Music Makers, and We are the Dreamers of Dreams...
Go to the site and download the video, the demonstration is using a brick wall.
Take this story with a huge grain of salt. WND is not a very reliable news source. It's right up there with NewsMax and Washington Times as lunatic fringe pseudojournalism.
Right; be sure to check with FrontLine, The Nation and Xinhua first ...
Yeah, let's forbid this technology because it might compromise our privacy.
Also, let's forbid P2P file sharing because it might allow people to download music and movies and games without paying for them.
*rolls eyes*
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
Typically I like to run against the government grain simply because I don't believe Big Brother is a good concept. Overhead always causes problems: greed, graft, bribes, special interests, unaccountability. Ask the Soviet Union about it. Ask Afghanistan about it. Ask Cuba about it. Heck, ask Saddam Hussein about it. I'm sure he'll gladly point out that any overhead power is a ripe field for exploitation.
So we have this ping-pong match of people who hold the government in dreamy-eyed awe and people who see only the ill uses of governmental power. Somewhere in between lies the truth. Sometimes Big Brother gets it right, sometimes Big Brother gets it for himself. The only real way to eliminate the problem is to turn Big Brother into little Brother or even microscopic Brother. That's a fine and dandy solution but Big Brother writes too many paychecks, makes too many people feel warm fuzzy and comfortable, and keeps too many bankers and politicians living a very easy luxurious life.
As for prisoner abuse that's a touchy subject. I've heard that some of the fellows who were stacked up on each other were being disciplined for attempting to start an exercise yard riot. Some of the people who were blindfolded and threatened with dogs were guilty of assaulting prison guards or officials. Certainly there are some legitimate cases of abuse but, all in all, every society has it. The Taliban had it, it happens in Paris and Amsterdam, the British _definitely_ have some neat B&D equipment, and American civilian police are caught abusing and bullying citizens all the time.
There is the hypocrisy to address. Well, crap, that's just part of life. I don't like it anymore than anyone else. The US likes to strut around the world and point fingers and meddle in affairs and tell everyone else how to run their nations when, in all reality, the US gov't isn't doing such a hot, fair, honest, or kind job within its own borders. Once again it's the Big Brother syndrome. The only way to fix it is to turn Big Brother into little Brother or even microscopic Brother. And, again, there are too many paychecks, too many leeches, too many bleeding hearts (who don't have what it takes to do something on their own but like to bleed with someone else's money), and too many comfortable and wealthy politicians, bankers, brokers, and attorneys.
So what of this "see through walls" technology? What if it is used by the local police someday to scan each and every house as they drive slowly down the block? Unless we can fix the Big Brother problem there's absolutely no sense in working yourself into a froth over the obligatory abuses that come from Big Brother.
Personally I'd like to get rid of Big Brother. I'm an advocate of small efficient government just like I'm an advocate of small efficient software. But just like Microsoft, Big Brother has a monopoly on the field and plenty of loyal (or at least contractually trapped) followers.
+++ATHZ 99:5:80
It seems odd to me that the same people who can follow that the DMCA is problematic because it bans the tools not the abuses of the tools can't make the connection when its non-computing related.
Peering through neighbours walls (with this technology or drilling peepholes) is the offence. Would you argue that drills should be regulated because they could be used this way ?
If anything the main reason to regulate it is likely to be because long exposures to low levels of radio frequency radiation seems to do bad things to human beings so operating one might require training, care and exposure limits.
I'd also disagree its just a military tool. It has clear civilian usages including earthquake searches (because it can visualise spaces not just people so gives more info) and even boring stuff like inspecting buildings. Having had a large hole hacked in my house to see if a crack was structural I can certainly appreciate the civilian value of having tools to inspect it effectively without the mess, and the dust, and the redecorating.
that would love this one.
The Diary of Anne Frank would have been a lot shorter, though.
You should see the viewing apparatus for this device: It's a pair of black horn-rims with swirls on the lenses...
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Have they illegalized Jammers for this yet?
If not, someone send me the frequency specs, i'll be able to whip one up pretty quick.
As would any serious criminal equipment supplier, after they are illegalized...yet one more way to make sure everyone is a criminal, or can easily be proven to be one.
Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
This device can tell someone how many people are in your house and give them some big hints about what they are doing (on blob on top of another, etc).
This could mean the beginning of a whole new type of porn. I can see the popups: "Blobs doing things you never thought blobs could do!!! Subscribe to the BEST blob porn in the Internet!!!"
Ok, I'll go take a cold shower now.
-- Repeat with me: "There is no right to profits".
The article and the Slashdot summary talk about ultra-wide band while teraherz imaging should be about high frequency, so its difficult to say if those two methods are similar.
AFAIK, if the israeli method uses wide-band (that is a wide interval of frequencies), it should be easier to detect if you are being scanned. Even without resorting to special purpose detectors, such radar scans may interfere with cellphone, sat tv, or wireless transmissions, so the target may know a scan is underway and react.
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
I use one quite a bit. The ground-penetrating radar is probably not much different than this device in physical principles. That means it is subject to the same problems as my GPR:
1) high clay content can wash out any signal,
2) metallic objects (aluminum foil has been mentioned) can render the device useless, and
3) too many objects can interfere.
There have been numerous examples posted here where you just spring a few moving decoys around the building and now the operator on the outside has just as much valuable information as they had without the $20KUSD device attached to their arm.
This thing is a boat anchor.
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
Things I learned from this:
The pictures, which reportedly resemble those produced by ultrasound, are relatively high-resolution and are produced in real time.
At least if a picture can be taken of it you know you will be able to see occurs in it for sure. The technology would be very self-defeating if they weren't clear and sharp. What good are pictures that can't be verified? They would be very similar to invisible ink on paper.Wow, it sounds like the potential benefits of this device are huge...the potential for privacy invasion, however, is similarly large.
Yeah, but that pretty much goes without saying within technology. Most things in technology are double-edged swords (look at gov't reading your personal emails) -- while this technology can make improvements for all but it can also be readily abused when in the wrong hands (unless properly managed).
In conclusion the only thing that is needed for this excellent technology is enforcable (without bias) measures that protect the rights of everyone fairly -- a comfortable medium that wouldn't be easy to obtain but would help out immensely to prevent lawsuits, etc (saves from possible damages) but still achieve the original goals (i.e. save lives).PFY Tech walking along reading the ground facing radar:"Gopher skeleton, pottery, pottery, building wall... Hey, I think we've got some neolithic skeletal human remains over here!"
Professor in charge of the dig:"Finally some proof of actual neolithic habitation."
The supervisory tech was is now looking over the PFY techs shoulder:"False alarm, Everybody. It's just another buried mafia hit man. Remember jr, neolithic's didn't get buried with their guns and 1980 chevy malibu..."
[Now, I'm off to lift my le... Um, visit... at another place.]
It looks like everything that is interesting today is about small Israelly companies. (story was rejected on submission.) I wonder why these guys did not participate in the DARPA Grand Challenge?
You can't handle the truth.
Shortly after 9/11, we were looking at it for firefighter communications within buildings. Radar applications for locating victims were mentioned. I also learned that the spooks had had the technology for at least fifteen years before that.
As often happens, it's just now making its slow way onto the civilian market.
This article certainly lacks any technical details, but it sounds like the device may use a form of Terahertz imaging. This is the region of electromagnetic spectrum between microwave and infrared (0.1 GHz to >2 THz).
There has been a lot of recent activity involving Terahertz Imaging for medical and surveillance applications. TeraHertz Imaging
Now, will they be able to sell it for $3.98 through the back of comic books?
Just think about putting this thing on like a helicopter...then also put some ultra-sensative microphones on it so you could also listen through the walls...
Then have like a "whisper" mode on the helicopter so you could hover in relative silence while surveilling the structure that you happen to be..um...surveilling.
Have a JAFO onboard to be in charge of the taping (to half inch videotape) and working the cameras.
We could call this Helicopter something catchy...like "Red Lightening" or "Thunder Blue" or something like that...we'll think of something...
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
Sure, the polics can use this technology to see through your walls and see if you are doing something illegal, but it probably won't be admissable in an American court.
There was a case in which police used infrared scanners to see how hot/bright it was inside a house that they suspected having marijuana plants growing inside. When it came to trial, the attorney argued that because the police had no warrant to search the house, it was an illegal search. IIRC, the judge ruled that it was a violation of search and seizure laws. It's a good precedent, and because it sends out waves to spy (as opposed to passive scanning like the infrared did), it's even more invasive.
So, just get a good lawyer, and you should be set. That is, in theory.
Be waiting for even more detailed results of the health risk. You have an emitter, what are the risks to humans inside?
What would a counter measure be? A secondary wall with right angle shaping?
Finally:
"Israeli firms are well known for developing revolutionary technology, particularly in the defense fields."
Yup. A big part of that is proped up by U.S. tax dollar military aid and leaked tech from U.S. Firms. How nice.
--- quote from U.S. Military And Economic Aid Report
In recent years, Israel remains the top recipient of U.S. military and economic assistance. The most commonly cited figure is $3 billion a year, with about $1.8 billion a year in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants from the Department of Defense and an additional $1.2 billion a year in Economic Support Funds (ESF) from the Department of State. In the last decade FMF grants to Israel have totaled $18.2 billion. In fact, 17% of all U.S. foreign aid is earmarked for Israel.
Israel is one of the United State's largest arms importers. In the last decade, the United States has sold Israel $7.2 billion in weaponry and military equipment, $762 million through Direct Commercial Sales (DCS), more than $6.5 billion through the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program.
source:
U.S. Military And Economic Aid Report
Of course we really don't "sell" much to Israel. It is mostly U.S. tax payers that pick up the tab. I don't have a problem with Israel defending themselves. I just don't see why I should pay for it.
Its a motion sensor. (The idea is even if you are "standing still" you move very subtly, and the radar can pick it up.) It aint going to help you find studs.
There's a group in my graduating electrical engineering class that did their undergrad design project on something similar, Design, Construction, and Testing of a Microwave Radar System for Through-Wall Surveillance. It uses 1 - 3 GHz microwave frequencies and some pretty straightforward electronics to provide signals to a computer, which does the image resolution. I was able to see a first-hand demonstration of it, and it's impressive for an undergrad project! Just in case you thought this "New radar" in the article is revolutionary or something.
Oh, Yassin was a politician. A murderous one, like Stalin, but a politician nonetheless.
Nyekulturniy... Proudly confusing readers and editors since 1981!
The sad part is that's where things were back in the late 90s when things were rapidly improving for the Palestinian people, many Palestinian expatriots were considering returning and reinvesting in the economy and a lasting peace seemed around the corner. Can you tell me, for 10 points please, who ended that possibility? Was it Sharon? Was it Bush? Was it Clinton? No. It was the Palestinians who brought this on themselves when they started the Al Aqsa Intifada, and used as justification Sharon's daring to visit a site in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount.
I hate to see the terminology of liberalism and peace hijacked by Palestinian warmongers and bought into whole hog by so many American liberals because they hear words like "genocide" and "war crimes" being bandied about.
I have met several former Israeli soldiers, by the way, and none of them were people who wanted to our would ever take part in killing innocent civilians knowingly. They shot because they were fired upon or because they caught somebody planting a bomb. I won't say that nobody innocent gets killed, surely it happens, but you need to look at who is choosing to keep making the area a war zone and who started the Al Aqsa Intifada in the first place and who perpetuates it - it's surely not the Israeli government, with a populace that overwhelmingly wants a peaceful solution with the Palestinians. Look at the people whose financial interests and power are tied up with keeping the fighting going - like Hamas, which would lose its political power and fundraising abilities in the rest of the Arab world with a peace settlement. Look at Arafat who clings to his autocracy and apparently fears the creation of a stable, economically solvent democracy for the Palestinian people.
The most shameful part is that I have to post this anonymously because experience has taught me that the liberal forces on Slashdot have bought into this twisting of liberal terminology so much that to post reasonable, moderate discourse on this issue invariably gets you moderated into oblivion. And that is a particularly sad statement.
In a typical Israeli missile attack against "Terrorist leaders", the collateral damage includes an average of three to seven innocent bystanders. How many lives are saved by killing terrorist leaders again?
...meaningful figures show that Israel is responsible for some 733 Palestinian noncombatant deaths, while Palestinians have killed 546 Israeli noncombatants.
Let's go with some statistics regarding the current intifada:
That count is based on the IDF's own estimates, completely disregarding the even more shocking statistics recorded by international human rights organizations.
Or perhaps a listing of the non-combatant deaths among children might impress you with the military force being used against the Palestinians.
If you take into account the ridiculously imbalanced effects of the property damage and impoverishment of this ongoing conflict, the Palestinians are getting screwed on every level. There is no sufficient justification for the actions of Israel's military, and I'm sick and tired of hearing 'terrorism' as the rallying cry of those who defend collective punishment and making war on entire populations.
"We have to go forth and crush every world view that doesn't believe in tolerance and free speech." - David Brin
Killing people by attacking civilians trying to get to work or enjoying a cup of coffee just because of their ethnicity or religion.
Killing known-combatants using their own families as shields for their bomb making operations, while happening to miss a few times, causing unfortunate deaths.
Real moral equivalency there.
From elsewhere in the article you linked, coming to the exact opposite conclusion you did:
The statistics show that Israeli noncombatants over the last 23 months have been killed essentially at random, as Palestinian terrorists have chosen to attack whichever civilian targets were accessible. Palestinian fatalities, however, have been strongly concentrated within a particular population segment - teenaged boys and young men.
and....
In contrast, Palestinian noncombatant fatalities have been overwhelmingly young (but over the age of 11) and male. This pattern of Palestinian deaths completely contradicts accusations that Israel has "indiscriminately targeted women and children." It is clear that the vast majority of the Palestinians killed did not die as the result of random Israeli attacks on inhabited areas, or on mixed-sex crowds at roadblocks and the like. There appears to be only one reasonable explanation of this pattern: that Palestinian men and boys engaged in behavior that brought them into conflict with Israeli armed forces.
Why don't you just add:
"YALLA YALLA YALLA JIHAD!ALLAH IS GREAT! DIE INFIDELS!!!" to your sig. That way you can be an extremist asshole with EVERY post instead of just this one.
Soldiers and police are increasingly becoming the same thing. Their job, basically at the end of the day, is to kill poor people and protect the wealth of the worldwide elite. You guys may think this is a nifty idea because it will "save soldiers and police lives" but in the long run it is just another tool at their disposal to keep us oppressed and in check.
No sir, I don't like it.
--
om Shanti
...or even civilians for that matter because the person using the radar will not be able to tell the difference.
... I want one of these so I can trace thepaths of cables and pipes inside my friggin walls!
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
This thing comes from Israel - meaning it was designed to make killing Palestinians easier.